November 2026: Important Change in HCD's ADU Sewer Fee Guidance
November 2026 Clarification: Important Changes in HCD's ADU Sewer Fee Guidance
To our petition supporters:
Following our updated petition, I want to clarify important statements contained in our January 19 and September 6, 2025 updates concerning the Ojai Valley Sanitary District (OVSD).
Those updates reflected our interpretation of California ADU law and the HCD guidance available at the time. Since then, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has issued materially different guidance.
On November 2, 2026, HCD advised OVSD that proportionate sewer capacity charges may be imposed on certain ADUs even when they connect through an existing private sewer lateral rather than through a new direct connection to the public sewer main.
HCD's letter expressly supersedes its prior informal guidance on this issue.
What We Are Clarifying
Our earlier updates stated that capacity charges were categorically prohibited unless a new or separate direct connection was mandated.
That remains a legal interpretation we dispute with HCD, but it is not HCD's current position.
Our earlier updates also suggested that because an existing private lateral could accommodate an ADU's wastewater, the ADU necessarily created no additional burden on the broader sewer system.
That engineering conclusion was too broad. Private lateral capacity and public sewer-system capacity are not equivalent.
What Remains Unresolved
HCD's new interpretation does not establish that every capacity charge imposed by OVSD is correctly calculated or legally justified.
Its conclusion is conditional upon compliance with Government Code § 66311.5(e), including applicable proportionality and reasonable-cost requirements.
We continue to question OVSD's methodology for calculating sewer capacity charges.
OVSD generally assesses a standard initial residential capacity charge without scaling it to the primary home's individual square footage or drainage-fixture-unit count. Yet when an ADU is added, the district calculates an additional charge based on the ADU's fixture units.
We believe OVSD should explain the rationale for these different methodologies, identify what capacity was included in the original payment, and demonstrate how additional charges avoid recovering the same costs twice.
Recurring sewer-service charges raise separate questions requiring their own cost-of-service justification.
Our Position Going Forward
We will continue advocating for transparent calculations, fair advance notice, consistent application of California law, and appropriate review of individual disputed assessments.
We have updated the petition's main text to reflect these developments.
Supporting documents:
HCD November 2, 2026 letter:
https://adurights.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/261102-HCD-Letter-to-OVSD-McNulty.pdf
HCD June 6, 2026 correspondence:
https://adurights.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/260606-HCD-to-OVSD-Direct-Connection-Necessary.pdf
HCD November 23, 2020 Technical Assistance Letter:
https://adurights.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/201123-HCD-TAL-to-OVSD.pdf
Thank you for supporting fair, accountable, and transparent sewer charges for California ADU homeowners.
ADU Rights
https://adurights.org/