Plans & Permits 101: Webinar Wednesday Series

It depends on the scope, and the code runs roughly five pages on what does and does not require a permit. Cosmetic work like paint, carpet, and laminate flooring generally does not. Fixture work usually does. Replacing a single fixture can qualify as a repair, but relighting an entire facility requires an electrical permit and inspections.

City permits are separate and cover mostly the exterior of the building and site related items: drainage, utilities, right of way work, and razing permits when a section of a building is coming out.

Anything building code related, meaning the construction of the building itself, comes to the County. That includes mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems and life safety. No matter what, the project also goes to the City for local planning and zoning.

Zoning is one piece. The City also handles fire review, and looks at the site plan, drainage, parking, how utilities reach the building, and any disturbance in the right of way. One submittal to the City covers all of it, so applicants do not need to visit the zoning office, fire department, sewer, and water separately.

State law allows up to 30 days for review. The County’s goal is 14 calendar days, currently running closer to 20 for new first time projects. After comments go back and the design team responds, the goal on the second review is 7 calendar days or less. If a project clears in two reviews, it can be out in under a month, assuming complete information up front.

City review timelines are roughly comparable at about 14 days, though the City runs over more often because its reviews touch more hands. Plan on a one to two month cushion for a relatively non complex project, since you should expect at least two review cycles plus the time to make changes and resubmit.

Business owners unfamiliar with construction trying to handle it themselves. Building officials cannot offer design advice. They can tell you whether a submitted document is code compliant, but not how to design it. Commercial work is not DIY, and there are professionals whose careers are preparing plans and managing construction.

I’d have to agree with Chris that the biggest source of delay is the business owner wanting to control the process. They tend to become the middleman, and then everyone plays phone tag. What needs to be changed goes back and forth with their designer, and if they don’t understand something, they come back to us, then back to their designer, back and forth. Don’t try to be the middleman unless you absolutely have to, or unless you’re familiar with the process.

The first thing they should ask for is a copy of what’s called a certificate of occupancy. That’s a legal document for the building that shows how it was constructed and approved according to whichever code cycle it was in when that construction happened. If that exists and the owner or the landlord of the space has it, that’s going to go a long way in helping to develop whatever plans they may have for that space, especially in getting through our process. It also really helps up front if we do a pre-consultation meeting. Those are the kinds of things we need to start putting the building blocks together in the code and figure out which direction has to happen through the code process to get compliance.

The other thing is, what was the previous use of that space? If you want to open a restaurant and the previous use was office space, then in my world, in the building code, that’s considered a change of occupancy, and that kicks in a lot of other requirements. Just go in with open eyes and understand you’re going to have to start looking at things like accessibility upgrades, and perhaps life safety device upgrades, whether that’s putting in a suppression system or a fire alarm. Depending on what you want to use that space for, it will kick in other items in the code, all to help with the overall safety of the structure.

Most of this falls under the County. City requirements apply to the site and the zoning code, and the zoning code is much broader than the building code. Multiple business types could potentially go into one space, but the requirements change with the use.

It depends on project size. For a smaller project like a storefront restaurant, many design build contractors have architects and engineers on staff or under contract, which collapses the two steps.

The architect or designer needs to come in first. You can get your approvals with a designer, but you cannot get permits until you have a contractor, so waiting too long on the contractor delays the project.

Sometimes you just don’t know what to ask. We’re always willing to help, so reach out. Call us or send an email with a question, or say, here’s what I’m looking to do, what’s your typical process? We’re more than happy to go over that. We’ll even meet with people before they have plans together. I do that all the time on projects small and large. If you want to come in and discuss your project, we’ll sit down and go over it. We’ll start asking questions, and depending on what you tell us, that fires off our synapses and gets us thinking about how to go through the existing building code for compliance on something like this. We can start putting a roadmap together for approval. Then when you reach out to a design professional, you can say, I met with the building department, and this is what they’re thinking. That starts the whole project a lot easier.

A lot of times folks reach out expecting a big project or a hard time with something, and for us it’s a minor issue in the code and it’s pretty simple to get them permits and get them rolling. My biggest thing is just communication. Don’t be afraid to call and ask us something. We’re not going to say, oh, where is that at, what do you want to do, okay, we’re going to keep an eye on you. We don’t operate like that. We’re here to help. Ultimately, if we get people to come in, pull their permits, and do everything code compliant, structures are safe. That’s what we care about.

Just ask questions. That’s the big thing. Don’t be afraid of us. Like Chris said, we’re not running around looking for people making mistakes. We don’t have enough people to do that. We just want to help you get your business or project done correctly.

The Ohio Existing Building Code contains exceptions for historic structures, whether registered locally or on the National Register. That provides latitude on requirements like accessibility, though not unlimited latitude. Life safety gets a more critical eye regardless of historic status.

The City has restrictions on what can and cannot be done to a historic building, handled through zoning, and that review takes additional time.

1 year from halting of construction, can be extended with a one time fee, after that it needs to go through plan review again.

Akron Approval and permits are good for 1 year from issue when work has not started. Written request to extend is allowed prior to the expiration date.

On the third submittal and every one there after new fees must be paid.

Projects submitted to the City are charged a deposit. Plan review fees are subtracted from the deposit, and each review will cost more depending on what departments need to re-review the plans.

Fees are generally calculated based on scope of work and square footage.

Fee schedule can be found here.

The City fees are based on scope of work and determined by departments the permit is being issued for.

A code compliant set of plans showing scope, building data, accessibility info, COMCheck.

Clear, clean plans that explain the scope of work.

The applicant can be any of the three, we will communicate with the applicant. The applicant should have a good understanding of the construction process.

The contractor, designer, or property owner are allowed to submit projects.

Permitsearch.summitoh.net or call 330-630-7280

If the owner creates a user account to the City’s portal, they are able to see the progress of any plan review they have been listed as an owner on.

Process is same as for building construction, wall signs, ground signs need building permits. Ground signs over 6 feet tall must be signed and sealed by a designer.

Anytime an exterior sign is changed a submission for Zoning approval needs to be made to the City. The sign documents (i.e. details of new sign) should be prepared by the contractor and can be submitted by the contractor or owner.