San Francisco Sun

The City has introduced a new service aimed at expediting the review and issuance of Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) building permits submitted through the State or Hybrid Program. This initiative, known as the Permit Review Roundtable, is designed to efficiently review plans and provide feedback during live virtual meetings.

These 45-minute roundtable meetings will take place on Mondays and will include the ADU project’s design professional along with representatives from the Department of Building Inspection (DBI), Planning Department, SF Fire, Public Works, and the Public Utilities Commission. Scheduling for these sessions begins this week, with the first meetings set to commence on October 21.

"There is no additional charge for having an ADU permit application evaluated through the Permit Review Roundtable," according to DBI's communication.

The process for submitting projects remains unchanged. Project sponsors are required to apply for their ADU building permit using the In-House Review permit application portal. Once applicants receive their completeness letter and pay permit fees, DBI will send an invitation and link for a virtual roundtable session.

During these sessions, designers and staff from relevant permitting departments will review City comments in real time and address code compliance questions. The design professional must attend these discussions; however, property owners or project sponsors are not obligated but may choose to participate.

DBI will also provide project sponsors with a PDF copy of the City's combined comments during these sessions, eliminating the need for subscription software like Bluebeam.

Following each meeting, design professionals are expected to update plans based on City feedback before resubmitting them for further review. An additional roundtable meeting will be scheduled to ensure all comments have been addressed before issuing permits.

"Our goal is to streamline our review process and provide ADU project sponsors and design professionals with clear guidance," stated DBI in its announcement. The department aims to "accelerate the review, revision and approval process" by offering direct engagement opportunities between plan reviewers and designers.

Feedback on this new service can be sent to dbi.communications@sfgov.org as part of ongoing efforts to improve customer experience in processing ADU applications more swiftly.