Rachel Hollander, senior planner with RRM Design Group, updated the Lompoc Planning Commission on the city’s permit-ready ADU program, which RRM is designing under a state grant the city secured.

Hollander said the city was awarded $450,000 (REIT funding) to support implementation of the program and that a portion of those funds are paying for consultant work to produce preapproved plan sets. “A portion of those funds was to fund the development of those plans to really pay for the consultant costs of developing those plan sets,” Hollander said.

The consultant shared a context study and six preliminary plan sets: four detached ADU types and two garage-conversion plans. Hollander said the plans were informed by a citywide character analysis and a review of typical lot sizes. Plan 1 is a 1-bedroom, 1-bath cottage-agrarian at about 350 square feet; Plan 2 is a Mediterranean/Spanish 1-bedroom at about 490 square feet; Plan 3 is a California ranch 1-bedroom at about 640 square feet; Plan 4 is a 2-bedroom, 1-bath cottage at about 650 square feet. The two garage-conversion options were sized to match narrower and more-square garage footprints found in the community.

Hollander described intended program benefits: faster permitting, lower design costs for homeowners (because structural and architectural drawings will be preprepared), streamlined staff review and improved consistency with neighborhood character. She noted that state ADU law requires local agencies to establish an intake process for preapproved plans but “doesn’t actually require the local agency to create the plans.” Hollander said the city’s housing element directs the city to develop permit-ready ADU plans by 2025.

Commissioners asked about timing, public hearing requirements and whether the $450,000 grant will be available to homeowners. Greg Stone, planning manager, said staff expects a public hearing later in the year—“most likely in November, December”—and that the grant money is being used to fund the plan development; it is not directly available to consumers to pay their fees. Hollander added the project timeline: finish schematic designs in summer 2025, prepare construction-ready documents toward the end of summer, publish an ADU handbook in the fall and make the final plan sets available for public review in winter 2025.

Hollander said 55 ADUs in Lompoc have received certificates of occupancy since 2017, and that site-specific information (for example, a site plan) will still be required from applicants even if they use an off-the-shelf plan.

A resident in the meeting asked whether owner-builders could use the program and whether plan sets would be offered free to constituents; Hollander and staff replied that site-specific work would still incur cost (for example, site plans and any local fees) but that the preapproved plans reduce the need for homeowners to commission full custom structural plans.

Hollander closed by saying the consultant and staff will return with a more finalized product for commission and public review.