Permit special conditions are found on the permit. These conditions are placed by a number of sources to include Regional Flood Control, local fire districts, Zoning, Grading, Development Review, Pima County Department of Environment Quality, Regional Wastewater Reclamation, as well as Building Safety. Each of the sections and departments are responsible for clearing the conditions they have placed on the permit. Some conditions are notifications of requirements while others have holds placed on the permit until such time that the condition is resolved.
Holds are tied to specific inspections which may not be scheduled until the requirements have been met. i.e., P2S places a hold prior to project start; P2I prior to intermediate inspections; and P2F prior to final inspections. Holds are placed for items ranging from deferred submittals to special inspection reports and registrant sealed summary letters.
Complete and proper documentation for special inspections is outlined in the Building & Site Development Standard Operating Procedure 340.1. While most building departments require the use of a double stamp form to pre-approve a special inspector at the time of permitting, Pima County Building Safety deleted this requirement in 2005 in order to simplify the process and eliminate the need for the customer to seek project-specific pre-approvals. Instead, customers may select approved registrants responsible for special inspection from the list posted on our web site. Another advantage to this methodology is that the client will not need to call the County building inspector to verify the work of the special inspector, thereby eliminating a redundant inspection and saving project time. Customers are, however, responsible for contacting the registrant responsible for special inspection to request a final report to include a sealed cover-letter comprising the project information, owner, project address, permit activity number, and a statement of compliant or non-compliant special inspections performed, and supporting field reports or a summary of the field reports. Reports may be emailed to building.safety@pima.gov.
Non-compliant or incomplete field reports will be returned to the customer who should contact the engineer of record for corrective action. The registrant responsible for special inspection is responsible for providing the complete documentation although this may entail a letter from the engineer of record that may take a few weeks to obtain. It is thus always in the best interest of the customer that this report be requested and submitted with enough lead time so that final inspections are not delayed, should a problem arise.
Building Safety also administers holds on behalf of the Fire Districts. Each district reviews the permits issued in their area and determines which require fire sprinklers or other fire protection systems. P2I holds are placed for rough installation and P2F for the final testing of the sprinkler system. These holds are released solely upon receipt of a clearance directly from the fire districts.
Permit holds are an assurance that all requirements are met and simplify communication between departments and building inspectors. Should an issue arise with a particular condition and hold please contact the responsible department directly to resolve.