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Napa building permits

Verified

Napa, California — as published 2026-09-20.

Verified 2026-09-20 · Source

Codes adopted

TWO PAGES ON THE CITY'S OWN SITE GIVE DIFFERENT EFFECTIVE DATES FOR THE SAME CODE, AND BOTH ARE RECORDED HERE RATHER THAN RECONCILED. The Building Division page: "The City of Napa adopted the 2025 California Building Code effective January 1, 2025 as amended by City Municipal Code Section 15.04.010." The Permits and Plan Review Information page: "Any permits applied for on January 1, 2026, or after must comply with adopted 2025 California Codes."WHICH ONE MATCHES THE STATEWIDE FRAMEWORK: the 2025 California Building Standards Code was published on 2025-07-01 and takes effect 180 days later under Health & Safety Code 18938(b), which is 2026-01-01. The Permits and Plan Review date agrees with that; the Building Division date does not. This record does not declare either page wrong - confirm with the division on 707-257-9540 if the distinction matters to your project.THE LOCAL AMENDMENT VEHICLE IS NAMED: the 2025 code is adopted "as amended by City Municipal Code Section 15.04.010". That section was not opened for this record.THE CITY PUBLISHES A SUMMARY OF 2025 CODE CHANGES as a separate document, which was not opened for this record.Health & Safety Code 18938(b) provides that building standards in the California Building Standards Code "shall apply to all occupancies throughout the state and shall become effective 180 days after publication."

Permit types & fees

Building Permit

Verified

Napa has no online submittal portal at all and says so in capitals. Its counter is open four days a week, closes to new business at 3:30 PM, and its three review tracks run from a counter decision in ten minutes to twenty-one business days.

Verified 2026-09-20 · Source

Requirements

  • THERE IS NO ONLINE SUBMITTAL ROUTE, AND THE CITY LEADS WITH IT: "PLEASE NOTE: THE CITY DOES NOT HAVE AN ONLINE PORTAL FOR SUBMITTALS." Submittals are made in person at the counter. The eTRAKiT system the city does run is for INSPECTION scheduling, not for applications.
  • THREE REVIEW TRACKS, AND THE CITY NAMES WHAT QUALIFIES FOR EACH. Over the Counter: "issued for projects that do not require plans", examples "electrical service change-outs; furnace and water heater change-outs; roofing", needing only a "Completed application with accurate work description."
  • EXPRESS REVIEW IS A TEN-MINUTE DECISION AT THE COUNTER: "Plans reviewed at the counter for minor building projects that require a maximum of 10 - 15 minutes to complete." Examples given: "Minor residential interior remodels; rooftop PV under 10KW; window and door replacement; seismic upgrades; patio covers". It needs "Three sets of plans (minimum 11 x 17-inch paper size)".
  • AND COMMERCIAL TENANT IMPROVEMENTS ARE EXCLUDED FROM IT: "All commercial TI (tenant improvement) projects are not eligible for Express Review and must be submitted for either Rapid or Full review."
  • FULL REVIEW TAKES THREE TO SIX SETS OF PLANS "and additional documentation", per the published submittal checklists.
  • THE CITY ASKS YOU TO RING FIRST: "Prior to submitting for a building permit, we encourage you to contact us to confirm and discuss the details of your project and permitting / plan review options."

Required documents

  • Optional
  • Optional
  • Optional
  • Optional

Fee schedule

Fee typeAmountNotes
Permit and plan review feesNOT TRANSCRIBED for this record.Published through the city's Master Fee Schedule archive. No fee basis is stated on the pages read and the schedule was not opened, so no amount or basis is asserted.
School district development feesCharged by Napa Valley Unified School District, not by the city.
"Depending on the scope of work the project may trigger a submission of development fees from Napa Valley Unified School District which is an outside agency review from the City of Napa. Show full citation

"Depending on the scope of work the project may trigger a submission of development fees from Napa Valley Unified School District which is an outside agency review from the City of Napa. Please contact NVUSD directly for clarification." NVUSD is at 1616 Lincoln Ave, Napa CA 94558, 707-253-6281.

Sanitation district reviewA separate outside agency process."Depending on the scope of work the project may trigger a review from Napa Sanitation District which is an outside agency review from the City of Napa." NapaSan is at 1515 Soscol Ferry Road, Napa CA 94558, 707-258-6000.

Sources & verification

Verified against official sources. Last reviewed 2026-09-20.

Fees, timelines, and adopted codes are researched from each jurisdiction's published records — see how we verify. Requirements change and vary by project, so always confirm the current details with the Napa building department before you submit. PermitBase is an independent reference and is not affiliated with any government agency.

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Permalink: /california/napa-county/napa/as-of/2026-09-20/

Snapshot date: 2026-09-20

Commit: f7c7e8f

Reproducible from PermitBase’s version-controlled dataset, commit f7c7e8f.