Initially we were heading with a pretty good speed toward our green permit. The advertised target is a turnaround of 30 business days or less for a green permit, which was one of the major incentives to us. The other is the partial permit fee waiver, up to $25,000.

The current rumor is that a green permit could be issued in as little as 15 business days, if there are no complications, because not as many projects are coming into the Department of Building (DOB) for review since the economy downturn. We were told that our plans would be reviewed within 10 business days.

Our zoning hitch unfortunately ground that whole process to a screeching halt. I began to worry about the delay, because I assumed that the review of our plans by the DOB was on hold until we were done with the administrative adjustment.

Let’s do the math: I now had to add the 15 business days (three weeks) that zoning required to the 10 business days (two weeks) needed for the plan review – or so I thought.

Once I had delivered the certified mail receipts to zoning and knew when to return, I contacted my project manager at the DOB for a status update.

She said: “Great, by the time you can pick up your zoning approval, we should be done with the plan review, any corrections, and may be even the open plan review meeting.”

Sigh! This was the one pleasant surprise I really needed after the recent obstacle course. I was eternally grateful that the two processes, zoning and plan review, were continuing on parallel tracks. This way, the zoning glitch won’t cause much of a delay – unless another road block pops up.

After the permit intake meeting, I left four plan sets behind that were ready for review by the Department of Building (DOB) staff. It appeared that the review could be done in two weeks.

Our plans weren’t laying around for long. I got a phone call the next day that a preliminary review has shown that we have a couple zoning violations. If I could please pickup a plan set and survey to take it over to the Department of Zoning and Land Use Planning (DZP) for review.

Oh dear! We now have to deal with zoning? Forget about the two weeks for plan review. It looks like we have to get used to a new timeline. I saw our project schedule floating down the white ceramic bowl.

Rather than panic, I wanted to find out what these violations were about and how long it would take to fix them. I picked up my plans and stepped across the corridor to zoning. No appointments. Your name goes on a list and it’s on a first-come, first-served basis. That said, homeowners get priority - much like you are allowed to board that plane with the business class people. I hope this plane doesn’t crash!

It turns out that I only have to deal with a bumpy landing: I did not show the required parking spaces on the property, the required open rear yard space, and the enclosed back porch is not in compliance with the side yard setback requirements.

The parking and open space is easy; I just add one parking stall per unit at the alley end of the property and mark the open space in the rear yard.

The back porch, on the other hand, was originally an open porch–—which which, at the time it was built, did not violate the side yard setback requirement.

The problem begins with the last building permit on record for our building. It was issued in 1960. A lot of work was done on the building since, with no permits, including the enclosure of the back porch.
Even though we have nothing to do with that past work, it now becomes our responsibility. Something that we should have researched before purchasing the building!

Thinking about buying? Definitely check with the city when the last building permit was issued and what alterations have been done to the building since!

In an attempt to streamline and simplify the permitting process, the city of Chicago developed the Self Certification Permit Program, which went into effect on 10/29/2009.

“Self-certification simplifies and streamlines the permit review process for eligible projects by allowing qualified architects and structural engineers to self-certify that plans filed with the department [of buildings] do not contain any false information and are in compliance with the requirements of the Chicago Building Code.”

Source: Self-Certification Program Rules & Regs

In other words, self-certification is an optional program that would eliminate the need for most, if not all, plan reviews by Department of Building (DOB) staff. That is, if your project architect and engineer are registered with the city as a self-certified professional.

I would love to find and speak to a self certified professional and learn if the program really works as advertised. I am skeptical that the DOB review staff willingly transfers the plan review responsibility and the power that comes with it to outside consultants.

If your architect or engineer is not self-certified, you have to follow the same steps as we did:

Once we submitted all documents for the green permit, the project plans went for a full review by the DOB staff. The review of a green permit project should take no longer than ten business days upon which the plans are returned with comments and requests for corrections.

We have about a week to address all comments, after which we take the documents back to the DOB for an Open Plan Review meeting. Sounds fancy, but it is not. We (my design professionals and I) basically haul our plans from one cubicle to the next, from one plan examiner to another, discussing the comments and corrections.

Hopefully all corrections are resolved in those discussions. If so, the green permit is issued by the DOB.

If not, the process repeats itself until all corrections are made and the plan examiner stamps and seals the plans.

If I would do a project like this again, I would make damn sure I work with self-certified professionals.

It’s time again to share an episode from our permit experience!

We smoothly sailed through the Chicago Green Homes enrollment and had our documents passed on to the Department of Building (DOB) to initiate the green permit. This is where the sailing got a little bumpier – largely to our learning curve about the process.

Green Permit Menu Items

Prior to accepting our permit submittal, the DOB checked with me on the Green Permit Menu Items. The Green Permit Menu Items are a requirement by the DOB in addition to the Chicago Green Homes Program with its checklist. Our project (residential, market rate single building) requires two Menu Items. We selected Exceptional Water Management and Exceptional Bike Parking. These were safe bets, in case we have to shift other project items, such as the green roof, to ‘phase two’ because of project budget restrictions.

I referred the DOB to the corresponding plan sections to allow for verification of the Menu Items.

Submittal check list

Once assured that I met the Menu Item requirements, the DOB scheduled a “preliminary meeting [for me] to discuss items required for permit and permit process”. Sounds good!

My green permit project manager at the DOB sat me down to go over the plans and the Standard Plan Review Project Submittal Checklist. And quite a list this is!

The majority of the list is meant for the project architect to make sure the plan set information is complete. That said, there were a number of forms that I took care of:

• The Building Permit Application, which contains information about the building, project, owner, architect and contractors. I got the building classification and building information from the architect and completed the other sections myself.
• The Excavation Certificate, if excavation is part of the project. With the certificate, I need to provide original receipts of notification to my neighbors and the excavator’s certificate of insurance.
• The Electrical Permit Application, which I forwarded to my electrical contractor who completed the form for me.

Another important and recent change to the checklist that I should point out is that the City now requires two original plats of survey that are no more than 60 days old. Yes, you read correctly – 60 days. I know, it once was 90 days, and this change did cost me another $300 because our plats were about 65 days old!

Intake meeting

I left the preliminary meeting with a long to-do list for me and the architect. Once we had all the forms completed and the plan documents in shape, I was invited back to the DOB for the permit intake meeting.

I showed up with four sealed and signed plan sets (three for the DOB and one for our record), the two plats of survey, and the various forms, letters, and certificate of insurance.

What’s next? The plans now go “to the floor” where they are reviewed by DOB staff across the various disciplines (architectural, structural, plumbing, electrical and ventilation). This is officially called the plan review, where the project is checked for Chicago Building Code compliance. The end result is a list of comments or request for clarifications.