Town of Colma

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% · ordinance
• What does this authority permit itself, and what does it delegate? Both 80% · ordinance + permit application form
• Is a permit required for a residential rooftop PV system? Yes 95% · ordinance
• Is there a separate electrical permit, or is it combined? Combined 65% · published application form (PDF, created Dec 2016)
• Is a HOA or architectural approval required first? No 50% · ordinance (absence checked) + state law inference
• Is there a historic-district review? No 55% · ordinance TOC (absence checked)
• Is a wind or windstorm certification required? No 70% · ordinance (absence checked)
• Is a Specific Use Permit or Council approval ever required? Yes, but narrowly: an Administrative Use Permit may be required only if the Building Official finds, based on substantial evidence, that the system 'could have a specific, adverse impact upon the public health and safety'; that decision is appealable to the City Council 90% · ordinance
• Is there a system-size cap on residential generation? No absolute cap on residential solar generation size, but the streamlined 'small residential rooftop solar energy system' definition -- the only path with guaranteed nondiscretionary, expedited processing -- is capped at 10 kW AC nameplate (or 30 kW thermal), limited to single/duplex-family dwellings, and the array must not exceed the Town's maximum legal building height 85% · ordinance

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 50% · department page (forms list) + ordinance silence
• Must the contractor be registered with this authority before applying? No 55% · department page (absence checked)
• Is a homeowner permitted to self-install and self-permit? Yes 60% · department page (forms list)

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.

• Is a structural PE stamp required, and at what threshold? No PE-stamp threshold is stated; the ordinance requires only that the applicant verify structural adequacy 'through the use of standard engineering evaluation techniques' before submitting, without mandating a licensed engineer's stamp for small residential rooftop systems 60% · ordinance
• Is an electrical PE stamp required, and at what threshold? No PE-stamp threshold is stated for the electrical scope either; the applicant must verify (at their own cost) that the existing electrical system can carry the new PV load 'using standard electrical inspection techniques,' with no licensed-engineer stamp mandated 55% · ordinance

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? No dedicated online permitting portal; applications are submitted by email to building@colma.ca.gov, and inspections/appointments are booked via a Town-hosted Microsoft 365 booking page (outlook.office365.com/book/TownofColma@colma.ca.gov) 80% · department page
• Can the whole application be completed online? No 75% · department page

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? No numeric turnaround is stated; CMC 5.05.060(d) only requires the Building Official to issue the permit 'within a reasonable period of time after receipt of a complete application' -- there is no day-count standard for solar specifically (contrast with CMC 5.05.080's explicit numeric inspection-scheduling standard, discussed at Q50). 70% · ordinance
• How long is an issued permit valid before it expires? 12 months (1 year) from issuance to commence work, or the permit becomes null and void; a lapsed permit may be reactivated within 2 years of the original issuance date (fee = 1/2 of original permit fee if unstarted, 1/2 or 1/4 if work had commenced and was suspended) 90% · ordinance
• Which utility handles interconnection here? Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) 65% · secondary inference from town news content + county-wide utility territory

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 95% · adopting ordinance
• Which building code edition is in force? 2025 California Building Code (based on the 2024 IBC) and 2025 California Residential Code (based on the 2024 IRC) 95% · adopting ordinance
• Which fire code edition is in force? 2025 California Fire Code (based on the 2024 IFC) 95% · adopting ordinance
• Are there local amendments to any of the above? Yes 95% · ordinance
• What is the installation judged against? The 2025 CBC/CRC/CEC(2023 NEC)/CFC/CGBSC, all as locally amended by CMC Ch. 5.04 (Ord. 2026-828, 1/14/26), plus the process requirements of CMC Ch. 5.05 for small residential rooftop solar 90% · ordinance

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 local ridge-setback or pathway rule for rooftop PV; the Fire Prevention Code chapter's enumerated local CFC amendments (Ch.1 admin, fire-hydrant Table C102.1 spacing, Chapter 4 emergency planning, water-flow/meter sizing, basement sprinklers, standpipe risers, Appendix D fire-apparatus roads) do not touch CFC §605.11 (rooftop PV). Baseline unamended 2025 CFC §605.11 pathway/setback provisions would apply by default 65% · ordinance (absence checked)

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? Yes, per NEC Article 690.12 (Rapid Shutdown) as incorporated via the 2023 NEC / 2025 CEC, adopted by the Town unamended on this point 80% · adopting ordinance (inference)

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 80% · ordinance (absence checked)
• Does it specify letter height, colour or material? No 75% · ordinance (absence checked)

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? Yes, but only via the baseline unamended 2025 CEC's general listing/labeling requirements for all electrical equipment; no Colma-specific solar-equipment approved list was found 55% · ordinance (inference)
• Are batteries permitted, and under what conditions? Not locally specified beyond the state baseline: the Fire Prevention Code chapter's enumerated local CFC amendments add no battery/ESS provision at all (zero hits for 'battery,' 'ESS,' or 'energy storage' across the full Building & Construction PDF), so batteries in R-3 dwellings would be governed entirely by the unamended 2025 CFC Chapter 12 as it stands statewide, not by any Colma-specific condition 65% · ordinance (absence checked)
• Is there a separate ESS permit or inspection? No evidence of a distinct, separate ESS-only permit or inspection process locally 55% · ordinance (absence checked)
• Is a ground mount treated as a structure? Yes, functionally 55% · ordinance (inference)
• Is there a local rule on service upgrades or busbar sizing? No local rule; CMC 5.04.090 adopts the 2025 CEC by reference with zero amendment subsections (unlike the Building, Residential, Mechanical, Plumbing and Fire chapters, each of which lists lettered local amendments) -- confirmed by reading the entire Electrical Code section 80% · ordinance (absence checked)
• Is a specific mounting system or attachment spacing required? No local rule; CMC 5.05.040(a)(1) requires only that the applicant 'verify... that the support structure... is stable and adequate' using standard engineering evaluation techniques -- no specific mounting system or attachment-spacing standard is stated anywhere in Ch. 5.04 or 5.05 60% · ordinance (absence checked)

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 85% · department page
• How much notice is required? 1 business day 90% · department page
• Are same-day or AM/PM windows offered? AM (8:30am-12pm) and PM (1pm-4:30pm) windows are offered; same-day bookings are explicitly not accommodated 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? Yes 90% · ordinance
• If delegated, to whom? Not delegated for the required building inspection (performed by the Town itself); a separate, optional fire-safety inspection 'may be performed by the Colma Fire Protection District, as determined by the Building Official' -- CFPD is an independent special fire district, not a private firm, and its own website (colmafd.org, linked from the Town's own CFPD listing page) is dead in DNS as of this run 75% · ordinance + DNS test

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? Only one inspection is required for eligible expedited small residential rooftop solar systems, performed by the Town's Building Division; a separate, optional fire-safety inspection by the Colma Fire Protection District may also occur 'as determined by the Building Official' 85% · ordinance
• Is a rough-in or mid-roof inspection required? No 80% · ordinance

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? No 75% · department page (absence checked)

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.

• What is issued on pass? Final 50% · ordinance (inference)
• How are corrections issued and cleared? Incomplete applications receive a written correction notice detailing all deficiencies for resubmission (CMC 5.05.060(b)); if a system fails inspection, a subsequent inspection is authorized but 'need not conform to the requirements of this section' (i.e., the expedited-process guarantees do not carry over) (CMC 5.05.080(b)) 85% · ordinance