Development Services Department

Rudy Cantu, CBO
Special Projects Coordinator
Minor Plans Team
Office (210) 207-0138
Fax (210) 207-0151
email
bio

As part of Plans and Permits Section’s Business Assistance Center, the Minor Plans Team performs expedited plan review services for projects where the scope of work is minor and falls within a prescribed set of criteria. The team also provides customer consultations on the plan review and submittal process, minimum code requirements and the basics of the Development Process under the Unified Development Code. Minor projects are reviewed in one of two review priority designations: the “Walkthrough” and the “10-day”. Each one of these two priorities has qualifying criteria as shown below. Each of the Minor Plans Team members is able to provide multiple discipline reviews.

What Are Review Priorities?

The number of calendar review days that it takes for DSD to complete all initial required reviews is the priority review assignment. Depending on the project scope of work, reviews are completed by Minor Plans Team staff in either a one (1) day process, referred to a “Walkthroughs”, or a ten (10) calendar day process, referred to as “10-days”. In order to be reviewed by the Minor Plans Team under one of these two review cycles, your project must meet the scope of work qualifying criteria described below.

"Walkthroughs"

The Walkthrough plan review process is a procedure where the customer walks their project plans to each plans examiner that needs to review the plans for land use and building code compliance requirements. The customer will know immediately after each review, if their project complies with the city’s requirements or if corrections will be required on the plans to bring them into compliance with applicable city codes. Very minor corrections can on some occasions be performed by the customer at the counter. To qualify for this type of review, the project must meet all the following criteria:

     1. The project must be an interior finish out or remodeling construction project only.
         Additions or new structures do not qualify for the “Walkthrough” review process.
     2. The types of uses (i.e., Use Groups as defined by the International Building Code)
         shall be for retail sales (Group M Occupancy) or office type use (Group B
         Occupancy). Other occupancy groups (uses) will not be reviewed via this process.
     3. The maximum area of the scope of work for the project must 3,000 square feet.

This expedited process has a fee of $100.00 when the new work is over 500 square feet. The fee is in addition to the regular plan review and permit fees.

"10 Day Review"

The 10-day (calendar days) plan review process is also an expedited plan review procedure, and it too has specific requirements. Once the permit application is submitted to DSD and the submittal package is reviewed for completeness by the CAR Team, the project is reviewed by the Minor Plans Team members for code compliance. All applicable disciplines will review the plan set within ten (10) calendar days. If no code deficiencies are noted during the review, a building permit will be issued to the customer when the review is completed by staff. If/when code deficiencies are found during the review process, the Minor Plans Team staff shall notify the applicant in writing of the deficiencies. The customer shall respond to the code items as needed as outlined in Information Bulleting 111.

To qualify for this type of review, the project must meet all the following criteria:

     1. The project must fall into one of the following occupancy classification as as
          defined by the City’s Building Code: Group B (Business), Group M (Mercantile),
          Group R (Residential) or Group U (Utility and Miscellaneous). Assembly uses,
          Educational uses, Factory, Hazardous uses, Institutional uses, and Storage uses
          do not qualify for the “10-Day Review” process.
     2. The maximum area for the scope of work for interior finish out and/or renovation
          projects shall be 8,000 square feet. Additions and new construction projects are
          limited to a maximum of 1,000 square feet.
     3. The project scope of work shall not exceed 2-stories in height.

Consultations

The Minor Plans Team provides customer consultations on the plans review and submittal process, code requirements and the basics of the Development Process as provided for under the Unified Development Code. We encourage everyone who needs our consultation service to please call for an appointment. We will ask you to fill out our consultation form available online, which will ask you for information on your consultation needs. Although these are consultations for information on our processes, procedures, minimum submittal requirements, minimum general code information and other like information, they are not aimed at replacing our Preliminary Plan Review process, which is a more detailed pre-submittal review of a project design.

The Process

When all the plan reviews are completed and all non-compliance issues have been corrected by the applicant and approved by DSD staff, a building permit will be issued. Once the building permit is issued, the construction process can begin. The construction process involves site inspections and approvals from the Development Services Department inspection teams. Once the building construction is completed and all inspections have been approved, the Department will issue a Certificate of Occupancy to the owner of the building or the owner of the business.

Organizational Charts:

Development Services Department
Building Development
Plans and Permits Section
Business Assistance Center
Inspections

Contact Us:
Appointment Request Line: (210) 207-0138 or (210) 207-0126

Special Projects Coordinator:
Rudy Cantu
Rudy Cantu rudy.cantu@sanantonio.gov 207-0138 bio
James Baum
James Baum james.baum@sanantonio.gov 207-0138 bio