Under the San Mateo County Local Coastal Program (LCP), the County of San Mateo is limited to issuing a maximum of 40 housing unit building permits, including ADUs, in the urban Midcoast each calendar year.¹

The LCP allows the County to exceed the 40-unit limit for affordable housing, in which case the available permits for the following two years are reduced such that the average over the three years does not exceed 40 units per year.²

Due to a large number of affordable housing unit building permits issued at the end of 2025, the County’s available building permits for housing units in the urban Midcoast are severely limited through the end of 2027. As a result, the County is unable to accept building permit applications for new residential units until January 1, 2028, or until an amendment to the LCP that provides relief to the current cap is approved..³

The County will hold a public meeting on June 30 to discuss proposing an amendment to the LCP to modify the 40-unit limit; however, in addition to local approval by the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors, this change also requires approval from the California Coastal Commission (CCC). County staff is actively working with the CCC and will update the public with more information shortly. In the meantime, the County will handle new residential permit projects in the urban Midcoast as follows:  

• New planning permit applications for urban Midcoast residential projects will still be accepted and processed. We encourage applicants to submit planning permit applications now to initiate their entitlement processes, recognizing that processing such permits can, in many instances, take months. Projects with approved Planning permits will be placed on the Waitlist for prioritized building permit application and processing (based on PLN case approval date) when the cap is lifted. However, applicants for planning permits should be aware that they will not be able to apply for a building permit for their project until 2028, or unless and until the LCP is amended.
• For new ADUs/JADUs that typically do not require planning permits, we encourage applicants to apply for a Formal CDX at this time, for placement on the Waitlist for prioritized building permit application and processing (based on CDX approval date) when the cap is lifted.
• Active building permit applications for new housing units will continue to be processed, and permits will be issued.
• Inactive building permit applications (those with no activity for more than 6 months) have been canceled. Requests by applicants to reactivate permits canceled during this period will be prioritized when the cap is lifted. For a request to be approved, applicants must submit a written request to reactivate their canceled application and address all remaining comments and missing items within three months of the cap being lifted.
• New building permit applications for urban Midcoast housing projects cannot be accepted until 2028, or until the LCP is amended. When the cap is lifted, the acceptance and processing of new building permit applications will be prioritized according to the Waitlist (see information above).   Applications not on the Waitlist will be accepted and processed in the order they are received, provided the total number of new residential units on the Waitlist is less than the maximum number of new residential units that can be issued at the time the new application is submitted. 

1. LCP Policy 1.23, “Timing of New Housing Development in the urban Midcoast,” currently limits the maximum number of new dwelling units built in the urban Midcoast to 40 per calendar year, including ADUs.
2. The policy states that if the number of issued building permits for any given year has reached the 40-unit maximum, building permits for affordable housing, including second-dwelling units, may still be issued under the following circumstances:
   1. The units are “affordable” as defined by Section 6102.48.6 of the certified zoning regulations and subject to income and cost/rent restrictions for the life of the development; and
   2. The average growth rate over the three years, including the year of building permit issuance and the following two years, does not exceed 40 units/year.
3. In 2025, building permits were issued for 102 dwelling units, including 71 affordable and 31 non-affordable units. To ensure that the average growth rate over the three years, including the year of building permit issuance and the following two years, does not exceed 40 units per year, the total number of building permits that may be issued for new housing units in 2026 and 2027 is limited to 18, unless the LCP is amended. As of March 2026, no building permits have been issued for new dwelling units in the 2026 calendar year.