City of Novato - Department of Community Development

The town of Novato is the worst town in Marin to do business with.
I submit plans for construction projects in dozens of towns + counties in N. Cal and Novato is by far the most corrupt.
Their Planning, Building and Zoning departments are arbitrary, subjective to the whims of the community director and inconsistent in how they enforce their landuse ordinances.
It may not be the most expensive with aggregated fees as Mill Valley or Belvedere but at least in other towns they clearly and fairly apply their laws and land use ordinances. Novato is the Forrest Gump of Planning and Building departments, you never know if you are going to get a chocolate covered sweet or a chocolate covered turd.

I want to thank everyone in the office for your help. It started off kinda rough, with no help from me letting the permit expire but with some help from Gary, Ezra and Bob we got it done. They went out of their way to help me get this job finished. The office is nice and new and they help you with you're issues one on one. They answered all my questions and helped me with what I needed. Thanks again to everyone.

4 days of a week and 2 hours each day means this department is helping people for 8 hours per week. Every scope of work you could think of requires a permit, so figure out your schedules. You go through the hassle of dealing with them and they can hardly make it to a 2 hour inspection window. And how long are they there for? 30 minutes?15 minutes? Or just long enough to say they showed up? Spoiler alert, don't expect much assistance or guidance from them. I advise getting a permit regardless but when people say they won't be pulling a permit because of the non sense, I understand. Some how this should be privatized, the government sucks at their job.

If you live in the City of Novato, and you plan to do any remodeling or repairs to your home, you will need to go to The Department of Community Development. What items need a permit, you ask? Here's a complete list: http://www.cityofnovato.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=467

As you can see, pretty much ANY type of remodeling or repair requires a permit, even a trivial thing like adding a new garbage disposal. This can add up very quickly, especially if you're doing major renovations.

The office has limited hours, and you can only pull a permit between Monday and Thursday from 9 am to 11 am. The office is broken down into three sections: the Planning Division, the Building Division, and Code Enforcement. In all of my times going there, they've only had one person working behind each counter. If you need to get a permit, I recommend going earlier in the morning since it's usually less crowded.

My first visit went fairly smoothly. I needed to pull one permit to get a few things up to code, and a second permit to do the remodeling and repairs. (Depending on how extensive your remodeling is, you may have to submit engineering plans or floor plans for approval). In my case, I needed to provide a top-down view of the areas of the house that needed dry rot repair.

After filling out the forms and getting the approval from one of the building inspectors, one of the receptionists took care of my payment. However, she was rather brusque and downright rude. Whenever I'd ask a question, she'd cut me off. She even walked away from me before I finished asking my questions and came back five minutes later. When I asked her about all the fees listed on the receipt, she blitzed through the items so quickly, I didn't even have a chance to write everything down.

My problems with The Department of Community Development came about a month later when I wanted to make an adjustment to one of my permits. The City of Novato charged $93.73 to replace 1-8 windows, and $127.61 to change 9 or more windows. Originally, I only wanted to change 4 windows, but a few weeks later, I realized that I had the budget to change 8. I had already paid $93.73 for 1-8 windows.

I went to the Department of Community Development again, and one of the building inspectors made an addendum to permit, indicating 8 window replacements instead of 4.

A few weeks later, my contractor suggested changing the remaining 3 windows in the house (for a total of 11) to make them look consistent and to make the street view of the house more appealing. I agreed with him, and decided to change the total number of windows on my permit to 11, and pay the difference between $127.61 and $93.73 ($33.88).

Well, guess what? The Department of Community Development would not allow me to pay the difference or modify the permit. Instead, they required me to get a NEW permit for the 3 additional windows and pay ANOTHER $93.73!!

I asked them to provide me with written documentation of why they could not simply modify the permit, and none of the receptionists were able to answer that question. Finally, I spoke to the Senior Building Inspector, and he gave me a copy of the 2007 California Building Code, Section 105.3, regarding the application for permit. However, it did not state anything about changes or addendums to permits. After debating with him for several minutes, I could see that he wasn't going to budge, so I bit the bullet and paid $93.73 for the new permit.

Of course, this upset me for a while. I had the honesty and integrity to tell them that the total number of windows I wanted to change was 11. And for them to charge me an additional $93.73 instead of the difference ($33.88) was dishonest and wrong.

This place is no longer at this address. It has been moved back to 922 machin next to the police dept. The hours here have never been helpful to anyone. The hours are mon-thurs 9-11am . Get there early because 4-10 people are always in line. Plan on 1-1 1/2 hrs for permits.

If your neighbor leaves their garbage cans in their drive way for over a year, do not expect this department to help you. I offer photographs and phone call reminders. They offer excuses and a lack of action.