Pre-Approved ADU Program

The City of Lakewood has a (AB 1332 compliant) pre-approved ADU program that property owners may use to streamline their ADU project.

Architects and Designers may participate in the program by submitting standardized ADU construction plans and paying the appropriate fees (listed below).

Plans are reviewed by the Planning and the Building and Safety sections.

Once the plans are approved, they will be posted on the City of Lakewood website for consideration by property owners.

Fees

These fees will apply to your project:

ADU Planning review fee.
Building plan check fee.
School fee (paid at the school district).
Construction of Dwelling Unit Tax.
Building permit fees.

For Property Owners

Step 1.Select a Pre-Approved ADU Plan

Review the options in the section below (for Studio, 1, 2 or 3+ bedrooms) and click on the desired floor plan to contact the designer for more information.

Step 2.Complete the Hold-Harmless Agreement

Read the Hold-Harmless Agreement and if you agree with the provisions, complete it, sign it, and save it as a PDF to upload in the next step.

Download the Property Owner Hold-Harmless Agreement(PDF, 111KB)

Step 3.Upload plans and agreement to the portal

Upload your plans and the signed Hold-Harmless Agreement through Lakewood's Planning portal.

Planning Portal (OpenGov)

For Architects and Designers

Step 1.Review the City's ADU requirements

If you are an architect or designer interested in having your ADU plans on our website:

Review the City's ADU requirements(PDF, 2MB)

Step 2.Upload your ADU plans

Plans are uploaded to the City's Planning Portal, along with the required Hold-Harmless letter.

City's Planning Portal

(PDF, 111KB)Download the Plan Preparer Hold-Harmless letter(PDF, 111KB)

Step 3.Pay the appropriate fees

After the plans are approved by Planning, the architect or designer will be provided with instructions for uploading the plans for Building Plan Check by the Building and Safety Section.

The City will contact you for payment of the Building Plan Check fee.

Step 4.Plans loaded to Lakewood website

After the plans are approved by Building and Safety, the floor plan, elevations and roof plan will be added to the City's pre-approved ADU website.

Property owners that select a pre-approved plan will contact the architect or designer for the preparation of a site-specific site plan and to address any required or property owner- requested modifications to the plans.

The posting of pre-approved ADU plans pursuant to CGC Section 65852.27 shall not be considered an endorsement of the architect or designer or approval of the applicant’s application for an ADU by the City of Lakewood.

Download the PDF version of these pre-approval steps(PDF, 76KB)