Permitting Process Overview

Before submitting for any permits, be sure to research your property to see if you are located in any special, historical, or overlay districts. These may require you to receive approvals from other staff and agencies prior to submitting a building permit.

Not sure? Visit our getting started with ZDP services for more details.

Most applications are available in our convenient, online portal.

View frequently asked questions on our Online Permitting page.

Completeness Check by DCP Staff 
If your application contains all required drawings and supplemental materials, it will be considered complete. Our staff will initiate the review record in our permitting portal which will show up in your dashboard. If considered incomplete, staff will communicate the additional requirements, required actions, or next steps by email, or phone where necessary. This check is typically done within 48 hours of the application being submitted by the applicant. 

Pay applicable application or deposit fees
In many cases, there are application or deposit fees upon acceptance of your plan. All fees can be conveniently paid online using the ACA portal or in person at the Cashier's window on the first floor of City Hall. You will be notified by email when fees are due. Reference any applicable fees here on our Getting started with ZDP services page. 

Once a project has been accepted and any application or deposit fees have been paid, our staff will then be able to route the project for review by other agencies, such as the Building, Zoning, and Arborist reviewers or other agencies like Site Development or Traffic Engineering. DCP staff will route the plans on behalf of the applicant and you can check status of the review, see any comments, and view markups in the online permitting portal. 

Under Review 
DCP and other agency staff will review your submitted materials for code compliance. Any comments or approvals will be marked in the online permitting portal and marked-up drawings for revisions available for download. Most agencies have an agreed upon timeframe to respond to their initial review. You can expect anywhere from 10 days to 2 weeks. 

When necessary, revisions or responses to comments may be requested from the applicant before a final sign-off can occur. Those comments will be found in the online portal and often emailed out to the appropriate contact. Applicants have an opportunity to respond to those comments and upload new drawings as needed for review. Depending on the extent of the revisions, additional staff may need to re-review the drawings where they previously approved. Example: if the building size of placement has changed, Zoning review will need to reoccur to ensure it's still in compliance. All files can be uploaded into our permitting portal for re-review. If a project requires more than 3 reviews, additional fees or meetings with staff may apply. 

Once all reviews have been completed and the project is ready to be closed out, DCP staff will coordinate the reviews and request final supplemental documents from the applicant, items like a contractor's license or other affidavits. Staff will also assess and invoice any final fees for permitting, arborist, fire, or stormwater reviews. Communication to the applicant will be sent requesting any materials and informing of fees due. Fees can conveniently be paid online in our online permitting portal. 

Review complete: project approval or permit issuance
DCP staff will digitally stamp all approved plans and materials. Approval letters and Permits will be generated electronically and uploaded to the permitting portal. If there are multiple phases or units associated with the review, staff will issue separate records and individual permits at this time. 

Approved plan retrieval
Approval letters or permits will be uploaded to the online permitting portal for download and/or emailed to the applicant. It will be the responsibility of the applicant to have a paper copy of plans on site for any downstream inspections. 

Congratulations, your project is approved!