Palo Verde

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ADU Pass helps homeowners in Palo Verde, Imperial County, California navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. This area covers 1 ZIP code.

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Imperial County — county ADU rules and overlays

County ADU ordinance

Imperial County (population ~180,000) occupies California's southeast corner, bounded by Riverside County to the north, San Diego County to the west, the Colorado River and Arizona to the east, and the international US-Mexico border (Mexicali, Baja California) to the south. The county seat is El Centro; incorporated cities are El Centro, Brawley, Calexico, Imperial, Holtville, Westmorland, and Calipatria. Major unincorporated communities include Niland, Bombay Beach (on the Salton Sea), Heber, Seeley, Ocotillo, Salton City, Plaster City, and Winterhaven. The county Board of Supervisors administers ADU permitting on unincorporated parcels under California Government Code Sec. 65852.2 and 65852.22 (state ADU preemption regime). The economy rests on irrigated agriculture in the Imperial Valley (the largest single irrigation district in the US, fed by Colorado River water via the All-American Canal), the geothermal field at the Salton Sea's southern shore (the Salton Sea Known Geothermal Resource Area, the largest US geothermal field outside the Geysers), border-crossing logistics at Calexico, and seasonal recreation around the Salton Sea.

State-floor overlay: California state ADU preemption applies in full to unincorporated parcels. AB 1033 condo-conversion election status pending verification. AB 976 prohibits owner-occupancy mandates on detached ADUs. SB 9 urban lot-split provisions apply only within incorporated cities, not in unincorporated Imperial. HCD oversight: ordinance amendments submitted within 60 days per Sec. 65852.2(h). Border-zone parcels carry CBP setback and security-easement constraints (federal preemption).

County regulatory overlays

Imperial County overlays of consequence: Salton Sea Known Geothermal Resource Area (the largest US geothermal field outside the Geysers, with major lithium-extraction development underway at the Salton Sea Geothermal Field); Salton Sea playa exposure with PM10 air-quality regulation by Imperial County Air Pollution Control District and CARB; CAL FIRE State Responsibility Area covering the western mountain slopes (Ocotillo, In-Ko-Pah, Jacumba foothills); FEMA SFHA along the Colorado River, All-American Canal, New River, and Alamo River; very high seismic exposure (Imperial Fault, San Andreas southern, Brawley Seismic Zone) with Alquist-Priolo earthquake fault zones; international border with Mexico (CBP setback and security easement); Quechan Tribal jurisdiction at Fort Yuma; Anza-Borrego Desert State Park abutting the western county; Naval Air Facility El Centro (federal); and IID service area boundary (water/power dependency).

County permitting (unincorporated parcels)

Imperial County Planning and Development Services Department issues ADU permits for unincorporated parcels including Heber, Seeley, Niland, Salton City, Bombay Beach, Ocotillo, Plaster City, and Winterhaven. Practical permitting frictions: extreme summer heat (115F+ design temperatures) drives elevated mechanical-system sizing requirements; the Salton Sea playa exposure (lakebed shrinking ~1 ft/yr since 2018 Quantification Settlement Agreement runoff cuts) creates PM10 air-quality issues for shoreline parcels (Bombay Beach, Salton City, Niland); seismic exposure is among California's highest (Imperial Fault, San Andreas southern segment, Brawley Seismic Zone - the 1940 M6.9 Imperial Valley and 1979 M6.4 Imperial Valley earthquakes are reference events); Colorado River and All-American Canal levee floodplains affect eastern parcels; the international border at Calexico imposes CBP setback and 60-foot federal easement constraints; geothermal-field parcels around the southern Salton Sea (Calipatria, Niland) carry mineral-rights and induced-seismicity considerations. Water supply outside the IID service area is severely constrained.

DepartmentImperial County Planning and Development Services Department

Address801 Main Street, El Centro, CA 92243

Phone442-265-1736

California state — ADU law and programs

State ADU law

California has the most aggressive statewide ADU preemption regime in the US, built from ~15 bills passed 2019-2025 and enforced by the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). The 2026 HCD ADU Handbook addendum (in effect with the 2025 Title 24 code cycle) is the operative state-level reference. The regime does four things at once: (1) preempts local zoning that would ban or unreasonably restrict ADUs; (2) imposes by-right ministerial approval with short statutory deadlines; (3) caps fees and utility-connection charges; and (4) empowers HCD to void non-compliant local ordinances.

State HOA preemption

California has the strongest statewide HOA-preemption regime in the US for accessory dwelling units, built from two bills: AB 670 (2019) voided ADU-prohibiting covenants on single-family residential lots, and AB 3182 (2020) extended and codified the preemption into the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act (Civil Code §§ 4740 / 4741). The combination prohibits common-interest communities from banning ADUs, restricting rentals below 25% of separate interests, or treating ADUs as separate HOA interests. Limits remain: HOAs retain authority over reasonable design standards and statutory height limits, and the 2026 Carlsbad case (CalMatters coverage) established that an HOA's documented design-standards regime can effectively delay or constrain ADU approval short of outright prohibition.

State financing programs

California's flagship state-level ADU financing program — the CalHFA ADU Grant Program — is paused and has not been refunded since the original $100 million allocation was fully deployed 2023-12-28. The program provided up to $40,000 per qualifying homeowner for pre-construction and non-recurring closing costs and financed approximately 2,500 ADUs in two rounds. As of 2026-04, no new funding round has been announced in the state budget. CalHFA continues to publish anti-scam warnings because bad actors actively solicit homeowners claiming access to grant funds that no longer exist. State-level financing activity has shifted to local pilot programs (San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, San Diego) and private financing products (Fannie Mae ADU mortgage, HELOC, construction-to-permanent).

CalHFA ADU Grant Program
HCD ADU Funding index

State housing programs

California's state-level ADU programs are concentrated at HCD (technical guidance, ordinance review, enforcement) and the paused CalHFA grant pipeline (covered under stateFinancing). The state does not operate a central pre-approved ADU plan library — instead, AB 1332 (2024) created a preemption framework for local pre-approved plans with a 30-day ministerial-approval deadline, and major cities (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, Sacramento, Berkeley) have rolled out their own plan catalogs. The California YIMBY coalition and other housing-policy organizations play an influential role in bill drafting; they are not state agencies but effectively drive much of the ADU legislative agenda. The Title 24 code cycle (now 2025, in effect for 2026 permits) is the authoritative building-code baseline.

Federal (United States) — ADU-relevant rules and programs

Federal ADU law

The United States has no federal statute that directly regulates accessory dwelling unit entitlement or design. Land-use authority over ADUs resides with states and local governments under the traditional police power. Federal engagement is limited to financing (Fannie/Freddie/FHA/VA/USDA), flood insurance (FEMA/NFIP), and discretionary housing programs (HUD), which are recorded in sibling sections of this file.

Federal financing programs

Federal housing-finance agencies and GSEs set nationwide underwriting rules that govern whether an ADU can be financed, appraised, and counted toward mortgage qualifying income. The relevant actors are Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA (HUD), VA, and USDA Rural Development.

Federal tax credits

There is no ADU-specific federal tax credit. ADUs may incidentally qualify for existing federal energy-efficiency and clean-energy tax credits when the ADU construction includes qualifying measures.

Federal housing programs

HUD administers several discretionary programs that can fund ADU-related activity at the grantee's election, but none is an ADU-specific program.

ZIP Code

92266

Post Office

15 Ben Hulse Hwy, 92266