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The Permit Process for New
Commercial Buildings-
The Dream-
I think every person that dreams of starting their own business,
or that has an established business, dreams of building their own
new building, or renovating or expanding an existing building, that is
designed to suit the individual and special needs of that particular
business. Or perhaps they think it may be more feasible to buy an
older building and add on to or renovate that. But they have also, no doubt, heard of the sometimes
nightmarish
experiences of others
who have tried to wade through the often complex and convoluted
planning and building regulations involved in building in
California, one of the most regulated states in the Union. The
bottom line is, new buildings are built all the time, but these
projects need good planning to move through the process smoothly and
successfully.
Several Phases-
The first thing to be aware of is that there are often several
different phases or levels of regulation that you may need to
address in the planning of your new building or addition/remodel. Whether you live in an
unincorporated
area of your County, or within the City Limits of your particular
City, you will typically have a Planning Department, a Building
Department, and a Public Works Department. Sometimes, they may be
all lumped into one office called the Community Development
Department. Note that the drawings for all commercial projects
will need to be prepared and stamped by a licensed architect or
engineer. For the most part you will likely need to hire an
architect to design and also to be the "quarterback" so to speak, in
the coordination of additional licensed professionals including but
not limited to structural engineers, civil engineers, mechanical
engineers, electrical engineers, etc.
More and more of the various departments offer a lot of
information, even flow charts of the different processes, online and
I have included many of them in my
City & County Links
but I find them very slow to embrace the internet and lacking in
overall comprehensibility, especially for the uninitiated. I attempt
here to put the whole process in plain English as much as possible.
It is important that you find out as much as possible about the
various limitations to your design that will be imposed by this
regulation before starting the design process of your home. Like
making a painting, you must first determine the canvas size. It's
rather difficult to make the canvas larger, smaller, different shape
or proportions, etc., after you've already started the painting!
The Planning Department-
The local Planning Department is usually your first step in the
process and mostly concerns itself with
Zoning Ordinances
and related regulations. These
cover things like Zoning,
Setbacks,
Height Limitations,
Coverage,
Floor to Area Ratios,
Flood Zones,
and any of several other types of
Overlay Zones which can affect the
design or your project. Although there are many similarities between
jurisdictions, each will also be different in many ways. In certain
circumstances you may also be subject to review by the local
Architectural Review Committee,
Coastal Commission,
the
California Department of Fish & Game,
the Army Corps of Engineers,
the
United States Fish & Wildlife Service,
and possibly others. See the
City and County Links page
for links to your
particular jurisdiction.
The Building Department-
The Building Department concerns itself mostly with issues of
life and safety within and immediately surrounding a building. These
include compliance with
Building Codes,
which also includes structural stability, energy efficiency,
lighting and ventilation requirements, plumbing, electrical,
mechanical, material specifications, and other items relating to
public safety. Specific to commercial buildings will be the
regulations that come from the
Americans with Disabilities Act (the ADA), this being an entire
subject in and of itself.
Public Works
Department-
The Public Works Department
mostly concerns itself with
public areas such as sidewalks, driveways, streets & roads and
infrastructure/utilities issues such as water, sewer, electrical,
gas, etc. They will typically play a much larger part in the
plans for a new commercial building than in a residential one.
Permit from
Planning Dept.-
Often you must first obtain a
Planning Permit
before you can submit to the Building Department.
There are some instances where you can submit directly to the
Building Department but those are increasingly rare occasions, and
will still be subject to a cursory review by the Planning Department
to make sure they have no issues with your project.
So, we will just assume that first you will need that Planning
Permit. This will generally consist of drawings showing a
Site Plan,
Floor Plans,
Elevations, etc., very
often a Landscaping Plan, and more often nowadays a
Grading & Erosion Control Plan.
You will need to show all of the various zoning information
mentioned above, as well as square footage totals of the various
different spaces (living space, garage, covered patios, uncovered
decks, etc.)
One of the very significant things you will
need to determine early in the design of your commercial project is
the Occupancy Group that your type of business falls under.
There is a table in the building codes that will help you determine
this. This designation is one of the primary determinates of
many of the other design considerations and limitations that you
will need to figure out such as fire-separation walls, setbacks from
other buildings, maximum square footage and
FAR, among other things.
Your architect should go through this with you in detail.
Often, if you check in with your particular jurisdiction ahead of
time, they can provide you with a checklist of the specific items
that they require for the Planning Permit. You will usually not need to consult a structural
engineer at this time, that will normally come later, after you have
been approved by the Planning Department, but some preliminary
consultation with an engineer is prudent to help determine the basic
structural system that would work best for your project.
Architectural Review-
Most commercial projects, especially new
buildings, will likely be required to go through some kind of
architectural review via an
Architectural Review Committee (ARC). Even small additions
or renovations of existing building will likely be subject to some
level of review by an ARC. The larger the project, the more
intense and time consuming this review may be.
Time Lines-
The Planning Permit will generally take a bare minimum of 30 days
(see the link to information on the
Permit Streamlining Act
) and can often take several months, depending on the size,
complexity and/or topography of the site your project is on, and
also depending on which zone your project is in. The Planning Permit
can often involve a
Public Hearing
of some kind wherein
all of your neighbors within a 300 foot (or other) radius will be notified of
your plans and may attend the Public Hearing and comment on the
plans. Sometimes these comments may result in either suggested or
required changes to your design before your project can be approved.
Approval-
After this initial review,
you may be granted what is called
Conditional Approval.
Other times you will not be granted approval without significant
revisions to the plans, or without additional information about the
project that must be provided, that must then be re-submitted and
reviewed again, and possibly another Public Hearing scheduled. The required
additional information may include but is not necessarily limited to
Archaeological Reports,
Biological Studies,
and Flood Hazard
Studies.
Costs-
The cost for the Planning Permit is generally an up-front fixed
cost that you must pay upon your initial submittal. Please check the
City & County links
page where some of these fees are
published, or check with your local Planner. With any
extensive environmental review, additional fees may be required
mid-way through the process. Feeling overwhelmed
yet? I offer a low cost
introductory feasibility analysis for
your proposed project if you are interested. If you’re still feeling
confident, read on!
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