With the changes in the economic climate the budgets for many cities have gone way down and with it, City staff has dramatically reduced and has not been replaced. Even though the City staff has reduced, that is not the case with new developments. There has been an increase in the number of developments and… View Article The post Introduction to Permit Basics appeared first on Scout Services.

With the changes in the economic climate the budgets for many cities have gone way down and with it, City staff has dramatically reduced and has not been replaced. Even though the City staff has reduced, that is not the case with new developments. There has been an increase in the number of developments and with that comes an increase in the number of building permits that are being requested. There was a report from the US Census Bureau that said permits for February 2015 was 3.0% above the revised January rate of 1,060,000 building permits issued and was 7.7% above the February 2014 estimate of 1,014,000 building permits issued.

Since there is such a high demand for building permits, but not as many people to respond to the requests, before you contact City Hall to ask about which permits you may need to get, you should first do some due diligence online. There is a vast amount of information online through the City website that may make the process go more smoothly for everyone involved.

If you have never done this before, there are a few things that can help you to obtain the right information. The first is to know the address and assessor’s parcel number for the project site you are working on. You will need to have both pieces of information since the address can sometimes apply to more than one business or to multiple tenants.

You will also want to verify what jurisdiction it is in, since there can be situations in which an address that has a City name in it could actually be located within the County’s jurisdiction. A good way to do this is to search for an interactive map on Google. Then, you will want to confirm what the Zoning is. This is important because depending on what the Zoning is for the site, what you are proposing may not even be permissible.

In order to establish exactly which type of permits you will need, you should develop a thorough, but concise scope of the work you want to do. Ask yourself basic questions such as:

  • What work is being done?
  • Is the property currently vacant?
  • Was the space formerly occupied by a tenant?
  • Will there be grading or paving involved?

Based on the extent of the work that you are planning on doing, there may be more or less permits than you would think. You can start to research the permits you will need by searching terms that directly relate to the work you are doing, i.e. “City of Joliet Sign Permit,” or “City of Joliet Tenant Improvement Permit.”

Another important element to know is what the square footage is of the work that will be done and what the valuation is. Most of the City fees will be dependent on the square footage or what the overall valuation is.

After you have done your research, it would be an appropriate time to confirm the information with the City. Your investigation into the process will help to speed it along and ensure that everything goes as smoothly as possible.