City of Half Moon Bay

A city address is usually permitted by the city, not the county — but not always, and some authorities keep building and hand electrical to someone else. Getting this wrong costs the whole submittal, because every requirement below belongs to whoever actually holds jurisdiction. Check the overlays in the same pass: an HOA, a historic district, a windstorm certification or a system-size cap can reshape the design, and all of them are cheaper to find now than after the array is laid out.

• Is this authority the AHJ for residential solar at this address? Yes 92% · department page
• What does this authority permit itself, and what does it delegate? Both 82% · department page
• Is a permit required for a residential rooftop PV system? Yes 95% · department page
• Is there a separate electrical permit, or is it combined? Combined 72% · fee schedule
• Is a Specific Use Permit or Council approval ever required? The entire City of Half Moon Bay lies within the California Coastal Zone, and most discretionary development requires a Coastal Development Permit (CDP) reviewed by Planning under HMBMC Chapter 18.20 -- but the City's own Solar/PV/ESS-specific instructions (Symbium application page, PV Solar & ESS submittal checklist) do not mention a CDP or Planning sign-off requirement for rooftop residential PV, implying it is treated as exempt/ministerial for a typical rooftop retrofit. 60% · department page

Several authorities require the electrical permit to be pulled by a licensed electrician, or require the contractor to be registered with them BEFORE applying. Registration is not same-day. This is second on the list rather than fourth because it is the step most likely to stop the job before the drawings matter.

• Who is allowed to pull the electrical permit? Either 88% · department page
• Must the contractor be registered with this authority before applying? Yes 85% · department page
• Is a homeowner permitted to self-install and self-permit? Yes 85% · department page

Almost everywhere wants a site plan, a one-line or three-line electrical diagram, equipment cut sheets with listings, and a structural attachment detail. Build it against the published checklist rather than the last jurisdiction you worked in — the checklist is what the reviewer marks against.

• What documents make up a complete submittal? Per the City's 'PV Solar & ESS' checklist (min. sheet size 11x17): (1) Cover sheet/title page with abbreviations, electrical notes, jurisdictional notes, general notes, vicinity map, index; (2) Site Plan; (3) Site Plan, PV Array; (4) Installation details; (5) Electrical Line Diagram / breaker schedule (if applicable); (6) Elevations; (7) Labels; (8) Equipment Technical Specifications; (9) Structural details and calculations as needed. Title 24 energy documents and structural calculations may also be required depending on scope. 92% · department checklist
• How many copies, and in what format? Electronic only, no hard copies. General submittals for the checklist are emailed to the Building Permit Technician (bcorrales@hmbcity.com) at minimum 24x36 sheet size, but the PV Solar & ESS section of the same checklist specifies a smaller minimum sheet size of 11x17. Solar/PV/ESS applications themselves are actually submitted through the Symbium online instant-permitting platform, not by e-mail, per the separate Solar page. 68% · department checklist
• Is a site plan required, and what must it show? Yes -- a Site Plan and a separate 'Site Plan, PV Array' are both required checklist items. 90% · department checklist
• Is a one-line / three-line diagram required? Yes 85% · department checklist
• Is a structural PE stamp required, and at what threshold? Structural details and calculations are required only 'as needed' -- the checklist gives no numeric threshold (e.g. panel weight, mounting type) that triggers a stamped structural submittal for PV. 50% · department checklist

Most authorities now take the whole application through a portal, and several states cap or constrain what a residential solar permit may cost. Check whether plan check is billed separately before you quote the job.

• Which permit portal does this authority use? Symbium (for Residential Solar PV/ESS specifically -- symbium.com/instantpermitting/solar/apply, integrated with the City); Cloudpermit (us.cloudpermit.com/hmbcity) for all other building permits and inspection scheduling. 92% · portal landing page
• Can the whole application be completed online? Yes, with caveat 82% · department page
• What does a residential solar permit cost? City Building fee: $450 flat (residential, up to 15 kW), plus $15/kW above 15 kW. Separately, Coastside Fire Protection District (fire-side) charges a flat $355 for 'Solar PV' or 'Energy Storage System (ESS)' alone, or $659 flat for 'Solar PV with Energy Storage System (ESS)'. 90% · fee schedule
• How is the fee calculated? Tiered 85% · fee schedule
• Is there a separate plan-check fee? Ambiguous -- the Master Fee Schedule's Solar/Photovoltaic line (Item II.6) is a standalone flat figure separate from the generic 'Building Plan Check Fee' (Item II.2, 65% of Building Permit Fee) shown above it, and Note [3] states the *total* of all mandated solar permit fees may not exceed the Gov. Code Section 66015 cap -- suggesting the $450 figure is meant to be inclusive of plan check rather than billed on top of it, but the City's own document does not say so explicitly. 55% · fee schedule

Interconnection is a separate process from the permit and usually the longer pole. Where the utility does not depend on the permit being issued, running both at once is the single biggest saving available on a residential job.

• What is the stated plan-review turnaround? General Building Plan Check (outsourced consultant): 'at least 10 business days.' Solar/PV via Symbium: compliance is checked instantly/automatically, then forwarded to the Building Permit Technician for over-the-counter issuance pending full system integration. 78% · department page
• Which utility handles interconnection here? PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) 88% · department handout

The NEC edition a jurisdiction enforces is often a cycle behind the newest one published, and local amendments sit on top of it. Rapid shutdown, conductor sizing and labelling all change between editions, so the edition in force is the first thing to establish, not the last.

• Which NEC edition is in force? 2023 72% · department page
• Which building code edition is in force? 2025 California Building Code (effective 1 January 2026) 92% · department page
• Which fire code edition is in force? 2025 California Fire Code, as adopted with local amendments by Coastside Fire Protection District Ordinance 2025-05 (introduced 22 Oct 2025, adopted 25 Feb 2026; effective 30 days after adoption AND after ratification by both the City of Half Moon Bay and the County of San Mateo). 85% · special district ordinance
• Are there local amendments to any of the above? Yes -- CFPD's 2025 CFC adoption carries numerous local amendments (e.g. Section 903.2.8.1.1 adds NFPA 13D+ sprinkler requirements for all Group R-3 occupancies regardless of size; Section 903.6.1 mandates retrofit sprinklers on substantial alterations; Section 105.5.60 adds a Special Event operational permit; Board of Appeals composition amendments). None found are solar-specific. 80% · special district ordinance
• What is the installation judged against? The 2025 California Building/Residential/Electrical Codes (City) and the 2025 California Fire Code as locally amended by Coastside Fire Protection District Ordinance 2025-05, plus the City's own Residential/Commercial Submittal Checklist and Symbium's automated State/local code-compliance check. 78% · department page

Ridge setbacks and roof access pathways are fire-service requirements and they constrain the array layout. They are the most common cause of a redesign after the fire department comments on a plan set.

Nothing recorded for City of Half Moon Bay on this step yet — 1 question checked and found unpublished. The guidance above is general.

Which rapid-shutdown rule applies follows directly from the NEC edition in force, and the initiation device has to be at a location the fire service can reach and identify. This is inspected, and it is labelled.

• Is rapid shutdown required, and to which NEC edition? Rapid shutdown is required under NEC 690.12 as incorporated into the 2023 NEC-based CEC (2025 code cycle), and Symbium's automated compliance check screens for State code compliance for every PV application -- but no City document was found stating 690.12 by section number or describing the compliant boundary/labeling in the City's own words. 55% · department page

The NEC sets a baseline for permanent markings at the service equipment and the disconnecting means. On top of that, an authority may specify its own wording, and the utility may specify more again. Where any of them writes its own text, a generic off-the-shelf label set will not pass — this is the detail most often fixed on a return visit.

• Does the authority specify placard wording of its own? No 60% · department checklist

Where the AC disconnect must sit relative to the meter is usually the utility's rule, not the building department's. Battery storage frequently carries its own permit, its own inspection and its own fire conditions.

• Must equipment be on a specific approved list? No formal citywide 'approved equipment list' was found; the checklist requires 'Equipment Technical Specifications' as a generic submittal item (implying standard code-listing verification) rather than referencing a City-maintained approved-products list. 50% · department checklist
• Are batteries permitted, and under what conditions? Batteries/ESS are permitted. They are submitted under the same 'PV Solar & ESS' checklist section as rooftop PV (Symbium's process also names 'battery, and energy storage systems' explicitly as eligible for the same instant-permit path). Separately, Coastside Fire Protection District charges its own flat fire fee for ESS: $355 for ESS alone, or $659 where PV is combined with ESS -- confirming the fire district applies additional/different review for ESS. 85% · department page + special district fee schedule
• Is there a separate ESS permit or inspection? No -- on the Building side, ESS is submitted within the same 'PV Solar & ESS' permit/checklist as PV rather than a distinct stand-alone City ESS permit. However, Coastside Fire Protection District bills ESS as its own separate fire-fee line item ($355) distinct from PV-only ($355) or PV+ESS combined ($659), implying a distinct fire-side review component when ESS is present. 62% · special district fee schedule

Booking is a portal, a phone call or an email depending on the authority, and the notice required is rarely zero. Book before the work is finished rather than after — the lead time, not the work, is usually what sets the date.

• How is an inspection booked? Portal 90% · department page
• How much notice is required? For the legacy phone-hotline route: call before 3:00 pm for next-day inspection (roughly 1 business day's notice). No separate minimum-notice figure is published for online Cloudpermit scheduling. 65% · department page
• Are same-day or AM/PM windows offered? Yes -- Monday-Thursday mornings 8am-noon and afternoons noon-3pm; Fridays mornings only, 8am-noon (no Friday-afternoon inspections). 90% · department page

Some authorities inspect their own solar work; some delegate it, and a few do not inspect the PV equipment itself at all. Who is coming determines what they will look at.

• Does this AHJ perform its own final solar inspection? Delegated 70% · department page
• If delegated, to whom? Coastside Fire Protection District (fire-code portion); an unnamed third-party consultant for Building plan check. 80% · department page

A rough-in or mid-roof inspection, where one is required, has to happen before the work it covers is closed up. Missing a stage means opening something back up, and it is the most expensive kind of correction.

Nothing recorded for City of Half Moon Bay on this step yet — 2 questions checked and found unpublished. The guidance above is general.

The approved plan set, the permit, and the equipment listings should be on site and reachable. Inspectors routinely verify that installed equipment matches what was approved, and that the labels are the ones the plan set promised.

• Is there a published inspection checklist? Yes 85% · department checklist
• What must be on site at inspection? Not stated specifically for solar; general final-inspection pre-requisites listed by the City are: Business License current, Construction and Demolition Recycling Form submitted, and (residential only) the Smoke Detector and Carbon Monoxide Handout acknowledgement -- plus 'obtain final approval from all other applicable departments' before scheduling a final. 58% · department page

Passing gives you a final or an equivalent sign-off. That is not the same as permission to operate: PTO comes from the utility, and who tells the utility the inspection passed varies. A system left switched off for weeks is usually waiting on this handover.

• Is there a re-inspection fee? City (Building) reinspection fee: $298/hour, 2-hour minimum (i.e. $596 minimum), per the FY2026-27 Master Fee Schedule 'Building Hourly Rates (minimum 2 hours)' table. Separately, Coastside Fire Protection District charges a flat $304 'Missed Inspection' fee on the fire side. 78% · fee schedule