Ontario, CA Solar Energy: Expedited Solar Permitting (2026)

04 requires the Building Department to adopt an administrative, nondiscretionary review process to expedite small residential rooftop solar energy system applications, and directs that any application meeting the approved checklist and standard plan be deemed complete, with the Building Department issuing a building permit or other non-discretionary permit within three business days of that determination. Review under the expedited path is limited to whether the applicant meets local, state, and federal health and safety requirements; the Building Official cannot use the expedited process to impose discretionary design conditions.

If an application is deemed incomplete, the Building Department must send the applicant a written correction notice detailing every deficiency and any additional documentation needed for resubmission, rather than simply denying the permit outright. Only one inspection is required and performed for systems eligible for expedited review, and that inspection must happen in a timely manner and should consolidate multiple trade inspections into a single visit rather than scheduling them separately. If the system fails that inspection, a follow-up inspection is authorized but is not bound by the same expedited timelines or consolidation requirement that governed the first one.

This framework, adopted by Ordinance 3026 effective October 1, 2015, implements the streamlined, checklist-based model recommended in the California Solar Permitting Guidebook rather than a locally invented review procedure.