At its July 8 meeting, City Council approved an amended fee schedule for the Community Development department and a new fee schedule for the Fire department.
The new fee schedule, which goes into effect on Wednesday, Aug. 7, is based on gross square footage and the International Code Council’s (ICC) current Building Valuation Data (BVD) for building permits. New fees have been established for Fire Marshal services, which is related directly to commercial businesses and developments.
Previously, building permit fees for Johns Creek have been based on the construction valuation cost provided by the builder. Replacing the valuation system with the most recent ICC BVD data provides equity in fees by all applicants, including residents. It also provides a clear methodology to ascertain the cost of a building permit based on the project’s square footage and type of construction.
Additionally, approval of House Bill (HB) 461 requires construction projects to be calculated by using the ICC valuation system or similar data to protect public health, safety, and welfare and are not used as a meant of raising revenue for general purposes.
Since 2007, the Fire Department has not collected fees for non-emergency commercial services such as construction inspections, fire alarm, and sprinkler test and inspections, plan reviews, and more. The fees are associated with the time and resources required by Fire Department staff to provide plan review, inspections, and non-emergency related services for commercial developments and businesses.
Adoption of the new fee schedules allow each department to combat the continued rise in the cost of services and resources due to inflation and lessens dependency on the City’s general fund to provide services to specific users.
View the fee schedules:
