Ministerial Approval

Ministerial approval is a permit review pathway under which a government agency must approve an application if it meets all applicable objective standards, without exercising subjective judgment, holding public hearings, or requiring discretionary design review. In the context of ADUs, ministerial approval means the local building or planning department evaluates an ADU application purely against measurable, objective criteria — size, setbacks, height — and must approve it when those criteria are satisfied. California state law mandates ministerial approval for ADU and JADU applications, requiring agencies to approve or deny applications within a defined period of receiving a complete submission.