City Of Fremont Offers Pre-Approval Services For Secondary Units

FREMONT, CA — The City of Fremont is now pre-approving plans for detached accessory dwelling units that are submitted by designers, architects, builders and other qualified professionals, which officials say provides homeowners with a quick way to add an additional unit to their property.

City officials recently announced that they were accepting plans for the units, which allows for an expedited plan review timeline and lower permit costs, the city said on its website. The plans, once approved by the city, can be used for building projects anywhere in Fremont.

Over the past 20 years, state officials have adopted a number of laws that encourage building these accessory units and that limit the number of requirements that may be imposed by cities on these secondary building projects.

The City of Fremont already works with growing number of designers with plans that have been pre-approved through the Pre-approved ADU Program. A list of those designers can be found here.

Once a plan is pre-approved by the city, the approval will remain valid until the city adopts new building or zoning codes that apply to specific ADU plan, city officials said. Residents will be notified you when such changes take place and let you know how updated plans can be submitted.

The City of Fremont currently offers two options to get ADU plans preapproved:

• Concurrent Processing: The City offers a “Concurrent Preapproval” application so that residents can get their ADU plans preapproved while you are going through a site-specific plan check. Simply fill out a Request for Concurrent ADU Plan Preapproval along with your site-specific plan check application. Concurrent preapproval does not add any time or additional cost to the plan check. ADU plans that were submitted after January 1, 2020 and already reviewed by the City may also be considered for preapproval. For more information, please contact Courtney Pal by email or by calling 510-494-4532.
• Independent Application: The City also accepts applications for ADU preapproval independent of a site-specific plan check. Please refer to the City's ADU Preapproval Submittal Checklist. Applications may be submitted to Courtney Pal by email.

Residents with questions or in need of information about the project can contact Courtney Pal by email or by calling 510-494-4532. For more information about ADU requirements, residents are asked to view the City's ADU Fact Sheet.