MODEL # 98-21
LARGE INDUSTRY ANNUAL PERMIT PROCESS
CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, VIRGINIA
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Jurisdiction Statistics:
Regulatory Areas:
PROBLEM:
Permitting - Industrial Construction Projects
Chesterfield County wanted to modify the permitting system for large industrial site construction to avoid requiring permits for each new project on a given site.
BACKGROUND:
Chesterfield County has a very diverse number of large industrial complexes among its commercial business customers. These complexes operate in a very self-sufficient manner, but are still subject to the requirements of the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code (VUSBC). At any given time there are several small scale construction projects in progress throughout many portions of these facilities. While most of these small projects seem to produce a minimum impact when viewed individually, collectively they could have a serious effect on adjacent buildings, processes, or fire protection systems. This was identified as an area needing improvement, both in the manner that industry permits and completes the projects and in the way the County processes and inspects them.
The permitting process and associated review turnaround time represented a large investment of man-hours but more importantly a potential process delay for industry. The legal requirement to permit and inspect each of these projects had proven to be an equal investment for the County. Because of a less than perfect system, combined in part with ignorance of permitting requirements, many projects were being completed without achieving compliance with the VUSBC.
A joint team was formed, consisting of project engineers from industrial customers and County plan reviewers, to develop a permitting system to meet the requirements of both industry and the County while complying with all relevant laws. Industry representatives recognized that they had a legal obligation to comply with the VUSBC. The County also understood its legal obligation to permit and inspect all of the building projects and modifications.
Over a period of several months, the group met and worked on a procedure that would meet the needs of all parties involved. The product of this commitment was the Large Industry Annual Permitting and Inspections Procedure.
SOLUTION:
Public-Private Partnership - Annual Permitting
Working together with industrial customers, the Department of Building Inspection instituted the Large Industry Building Permit Process- a program that uses quarterly inspections and annual permits to simplify the regulatory process.
DESCRIPTION:
This program allows an alternative permitting and inspection procedure to address the special needs of the industrial customers. The team worked together to develop a list of all anticipated scenarios for building projects or modifications as they may apply to industry. The list covers everything from constructing new buildings to replacing a single electrical outlet. The team also looked at the legal requirement for permitting and inspections and determined that different types of permits and inspections could be applied based upon the complexity of the project in question. Once the team felt that the list was complete, they agree that each scenario would fit into one of three categories, defined as projects requiring NO PERMIT, a SEPARATE PERMIT, or those that could be handled under an ANNUAL PERMIT. The focus of many meetings was the development of a matrix diagram that listed all anticipated project scenarios and the type of permit that would be required. It was determined that many items such as maintenance items and replacement of existing equipment would not require a permit or inspection by County staff. Based upon the premise that industry has a qualified engineering staff at their disposal, the annual permit was defined.
The annual permit is issued at the beginning of each calendar year, allowing certain types of projects to be completed without submitting plans for approval prior to their completion. Each participating industry has chosen a site coordinator, who is responsible for maintaining a project file for all projects completed under the annual permit. At the end of each quarter, participating industry coordinators submit a list of information including cost for all projects completed for that quarter. This information is reported to the County's Chief of Inspections via electronic transfer. The County's Chief of Inspections then distributes the list of projects to the appropriate county divisions. Each division identifies those projects that they will inspect based upon description of work. Persons responsible for performing the inspections then contact the site coordinator to schedule a date and time to perform the necessary inspections. All approved inspections are entered into the County's computer system. Any defects are reported to the Industry Coordinator, who in turn facilitates any necessary corrections and schedules a reinspection with the County. All documentation for the completed projects is then electronically transmitted back to the appropriate site. At the end of each calendar year, the County will assess a permit fee for the annual permit based upon the reported cost of the projects completed under the annual permit for that year.
EVALUATION BY STREAMLINING COMMITTEES:
Advantages
Limitations
The Streamlining Committees designated this program as a streamlined model to be considered in conjunction with other self-certification models.
IMPLEMENTATION:
This program was implemented by administrative action of Chesterfield County. The costs attributed to this program is limited to man-hours committed to its development. The County assigned 10 staff members to the project ensuring all review disciplines were represented. The team was broken into subgroups for several portions of the development, meaning the entire staff was not always participating. This commitment represented approximately 250 man-hours. There will be an ongoing cost associated with the generation of Quarterly Inspection Forms, and it is anticipated that all monetary expenditures will be returned through permit fees that were not being collected for projects previously completed without permits.
FOR MORE INFORMATION OR ASSISTANCE IN CONSIDERING THE USE OF THIS MODEL, PLEASE CONTACT:
William D. Dupler
Building Official
County of Chesterfield Department of Building Inspection
P.O. Box 40
Chesterfield, VA 23832
Phone: (804) 748-1057
FAX: (804) 751-4713
Or NCSBCS STAFF:
Carolyn Fitch
National Conference of States on Building Codes and Standards
505 Huntmar Park Drive, Suite 210
Herndon, VA 20170
Phone: (703) 437-0100
FAX: (703) 481-3596
Email: cfitch@ncsbcs.org