Residential Building Plan – Cities United To Streamline Plan Reviewsplans

Residential Building Plan – Cities United To Streamline Plan Reviews

For more than a year, Surprise has worked with six other cities to develop a streamlined system for approving residential building plans.

The result is the Regional Plan Review, a voluntary program that eliminates the need for each city to conduct a separate plan review. The Surprise City Council approved an intergovernmental agreement at a meeting Thursday. It will go into effect in about 30 days.

It works like this: Any non-custom homebuilder may submit standard plans and documents for approval to any one of these municipalities - Surprise, Avondale, Cave Creek, Gilbert, Goodyear, Litchfield Park, or Peoria. Once approved, the other participants accept the plans and documents as submitted.

Each city will continue to issue its own building permits, to maintain its own schedule of permit fees, and to check for some city-specific items, but the need for each city to conduct a complete plan review is eliminated.

Cities and homebuilders will save time and money, while homebuyers can expect more consistency and uniformity in homebuilding and building code enforcement throughout the Valley. That’s the group’s ultimate goal. We’ll have better coordination between municipalities and a better understanding of how to interpret and apply the codes, said Community Development Director Phil Testa, and it minimizes expenses to the various jurisdictions by reducing the need for overlapping review of the same building plans.

The RPR required the cities to seek uniformity and consistency in their plan review and inspection requirements. The cities then had to agree on procedures and adopt the same codes and amendments.

Training was conducted on the amended codes, revised applications and new procedures to ensure that the participating municipal building inspectors and homebuilders understand and follow the new, streamlined approach.

It’s a win-win for homebuilders and homebuyers because of the certainty, consistency and coordination it provides, said City Manager Bill Pupo.

Packets of information including the Application Form, Soils Report Review Verification Form, Plan Review Worksheet, Plan Review Checklist Form, and the Plan Submittal Requirements, are available from each city's building department.

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