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The CAR staff of the
Customer Assistance Team is typically the first group that you will work with in submitting commercial projects for review by the Plans and Permits Section with the goal of obtaining a building permit. This team is located at the Cliff Morton Development and Business Services Center at 1901 S. Alamo. Our departments mission is to serve the public with better than expected customer service by effectively facilitating the development process while protecting the health, safety, and public welfare of the community.
Goals & Objectives
Protect the health, safety, and quality of life of the citizens of San Antonio.
Improve cycle time for permits
Ensure consistency and quality of reviews and inspections
Enhance customer service philosophy to facilitate the development process
Commercial Application Submittal Process
The CAR team provides one-stop service for those customers seeking to submit an application for commercial building permits. The CAR team provides a completeness review of the commercial building application and all associated construction plans and documents. The objective of the completeness review is to reduce the need for the resubmittal of drawings that were disapproved because required information was missing. The team will perform a nontechnical summary review of your construction plans/documents with the objective of identifying any missing, critical elements prior to the actual start of the formal review process. If elements are missing, the team will communicate with you in a timely manner so that you are aware of any missing plans/documents. Your submittal documents will also be reviewed by the CAR team to properly assign/route your plans to appropriate City review agencies for their technical review and approval.
The review period for completeness and assignment of submittals for commercial building permits is three working days from time of submittal. If the application, construction documents and all required review agency documents are complete, the official city clock for plan review will start the day that
the plans were received. If the submittal package is not complete, the design team/owner will be provided a list of items in writing that need to be submitted as per section 105.3.1 of the 2006 International Building Code (IBC). Until the required documents are submitted to the CAR team, the fees for plan review will not be able to be paid, the application will be deemed incomplete and the clock for plan review will not start. Incomplete applications will remain with the CAR team for a period of
30-days. If the application is still incomplete after this time, the application will be considered abandoned as per IBC section 105.3.2
An applicant submitting for commercial building permits and plan review has
two options:
An applicant may wish to drop the
application package off for review and leave right away . The CAR team has three working days
to review the submittal package for completeness. Within the three days the applicant will be informed of any documents missing,
and if complete, will be informed of the fees to be paid. Fees may be paid on-line, at a
Link Center office, or in person at the Cliff
Morton Development and Business Services Center. Once fees are paid, the clock for plan review will start. If the application was
complete, the plan review clock will be postdated to the date the applicant brought in the commercial submittal package.
An applicant may wish to schedule an appointment with a CAR team member rather than
dropping the plans off. The process will
be the same as above; an applicant may choose to sit with the team member, for completeness review, and pay the fees to start
the commercial plan review clock.
When making an appointment you will be asked some questions that will help us determine the time needed to review the package with you. You can schedule an appointment or email the CAR Team with questions at commercialintake@sanantonio.gov . Please see additional contact numbers below.
Checklists have been developed as information bulletins (IBs) to assist in the understanding of the minimum information needed on commercial plans to be accepted for review.
IB 103a Plan Review Submittal (Commercial Checklist)
IB 103b Plan Review Submittal (Foundation Checklist)
IB 103c Plan Review Submittal (Shell Building Commercial Checklist)
IB 103d Plan Review Submittal (Interior Finish-out Checklist)
IB 107 Fire Sprinkler Permit Application and Checklist
IB 122 Fire Alarm Permit Application and Checklist
Click here for the commercial application. If you are submitting a project with multiple buildings on one lot with the same address, please
click here for the multiple building form. A project with multiple buildings on separate lots with different addresses require separate applications for each address and will receive separate building permit numbers (AP #).
Click here for a list of current codes the City of San Antonio follows and will utilize for plan review. The city follows the Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Texas Board of Architectural Examiners for requirements as to use of design professionals to design, stamp and seal projects.
Click here for code interpretations that may affect your design and plan review comments.
Click here for the Unified Development Code regarding traffic, parking, sidewalk, tree, landscaping, irrigation, drainage and other horizontal city requirements.
Timely service is a high priority in the Plans and Permits Section. For additional information regarding the plans review services such as walk-through, counter plan review, preliminary plan review meetings, plan review by appointment and mail in plans,
click here. You can also check your
escrow balance here. You can also view your estimated fees at our
fee calculator here.
For information on the top ten delays in plan review
click here.
A flow chart of the development process can be
found here.
Should you have any questions, please contact us:
Customer Assistance Team
1901 S. Alamo
San Antonio, TX 78204
commercialintake@sanantonio.gov .
CAR Team:
Mark Celestino 
Mark Celestino
mark.celestino@sanantonio.gov 207-0019
Roland Garcia
roland.garcia@sanantonio.gov
207-0017 Planning & Development Services Specialist Supervisor:
Michael Dice 
Michael Dice
michael.dice@sanantonio.gov
207-0143
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