Summary of LUESA Fee Ordinance Changes

Mecklenburg County – Code EnforcementLand Use & Environmental Services Agency

The Department working in conjunction with the Construction Industry aligns fees

with the cost of service.Jon Morris of Beacon Partners and Chairman of the Building-Development Commission states,

“Contractors and customers that are conscientious about their use of resources are not subsidizing the people who abuse the Department’s resources and use it for their quality control process.”

CHANGES TO THE LUESA FEE ORDINANCE

Meck-SI

Meck-SI is the paperless special inspection management system used by our commercial customers for projects that require special inspections. The Meck-SI registration/renewal fee will be increased from $99.00 to $125.00 annually. The time required for an inspector to attend a special inspection preconstruction meeting will now be charged at $115.00 per hour.

CHANGES TO THE LUESA FEE ORDINANCE

Equipment

Any piece of equipment, whether being supplied by the owner or the contractor; valued at $500,000 or greater, will now include 20% of the equipment value added to the total construction cost of the project. (Note, currently this equipment is included in permit construction cost at full value).

CHANGES TO THE LUESA FEE ORDINANCE

Multi-Trade (MT) Inspections

When a project requires multiple inspections, the Department will hold all inspection requests in queue until ready. Once all inspection requests have been received, the department will assign a multi-trade inspector to conduct all of the inspections at one time. The contractor will have the option of requesting a single discipline inspection with an added inspection charge.

CHANGES TO THE LUESA FEE ORDINANCE

Upfit Auto Cost Calculator

The Department will introduce an auto cost calculator for upfit projects (similar to the renovation project cost calculator). The upfit calculator tool assesses all attributes of the project to include, construction cost, square footage and the trades involved to determine a fair minimum permit cost.

CHANGES TO THE LUESA FEE ORDINANCE

Breaking Permitted Projects Apart

Once the permit is issued; should the permit holder request to break the project down in smaller delivery components, the permit holder will be charged by the hour for all related office and field staff work necessary to restructure the project permits.

CHANGES TO THE LUESA FEE ORDINANCE

Coordinating Project Submittals

When an owner’s team (General Contractor, Architect or Engineer) requires coordination of their project by the County’s departmental staff; they will be charged by the hour for all involved office and field staff work.

CHANGES TO THE LUESA FEE ORDINANCE

County Fire Marshal Plan Review-Inspection Fees

Revises or introduces various fees to recover cost of service, aligning with current charges by Charlotte Fire Department. For more details, you can read the Cost Recovery Work Group Final Report at www.meckpermit.com.

CHANGES TO THE LUESA FEE ORDINANCE

Projects with Specified Numbers of Inspections

The Department will identify certain projects with fee related inspection count limits, with the list posted to www.meckpermit.com. The customer will be notified of the limit at permit issuance. Exceeding the inspection count will incur an added charge per inspection.

For further information on all items reviewed by the task force go to www.meckpermit.com to view the …

Cost Recovery Work Group Final Report