AN ACT relating to city, county, state and local powers; requiring local government entities to comply with deadlines for reviewing specified residential building permits; allowing deadlines to be suspended and extended as specified; requiring local government entities to provide notice; providing definitions; providing penalties; specifying applicability; and providing for an effective date.
This act establishes uniform deadlines and procedures that local government entities must follow when reviewing certain residential building permit applications. This act requires local government entities to comply with deadlines for notifying applicants whether a submitted application is complete or incomplete, approving or denying a completed application, and providing written notice to an applicant to explain the reasons why the local government entity denied the application. This act authorizes a local government entity to suspend application review when additional information or approval by a state or federal agency is required and authorizes the deadline for approving or denying an application to be extended upon written consent of both the applicant and the local government entity. This act imposes a ten percent (10%) reduction in application fees if the local government entity imposes any new requirements or conditions that were not imposed during initial review, unless the requirements are a result of unanticipated conditions that require the applicant to implement mitigation measures. This act provides that if a local government entity fails to comply with the deadline to approve or deny an application then the application shall be deemed approved as submitted on the day after the deadline expires but a building constructed under an automatic application approval must pass all safety and code compliance inspections before a certificate of occupancy may be issued.