Permit Bearings Prototype
Sections

Applicant-first California permit prototype

Get your bearings before you file.

Walk through a made-up Woodland detached ADU example to see a candidate route, reported checklist gaps, official sources, and questions to take to staff.

Open the made-up Woodland example Check a different project

No sign-in. No uploads. Project answers stay in your browser and are not sent to or stored by this demo.

Use it to prepare, not to predict

Prototype, not a permit decision

Permit Bearings does not verify parcel facts, reproduce a complete local checklist, determine final eligibility, certify completeness, or approve a permit.

One traceable applicant journey

Know the path in. Test the path out.

The example carries the same made-up project through four bounded stages. Each stage keeps its sources, limits, and unresolved facts visible.

  1. Project facts

    Start with made-up answers about the place and proposed work.

  2. Candidate route

    See which bounded rule path the stated facts appear to match.

  3. Reported packet

    Compare reported items with one published Woodland checklist.

  4. Staff questions

    Carry gaps and uncertainty forward as specific questions.

Before you start

Use the information you already have. You will be asked for:

  • the city or county where the property is located;
  • the type of housing project; and
  • facts about the dwelling and proposed work.

If you do not know an answer, choose “I’m not sure.” The result will tell you what to ask staff instead of filling in the gap.

For staff and reviewers

Screen local ordinance text

Screen pasted ADU or SB 9 text for a bounded set of provisions that may need staff or counsel review.

Inspect sources and prototype limits

See source dates, dependency links, structured regression cases, known gaps, and a source-change rehearsal.

Current scope

The prototype includes statewide candidate rules for ADUs, JADUs, and SB 9. The made-up Woodland example compares reported packet facts with one source-bound City checklist. Other local information remains thin, and the Davis record reports only the City’s published processing categories and preserves HCD’s unresolved ordinance-status warning. Statewide screening does not mean a jurisdiction’s local code, forms, parcel facts, or exceptions are fully encoded.