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I really appreciate this perspective. I handle permitting in California too and know firsthand how social justice factors weigh heavily in government decision-making. For example, the County of Orange (who I work with closely) sometimes needs to clear out homeless encampments in our wetland...

Based on my experience, I'd have to agree with this. As mentioned above, my building department's primary concern ultimately centered around possible structural requirements associated with the proposed framing work. I assured them that the walls being modified were not load bearing and cited...

I never ceased to be amazed (and frankly, a little impressed) by how the "skip the permit" crowd presents itself on threads like this one. You always get a few people who are harshly critical of the permitting office - in many cases, to an extreme degree - and who really don't pull any punches...

Thanks for sharing! I think that's essentially how things worked in my case. Before the City could issue the permit to me (yes, I received the permit this week!), they made me aware that I would be designated as "Owner-Builder" on the permit. I understand this means that all liability in terms...

Badge added :). Look forward to chatting with you on the forum.

Hi Inspector Parker - thanks for joining Permitting Talk! When it comes to answering permitting questions on a forum like ours, there's really no substitute to having experienced permitting staff like yourself make themselves available to the community. FYI, I myself am based out of San Diego...

Would a low voltage electrical permit be needed, similar to what's required for a security system? Just my first thought - this definitely isn't my area of expertise.

It sounds like your staff were having to scan all the incoming paper files? Or were you using a scanning service? Back when we were still operating under a hybrid paper/digital policy, I'd scan hard copy submittals here and there but it was so time-consuming. I'd usually end up just requesting...

We started our "electronic office" transition back in 2015 and the work to scan all those old paper files is still ongoing. Spreading the effort out over 10+ years and tackling it in ~5-year chunks has definitely made the effort much more manageable than if we'd tried to do it all at once. Our...

I'm not sure having everything properly permitted would increase a property's value, but it would certainly help the property retain value. For example, if you need to make a claim on your homeowner's insurance for damage to a renovated area but never got that area permitted in the first place...

I called the San Marcos Building Department on Thursday and was pleased to hear that my application had already been assigned to a permit tech. The person who answered my call transferred me to the permit tech and I was able to speak with them directly about the status of my application. The...

As far as customer service goes, I think this is a point worth highlighting. As permitting staff, simply letting the applicant know you have a pulse can be critical in terms of providing the applicant with needed assurance and alleviating their frustration level. Even just a 10-second email...

Good point, Chris. I can easily imagine projects where the contractor doesn't think they'll need to get permitted but where the job is complex enough that they're not 100% sure about that fact. Or maybe they know the scope of work could change at some point down the road (e.g., after they see...

In the federal government, issuing permits for activities that we don't actually have the legal authority to regulate is ostensibly verboten. However, there are sometimes gray areas and jurisdictional questions can be a matter of interpretation by permitting staff. We'll sometimes encounter...

The drawings I submitted with my permit application are shown below and attached. I appreciate the word of warning, @SiteConEng, but I don't think anyone can possibly accuse me of legal misrepresentation here ;). For any authorities who may be reading, I want to be clear that my 10-year-old son...

Update: I talked to the Building Official yesterday and they confirmed that a simple sketch - not plans prepared by a licensed architect - is all that's required for my small laundry room remodel. I summarized the direction I received from the Building Official over in this post.

Thanks everyone for your input on this! I think the overall award for best advice on this goes to @Emily C, who recommended I double-check with my Building Official to confirm whether the department truly doesn't have wiggle room on the licensed architect requirement (see this post). Well, I...

Good point, @Director Doug. The various news reports covering the Supreme Court's ruling appear to use the terms "permit fee" and "impact fee" interchangeably, when really it was a traffic impact fee that was at issue here. Regardless, the point of the ruling is that legislatures (e.g...

Thanks. I just left the Building Official a voicemail. Agreed on inquiring fully at the department level and then going higher. I think talking to the Building Official should also help clarify whether the licensed architect requirement is rigid policy or if flexibility/discretion can in fact be...

If I'm going to be at all civically minded, I feel like my next step probably needs to be contacting city hall or the mayor's office or something. I am a city taxpayer after all, so it really is my responsibility to engage my local government and voice opposition to my building department's...