Bishop

Mono County portion

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

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Mono County — county ADU rules and overlays

County ADU ordinance

Mono County is California's eastern Sierra county (population ~13,000), running along the Nevada border from Topaz Lake (north) to the southern boundary at Mountain Pass / Inyo County. The county seat is Bridgeport (unincorporated). The only incorporated city is the Town of Mammoth Lakes (population ~7,200, the resort town anchored by Mammoth Mountain Ski Area). Unincorporated communities include Lee Vining (Mono Lake gateway), June Lake (resort village in the June Mountain area), Crowley Lake, McGee Creek, Tom's Place, Swall Meadows, Paradise, Walker, Coleville, Topaz, Bridgeport, Bodie (the famous ghost town, now a state historic park), and the Long Valley Caldera communities (Mammoth-area outlying parcels). The county Board of Supervisors administers ADUs in unincorporated areas under California Government Code Sec. 65852.2 and 65852.22 (state ADU preemption, as amended by AB 68/881, SB 13, AB 670/3182, AB 2221/SB 897, AB 976, and AB 1033). Practical permitting frictions are dominated by extensive federal land coverage (Inyo National Forest, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, BLM Bishop Field Office, Bodie State Historic Park, plus Yosemite National Park's eastern boundary at Tioga Pass), severe winter snow loads (design loads of 100-300+ psf at elevation), short construction season, eastern Sierra resort short-term-rental (STR) friction in the Mammoth Lakes / June Lake / Crowley areas, Mono Lake hydrologic-overlay considerations, and Long Valley Caldera (active volcanic system) seismic / geothermal-hazard considerations.

State-floor overlay: California state ADU preemption applies in full. AB 1033 condo-conversion election is at the county's option and Mono County has not adopted it as of last check. AB 976 prohibits owner-occupancy mandates on detached ADUs through 2025 expiry. HCD oversight: any county ordinance amendment must be submitted to HCD within 60 days of adoption per Sec. 65852.2(h). Federal lands (Inyo NF, Humboldt-Toiyabe NF, BLM Bishop, Bodie SHP, Yosemite NP eastern strip) are outside county zoning. Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) owns large tracts of land in Long Valley and Owens watershed - LADWP-owned land within county jurisdiction follows county zoning but LADWP rarely sells, so most of those parcels are leased/lessee structures rather than fee-simple ADU construction.

County regulatory overlays

Mono County overlays of consequence: extensive federal land coverage (Inyo National Forest, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, BLM Bishop Field Office, Bodie State Historic Park, Mono Basin National Forest Scenic Area, Yosemite NP eastern strip - together covering the great majority of the county and outside county zoning entirely); CAL FIRE State Responsibility Area Very High FHSZ along the eastern Sierra escarpment; FEMA SFHA along the Walker River, Owens River headwaters, and tributary creeks; Long Valley Caldera active volcanic / seismic overlay (Mammoth-area parcels under Long Valley Volcanic Observatory monitoring); Mono Basin National Forest Scenic Area protecting Mono Lake's hydrology and tufa formations; Bodie State Historic Park (the iconic ghost town - county-zoning-exempt as state property); LADWP-owned land in Long Valley and Owens watershed; and Mammoth Lakes / June Lake / Crowley Lake STR-zone overlays.

County permitting (unincorporated parcels)

Mono County Community Development Department issues ADU permits in unincorporated areas. Mammoth Lakes town has its own building department for parcels inside town limits. Practical permitting frictions: severe winter snow loads (design loads of 100-300+ psf at elevation; Mammoth Lakes carries the highest design snow load of any incorporated CA city, ~300 psf), very high fire severity zones across the eastern Sierra escarpment in the State Responsibility Area, short construction season (typical practical window May-October at lower elevations, July-September at June Lake / Crowley elevation), septic/well dependence outside small water-district service areas (Lee Vining, Crowley Lake CSD, June Lake PUD, Bridgeport, Walker, Coleville), STR-overlay restrictions in Mammoth-area unincorporated parcels (June Lake, Crowley Lake) where the county has established STR-zone rules, Long Valley Caldera seismic and geothermal overlays in the Mammoth-area parcels, and Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve scenic / hydrologic-protection considerations on parcels near the lake.

DepartmentMono County Community Development Department

AddressPO Box 347, Bridgeport, CA 93517 / Mammoth Lakes Office: 437 Old Mammoth Road, Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546

Phone760-924-1800

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

93514

Post Office

585 W Line St, 93514