Chapter 8.304 — ARCHITECTURAL SUPERVISION

In case an application for a building permit is made for any building, structure or other improvement in any of the following districts: “H-1,” “C-1,” “C-2,” “M-1,” or “M-2”; or for any building, structure or other improvement in any district established by this Part when such building, structure or improvement is adjacent to any State Highway or to any Primary or Secondary Highway, as designated by the Highway Classification of the County, then such application shall be accompanied by drawings or sketches showing the front, side and rear elevations of the proposed building, structure or other improvement.

Such drawings or sketches shall be considered by the Commission or its staff an endeavor to provide that such buildings, structures and other improvements shall be so designed and constructed that they will not be of unsightly, undesirable or obnoxious appearance to the extent that they will hinder the orderly and harmonious development of the County, impair the desirability of residence, investment or occupation in the County as appearing to travelers passing through or traveling in the County, limit the opportunity to attain the optimum use and value of land and improvements, impair the desirability of living conditions in the same or adjacent agricultural or residential areas, and/or otherwise adversely affect the general prosperity and welfare. To this end, the Commission shall suggest any changes in the plans of such proposed buildings, structures and other improvements as it may deem to be necessary to accomplish the purposes of this Chapter, and shall not approve any such plans until it is satisfied that such purposes will be accomplished thereby.

No permit, as provided herein, shall be issued unless the plans filed with the application therefore as required in this Chapter shall first have been approved by the Commission. Upon such approval, the Building Inspector of the County shall issue such permit, provided all other provisions of law have been complied with. Every drawing or sketch filed under the provisions of this Chapter shall become the property of the Commission.

San Mateo County, California, Code of Ordinances Title 8 – Zoning & Development Code