Town of Atherton

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 95% · municipal code
• What does this authority permit itself, and what does it delegate? Both 88% · department handout (Submittal Requirements for Solar Photovoltaic Installations)
• Is a permit required for a residential rooftop PV system? Yes 96% · municipal code
• Is there a separate electrical permit, or is it combined? Combined 78% · fee schedule
• Is a HOA or architectural approval required first? No 80% · municipal code
• Is there a historic-district review? No dedicated historic-district design review found for residential solar 55% · municipal code table of contents
• Is a wind or windstorm certification required? No separate wind/windstorm certification process; wind loading is addressed as a standard structural-criteria input. 80% · department handout
• Is a Specific Use Permit or Council approval ever required? No — administrative approval only 92% · municipal code
• Is there a system-size cap on residential generation? 10 kW AC nameplate rating / 30 kW thermal, per the codified 'small residential rooftop solar energy system' definition; larger systems fall outside AMC §15.60.010's expedited process (and outside the SolarApp+/standard-plan path, which shares the same 10 kW AC Eligibility Checklist) and require full plan review. 92% · municipal code

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 62% · department page
• Must the contractor be registered with this authority before applying? Yes 88% · department page
• Is a homeowner permitted to self-install and self-permit? Yes 58% · 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 Town's own Submittal Requirements handout: (a) completed building permit application; (b) demonstrated compliance with the PV Eligibility Checklist; (c) a completed Standard Electrical Plan (or, if not used, a full electrical plan showing disconnect locations, module/string counts, inverter/combiner make & model, one-line diagram, grounding/bonding and conductor sizing, battery locations/venting if any, equipment cut sheets, and a site diagram); (d) a roof plan showing panel layout, plumbing/mechanical-vent clearances, roof access point, access pathways, fire classification and label locations; (e) the completed Structural Criteria form, with stamped structural drawings/calculations only if any Structural Criteria item fails. 95% · department handout
• How many copies, and in what format? Electronic submittal only, via the Town's building ePlan submittal portal; the Town's own document does not specify a fixed number of paper copies. 62% · department handout
• Is a site plan required, and what must it show? Yes — a site diagram showing panel arrangement on the roof, north arrow, lot dimensions, and distances from property lines to adjacent buildings/structures, plus a roof plan showing PV panels, plumbing/mechanical-vent clearances, roof access point, access pathways, fire classification, and label locations. 95% · department handout
• Is a one-line / three-line diagram required? Yes 95% · department handout
• Are string and conductor calculations required? Partially — module/string counts and conductor type/size are required, but full engineering 'calculations' are not separately demanded on the electrical side. 70% · department handout
• Is a structural PE stamp required, and at what threshold? Yes, but only conditionally: a CA-licensed Civil or Structural Engineer's stamp is required only if any item on the Town's PV System Structural Criteria checklist (roof condition, rafter span/spacing, anchor spacing, wind-uplift fastener check) is answered 'No.' If every item passes, no PE stamp is required. 92% · department handout (PV System Structural Criteria)

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? eTRAKiT Web Portal (athr-trk.aspgov.com/eTRAKiT/) 92% · department page
• Can the whole application be completed online? Yes, for the SolarApp+ path 82% · department page
• What does a residential solar permit cost? $0 (flat 'Solar Panels Permit Fee') 93% · fee schedule
• How is the fee calculated? Flat 90% · fee schedule
• Is there a separate plan-check fee? No 68% · 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? 1–3 business days 90% · department handout
• Which utility handles interconnection here? Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) 60% · reliable secondary source (utility territory description)
• Where does the utility sit in the sequence? Parallel / No dependency (for Town permit issuance) 70% · municipal code

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 NEC (inferred — see why) 58% · inference from sibling fire-code ordinance + statewide code cycle
• Which building code edition is in force? 2025 California Building Code (Title 24, Part 2, based on the 2024 IBC/IRC) — inferred 55% · inference from sibling fire-code ordinance + statewide code cycle
• Which fire code edition is in force? 2025 California Fire Code, based on the 2024 International Fire Code 93% · adopting ordinance (OCR-extracted)
• Are there local amendments to any of the above? Yes (fire code confirmed; building/electrical unconfirmed this run) 75% · adopting ordinance (OCR-extracted)
• What is the installation judged against? The currently-adopted California Building Standards Code (Title 24) as locally amended by the Town (building/electrical) and by MPFPD Ordinance 55-2025 (fire), plus the Town's own PV System Eligibility Checklist, Structural Criteria, and Standard Plan for systems using the expedited path. 75% · municipal code

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.

• What ridge setback and access pathways are required? No Town- or district-specific ridge-setback/pathway dimensions are separately specified. The Submittal Requirements handout instead directs applicants to 'Examples of clear path access pathways...available in the State Fire Marshal Solar PV Installation Guide,' and MPFPD's Ordinance 55-2025 makes no amendment to CFC Chapter 12 — so the unamended 2025 California Fire Code access-pathway/ridge-setback provisions apply as published by the state. 80% · department handout

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? Required under NEC/CEC Article 690.12 (rapid shutdown), which applies statewide as part of the currently-adopted California Electrical Code — but none of the Town's own four solar handouts (Submittal Requirements, Eligibility Checklist, Structural Criteria, Standard Plan; all dated 10 Jan 2023) use the term 'rapid shutdown' or cite '690.12' anywhere, despite citing many other specific CEC/CRC/CFC sections (690.35(F), 690.5(C), 690.17, 690.53, 690.54, 705.12, CRC R331.2, CFC 605.11.1). 58% · department handout (Solar PV Standard Plan)

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.

• Which placards does this authority require at the service equipment? PV System AC Disconnect placard, PV System DC Disconnect placard, an Inverter-Output-Connection overcurrent-device warning, a Dual-Power-Sources warning, an Electric-Shock-Hazard/ungrounded-conductors warning (for ungrounded systems), a Photovoltaic-Power-Source warning marked on junction/combiner boxes and along conduit every 10 feet, plus (per the Submittal Requirements inspection checklist) a sign identifying the PV power source at the DC disconnect, a sign identifying the AC point of connection, and a sign identifying any alternative-power-system switch. 95% · department handout
• Does the authority specify placard wording of its own? Yes 85% · department handout
• Does it specify letter height, colour or material? Yes — minimum 20-point (3/8") lettering, a phenolic plaque with contrasting colors between text and background (to meet code intent for permanency), per ANSI Z535.4 safety-sign guidance as cited in the Town's own document. 92% · department handout
• Is a site plan / facility map placard required, and what must it show? Yes — CEC §705.12 requires 'a permanent plaque or directory denoting all electric power sources on or in the premises,' per the Town's own Standard Plan; a roof/site plan showing panel layout, north arrow, lot dimensions, access pathways, and disconnect/roof-access locations is separately required at submittal. 80% · department handout
• Where must the labels be placed? At the inverter, at the AC and DC disconnects, and marked on junction/combiner boxes and along any conduit run at intervals of every 10 feet. 90% · department handout

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 dedicated Town equipment-approved list found; the submittal documents require only that equipment be listed/labeled per CEC Articles 690 and 705 (standard NRTL listing), not a Town-specific approved-product list. 68% · department handout
• Are batteries permitted, and under what conditions? Yes, but only outside the expedited path: the Eligibility Checklist requires the system be 'utility interactive and without battery storage' to qualify for the expedited/SolarApp+ process; the Submittal Requirements handout separately instructs that 'If batteries are to be installed, include them in the diagram and show their locations and venting' for a standard (non-expedited) electrical-plan submittal — meaning batteries are permitted but route the project out of the fast-track checklist into full plan review. 88% · department handout
• Is there a separate ESS permit or inspection? Not clearly separate on the Town side (Atherton's Master Fee Schedule has only the single '$0 Solar Panels Permit Fee' line, with no distinct battery/ESS fee line), but Menlo Park Fire Protection District's own fee schedule prices ESS separately from PV: 'Battery Systems (includes cell sites) $356.42' and two 'Energy storage system' lines at $395.05 and $510.15, versus 'Photovoltaic (Residential) $372.45' — indicating the fire-side review/permit for ESS is distinct from PV even though the Town's own permit is not. 75% · fee schedule
• Is there a local rule on service upgrades or busbar sizing? PV system must interconnect to a single-phase AC service panel of nominal 120/220 Vac with a bus bar rating of 225A or less to qualify for the expedited/standard-plan path; for the 120% interconnection rule, the Town's own Standard Plan states the sum of the main and inverter overcurrent protective devices must not exceed 120% of the bus bar rating (CEC §705.12). 85% · department handout
• Is a specific mounting system or attachment spacing required? Yes — detailed flush-mount and anchor-spacing rules: modules must be parallel to the roof plane with a 2"–10" gap underneath, must not overhang roof edges, must weigh no more than 4 psf (PV) or 5 psf (thermal), and must cover no more than half the total roof area; anchor horizontal spacing is capped per a table keyed to roof slope and rafter spacing (e.g. 5'-4" max at flat-to-6:12 slope with 16" o.c. rafters), with lag-screw/embedment specs for wind-uplift resistance. 95% · department handout

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? Phone 90% · department handout
• How much notice is required? Roughly 1 business day: requests received before 2 p.m. on a business day are scheduled for the next business day (later requests presumably push a further day, though this is not explicit). 85% · department handout

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? Yes 85% · municipal code
• If delegated, to whom? Menlo Park Fire Protection District (fire-safety component of the consolidated inspection only; building/electrical is performed by the Town itself) 88% · department handout

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.

• Which inspections are required, and in what order? (1) MPFPD approval required prior to permit issuance; (2) Town issues the permit; (3) system is installed; (4) one consolidated final inspection by the Building Division, optionally with the Fire Chief per AMC §15.60.010(F), with MPFPD separately called to coordinate; (5) MPFPD approval is required again prior to final inspection sign-off. 92% · department handout
• Is a rough-in or mid-roof inspection required? No 92% · municipal code

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 78% · department handout
• What must be on site at inspection? Evidence of conformance with all technical/checklist requirements in the field, and the approved plans — the inspector 'will verify that the installation is in conformance with applicable code requirements and with the approved plans.' 75% · department handout
• Does the inspector verify labels and listings? Yes 88% · department handout

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.

• Who notifies the utility for PTO? Installer 85% · municipal code
• Is there a re-inspection fee? $290 82% · fee schedule
• How are corrections issued and cleared? For a failed field inspection, AMC §15.60.010(F) authorizes 'a subsequent inspection,' which 'need not conform to the requirements of this subsection' (i.e., the one-inspection rule doesn't apply to re-inspections). For an incomplete application (not a failed inspection), §15.60.010(G) requires the building official to 'issue a written correction notice detailing all deficiencies in the application.' 72% · municipal code