Board adopts updated building fees, restructures cannabis permitting approach

After a lengthy public hearing and a presentation by NBS consultant Nicole Cassam, the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors adopted updates to building department fees and approved an associated ordinance cleanup.

The NBS fee study presented a department-level cost analysis showing a gap between current fees and full cost recovery. Chief Building Official Doug Oliver described several structural changes staff is proposing: converting several deposit-based or special revenue processes into straight-plan-review and inspection fee flows, tightening grading fee handling, and creating clearer fee flows for commercial and ground-mounted solar projects consistent with statutory maximums.

Staff stressed that the proposed cannabis cultivation fee structure has been reengineered to route review fees through the standard plan-check process so each reviewing department charges its own established review fees instead of funneling everything through a special revenue fund. That, Oliver said, will reduce accounting complexity and the burden on departments while reflecting the actual work performed.

The board approved the resolutions and the second-reading ordinance with clerical and statutory compliance edits flagged during the presentation. Doug Oliver said staff will correct a small number of typographical and statutory-maximum errors in the published schedule before publication.

Why it matters: The fee changes aim to bring permitting costs closer to the county’s cost of delivering services and to streamline multi-department reviews for major projects, including cannabis cultivation and grading.