ADU Pass
Garden Grove
Orange County portion
Also in: No County
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Garden Grove, Orange County, California navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. This area covers 5 ZIP codes.
Map
ADU details
ADU legality: allowed
Garden Grove has the ADU Go pre-approved plan program (4 city-owned plans available) and FAQs in English, Vietnamese, Spanish, and Korean — reflecting the city's multilingual community.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 150 | $1,700 | $71,250 | $72,950 |
| 600 | 600 | $1,700 | $285,000 | $286,700 |
| midpoint | 675 | $1,700 | $320,625 | $322,325 |
| maximum | 1,200 | $1,700 | $570,000 | $571,700 |
Fee breakdown (as of 2026-04)
Permitting process
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Long-term rental of ADUs is explicitly permitted. California's owner-occupancy preemption applies to ADUs (but not JADUs).
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions Garden Grove regulates short-term rentals separately from ADU permitting. The city permits hotel/motel use only in commercial zones; STR in residential zones is constrained, especially near the Anaheim Resort buffer.
- Office rental: with-restrictions Renting an ADU as office space to outside tenants requires a home occupation permit; not outright permitted in residential zones.
- Home office: yes Owner home-office use is permitted with limits on signage, customer traffic, and employees per GG home occupation rules.
- Studio / workshop: yes Owner artist studio is a permitted accessory use in residential zones.
- Agriculture: with-restrictions Limited urban agriculture is permitted; livestock is highly restricted in Garden Grove's largely-built-out residential zones.
- Relative support: yes Family-occupancy ADU and JADU pathways are explicitly permitted. JADU still requires owner-occupancy on the property.
Incentives
Contacts
Contractor directory (1)
Scope: city.
General Contractor (1)
- ADU Homes Inc. ADU specialist
website
Utilities
- Water: Garden Grove Water Services (Public Works) · 21d connect · $4,500
- Sewer: Orange County Sanitation District · 21d connect · $5,500
- Electric: Southern California Edison (SCE) · 14d connect · $1,800
- Gas: Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) · 21d connect · $1,500
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 7mo · typical 11mo · worst 16mo
Modular pathway inspectors are occasional with modular
Financing
State ADU loans:
- CalHFA ADU Grant Program up to $40,000
- HCD ADU Funding index
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
California has the strongest statewide HOA-preemption regime in the US for accessory dwelling units. AB 670 (2019) voided ADU-prohibiting covenants on single-family residential lots; AB 3182 (2020) extended the preemption into the Davis-Stirling Act. Garden Grove is a largely older, mid-century-built city with relatively low HOA prevalence; HOAs cluster in the few newer planned developments and in condominium-converted properties. Most R-1 single-family parcels are non-HOA.
Regulatory overlays (5)
- flood-zone
Garden Grove has FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area parcels, primarily near the East Garden Grove-Wintersburg Channel and Bolsa Chica Creek. ADU Go pre-approved plans are NOT eligible on parcels in Flood Zone A; custom plans with elevation certificates are required there. - airport-noise-zone
Some northern Garden Grove parcels are within the Fullerton Municipal Airport noise contour and Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos overflight area; sound attenuation may be required. - seismic-retrofit-zone
Seismic Design Category D2 per ASCE 7-22; the Newport-Inglewood Fault Zone runs nearby and the city sits on Quaternary alluvium with moderate liquefaction susceptibility. - other
Anaheim Resort buffer: GG parcels along the Harbor/Disney Way/Chapman corridor (north city) sit within the Disneyland Resort noise contour and traffic overlay. - other
Orange County Koreatown business overlay (Garden Grove Boulevard between Beach and Brookhurst) — designated by City Council 2019; ADUs in adjacent residential parcels see strong rental demand from Korean-American community served by the corridor.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
- Amendment
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: Garden Grove Municipal Code Title 9, Chapter 9.54 — Accessory Dwelling Units and Junior Accessory Dwelling Units, adopted 2020-01-15, last amended 2025-09-01
- 2020-01-15 — Garden Grove ADU Application 2020 (initial Chapter 9.54 publication) (city-ordinance)
Garden Grove's first dedicated ADU application packet aligning with the AB 68/881/SB 13 framework.
Effect: Established local intake process; introduced ministerial review for compliant ADUs and JADUs. - 2021-01-01 — Garden Grove pre-approved ADU plan grant award (city-ordinance)
City received state grant to develop the four city-owned pre-approved ADU plans that became ADU Go.
Effect: Funded the ADU Go plan catalog (ADUGO-CP-1 through ADUGO-CP-4) that launched in 2024. - 2022-01-01 — Garden Grove Ordinance 2929 — SB 9 implementation (city-ordinance)
Adopted SB 9 implementation provisions for two-unit residential developments and urban lot splits.
Effect: Codified the SB 9 pathway alongside the ADU pathway in single-family zones; ADUs may still be added on top of an SB 9 split. - 2024-01-01 — Garden Grove ADU Application — 2024 Update (city-ordinance)
Updated ADU intake forms reflecting current state law and ADU Go integration.
Effect: Streamlined intake; integrated ADU Go plan-selection step into the ADU application. - 2024-06-01 — ADU Go pre-approved plan program launch (city-ordinance)
Garden Grove launched ADU Go with 4 city-owned pre-approved plans (447, 630, 750, and 1000 sqft).
Effect: Removed plan-development cost for property owners; bypasses architectural-design plan-check cycle for site-specific portion only. - 2025-01-01 — AB 1332 statewide pre-approved ADU mandate effective (state-law)
AB 1332 requires every California local agency to maintain a pre-approved ADU plan program by January 1, 2025.
Effect: Garden Grove already in compliance via ADU Go (launched 2024); city now also required to accept and post applicant-submitted pre-approved designs. - 2025-09-01 — Zoning Amendment A-042-2025(A) — Chapter 9.54 conformance (city-ordinance)
Proposed Chapter 9.54 update bringing GG ordinance into conformance with SB 897, AB 2221, SB 477, AB 434, AB 1332, AB 1033, AB 976, SB 1077, SB 1211, AB 2533.
Effect: Comprehensive bring-into-conformance with the 2022-2024 California ADU statute updates including SB 897 height/size, AB 1033 condo conversion, and AB 976 owner-occupancy permanence.
Known issues (3)
- policy-review — Bring-into-conformance amendment with SB 897, AB 2221, SB 477, AB 434, AB 1332, AB 1033, AB 976, SB 1077, SB 1211, AB 2533. Until adopted, applicants should confirm with planning whether the most recent state-law provisions apply to their specific submittal.
- other — Owners on parcels along the East Garden Grove-Wintersburg Channel or Bolsa Chica Creek must use custom plans plus elevation certificates.
- other — Parcels along the Disney/Harbor/Chapman corridor face elevated traffic, noise, and tourism-related land-use overlays. Strong STR demand here, but commercial vs residential STR rules differ.
Orange County — county ADU rules and overlays
County ADU ordinance
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).
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 Codes
- 92840
- 92841
- 92843
- 92844
- 92845
Post Office
- 10441 Stanford Ave, 92842