Opinion No. (2006)

BILL LOCKYER Attorney General GREGORY L. GONOT Deputy Attorney General THE HONORABLE SHEILA JAMES KUEHL, MEMBER OF THE STATE SENATE, has requested an opinion on the following question: Are interim grading documents, including geology reports, compaction reports, and soils reports, submitted by a property owner to a city's building department in conjunction with an application for a building permit subject to public inspection and copying under the California Public Records Act at the time the documents are first received by the building department? CONCLUSION Interim grading documents, including geology reports, compaction reports, and soils reports, submitted by a property owner to a city's building department in conjunction with an application for a building permit are subject to public inspection and copying under the California Public Records Act at the time the documents are first received by the building department. ANALYSIS We are informed that a city commonly requires property owners in hillside areas to submit interim grading documents, including geology reports, compaction reports, and soils reports, when applying for building permits from the city's building department.…