City of Burbank

A city address is usually permitted by the city, not the county — but not always, and some authorities keep building and hand electrical to someone else. Getting this wrong costs the whole submittal, because every requirement below belongs to whoever actually holds jurisdiction. Check the overlays in the same pass: an HOA, a historic district, a windstorm certification or a system-size cap can reshape the design, and all of them are cheaper to find now than after the array is laid out.

• What does this authority permit itself, and what does it delegate? Both 90% · department page
• Is a permit required for a residential rooftop PV system? Yes 95% · department page
• Is there a separate electrical permit, or is it combined? Combined 75% · fee schedule + permit log
• Is a HOA or architectural approval required first? No -- HOA/architectural approval is not a City permitting precondition; the local ordinance's definition of a qualifying small system explicitly cross-references Civil Code Section 714 (the CA Solar Rights Act, which bars HOA denial of solar). 65% · ordinance
• Is there a system-size cap on residential generation? No zoning-based system-size cap found in Title 9; the effective cap for the Symbium instant-permit track is 38.4kW (program eligibility, not a legal ceiling), and BWP separately caps net-billing eligibility at 150% of the customer's trailing 12-month energy use for systems interconnecting after 1 Jan 2026. 75% · department page + utility FAQ

Several authorities require the electrical permit to be pulled by a licensed electrician, or require the contractor to be registered with them BEFORE applying. Registration is not same-day. This is second on the list rather than fourth because it is the step most likely to stop the job before the drawings matter.

• Who is allowed to pull the electrical permit? Licensed electrician 70% · adopting ordinance (Title 9 admin code)
• Must the contractor be registered with this authority before applying? No dedicated solar-contractor registry, but out-of-town contractors must register for Burbank business tax before permitting 60% · department page

Almost everywhere wants a site plan, a one-line or three-line electrical diagram, equipment cut sheets with listings, and a structural attachment detail. Build it against the published checklist rather than the last jurisdiction you worked in — the checklist is what the reviewer marks against.

• What documents make up a complete submittal? For the Symbium instant residential permit: address, system size, equipment make/model entered into Symbium's online tool plus the BWP Solar Confirmation Number obtained from BWP first; for traditional (Tier 2 / commercial) review, a full plan set is required through ProjectDox. 55% · department page
• Is a site plan required, and what must it show? For the BWP Confirmation of Electric Service, a full set of solar PV plans (including a single-line diagram) must be emailed to BWP's Electric Service Planner before a Confirmation of Electric Service is issued; BWP schedules a site visit to verify the meter/backyard access. 70% · utility form/instructions
• Is a one-line / three-line diagram required? Yes for BWP's Confirmation of Electric Service review ('sample solar single line drawing' referenced); for the Symbium instant permit itself no separate uploaded one-line is described on the city's page. 60% · utility form
• Is a structural PE stamp required, and at what threshold? Structural review is required but no PE-stamp threshold is stated; for the state-defined 'small residential rooftop solar energy system' (<=10kW AC / 30kW thermal, single/duplex family), the applicant need only verify structural adequacy 'through standard engineering evaluation techniques' before submittal -- no PE stamp is mandated by the local ordinance text itself. 75% · ordinance (BMC 9-1-3-80.99)

Most authorities now take the whole application through a portal, and several states cap or constrain what a residential solar permit may cost. Check whether plan check is billed separately before you quote the job.

• Which permit portal does this authority use? Burbank Online Permits (BOP) for issuance/payment/inspections; Symbium for the instant residential solar permit application itself; ProjectDox for Tier 2/commercial plan check. 90% · portal landing page
• Can the whole application be completed online? Yes, for qualifying single-family systems (<=38.4kW) via Symbium -- 'permit applications submitted using Symbium will be issued in real time.' 90% · department page
• What does a residential solar permit cost? $308.24 flat (Residential Photovoltaic System, electrical permit fee) 85% · fee schedule
• How is the fee calculated? Flat 85% · fee schedule
• Is there a separate plan-check fee? No separate line item for residential PV plan check (unlike Energy Storage System and EV Charger, which list Permit Fee + Plan Check Fee separately); the $308.24 appears to be an all-in electrical permit fee for instant/Tier-1 residential PV. 60% · fee schedule

Interconnection is a separate process from the permit and usually the longer pole. Where the utility does not depend on the permit being issued, running both at once is the single biggest saving available on a residential job.

• What is the stated plan-review turnaround? Same day to a few days for Symbium instant permits (issued in real time); the state 'small residential rooftop solar' ordinance requires the checklist-based application be processed for expedited/administrative approval; BWP's own Confirmation of Electric Service review (a precondition to permitting) is separately quoted at 4-7 business days. 75% · monthly permit log (city's own data)
• How long is an issued permit valid before it expires? 365 days from date of application for residential occupancies (per AB 2913); work must otherwise commence within 180 days of issuance or the permit expires. 90% · adopting ordinance
• Which utility handles interconnection here? Burbank Water and Power (BWP) -- a municipally owned utility, not an investor-owned utility. PowerToChoose-style third-party utility lookups would be wrong here; confirmed directly from the city's and utility's own pages. 95% · utility's own page
• Where does the utility sit in the sequence? Before permit 95% · department page

The NEC edition a jurisdiction enforces is often a cycle behind the newest one published, and local amendments sit on top of it. Rapid shutdown, conductor sizing and labelling all change between editions, so the edition in force is the first thing to establish, not the last.

• Which NEC edition is in force? 2023 NEC (adopted into the 2025 California Electrical Code, Title 24 Part 3) 90% · adopting ordinance
• Which building code edition is in force? 2025 California Building Code (and 2025 California Residential Code), effective 1 Jan 2026, with local amendments in BMC Title 9 (Ord. No. 25-4,034) 95% · department page + adopting ordinance
• Which fire code edition is in force? 2025 California Fire Code (based on the 2024 IFC), effective 1 Jan 2026, with local amendments (BMC 9-1-9, Ord. No. 25-4,034) 90% · adopting ordinance
• Are there local amendments to any of the above? Yes 95% · adopting ordinance
• What is the installation judged against? The 2025 CEC (2023 NEC base) unamended for electrical work, plus the 2025 CBC/CRC as locally amended for structural attachment, and BWP's Rules & Regulations / Electric Service Specifications (drawings S-0812, S-0813, S-0819) for the utility interconnection point. 75% · adopting ordinance + utility spec index

Ridge setbacks and roof access pathways are fire-service requirements and they constrain the array layout. They are the most common cause of a redesign after the fire department comments on a plan set.

• What ridge setback and access pathways are required? Not locally amended -- Burbank's Fire Code amendments (BMC 9-1-9) contain no additions or changes to CFC Chapter 12 (Energy Systems), the chapter that sets rooftop PV setbacks and access pathways, so the unamended 2025 CFC Section 1204 standard applies as published by the state. 80% · adopting ordinance (absence proved by full-text search)

Which rapid-shutdown rule applies follows directly from the NEC edition in force, and the initiation device has to be at a location the fire service can reach and identify. This is inspected, and it is labelled.

• Is rapid shutdown required, and to which NEC edition? Yes, per the 2025 CEC (2023 NEC), Article 690.12 rapid shutdown -- adopted without local amendment. 70% · adopting ordinance

The NEC sets a baseline for permanent markings at the service equipment and the disconnecting means. On top of that, an authority may specify its own wording, and the utility may specify more again. Where any of them writes its own text, a generic off-the-shelf label set will not pass — this is the detail most often fixed on a return visit.

• Which placards does this authority require at the service equipment? Standard NEC/CFC-required service equipment placards (main disconnect, PV disconnect, rapid shutdown label) plus a BWP-required solar performance meter and, for multi-family buildings specifically, BWP Drawing S-825A labeling. 60% · utility installer instructions
• Does the UTILITY specify placards beyond the AHJ's? Yes for multi-family buildings (BWP Drawing S-825A, labeling requirements referenced explicitly); no separate placard drawing is listed for single-family residential in BWP's own Electric Service Specifications index -- only single-line diagrams (S-0812/S-0813/S-0819) are listed under 'Solar and Battery Standards.' 75% · utility spec index (absence proved by reading full drawing list)
• Where must the labels be placed? Not found as a single stated location beyond standard NEC placement (at the service equipment / point of interconnection); BWP requires the solar performance meter socket and AC disconnect to be wired between the inverter output and the service-entrance revenue meter. 55% · utility form

Where the AC disconnect must sit relative to the meter is usually the utility's rule, not the building department's. Battery storage frequently carries its own permit, its own inspection and its own fire conditions.

• Where must the AC disconnect be, relative to the meter? The AC disconnect (and the solar performance meter socket) must be wired between the output of the inverter and the service-entrance revenue (net) meter; detached structures with their own PV array must have their own ground-level, readily-accessible disconnect. AC/DC disconnects must be lever-actuated and lockable in the open position; built-in inverter disconnects are not an acceptable substitute. 90% · utility DG manual/form
• Are batteries permitted, and under what conditions? Yes, permitted; governed by the unamended 2025 CFC Chapter 12 (Energy Systems / ESS) since Burbank's local fire amendments do not touch that chapter. Separately, BWP allows AC- and DC-coupled battery configurations per its own single-line diagram standards S-0812/S-0813/S-0819. 75% · adopting ordinance (absence proved) + utility spec index
• Is there a separate ESS permit or inspection? Yes -- Energy Storage System has its own separate fee schedule line: Permit Fee $249.19 plus Plan Check Fee $280.21, distinct from the PV permit fee. 85% · fee schedule

Booking is a portal, a phone call or an email depending on the authority, and the notice required is rarely zero. Book before the work is finished rather than after — the lead time, not the work, is usually what sets the date.

• How is an inspection booked? Portal 90% · department page
• How much notice is required? 1 business day minimum (can be scheduled up to 3 days in advance, excluding weekends/holidays) 90% · department page
• Are same-day or AM/PM windows offered? No stated AM/PM window; applicants call inspection staff between 7:00-7:45am the morning of the inspection to confirm a time. 85% · department page

Some authorities inspect their own solar work; some delegate it, and a few do not inspect the PV equipment itself at all. Who is coming determines what they will look at.

• Does this AHJ perform its own final solar inspection? Yes 85% · department + utility pages

A rough-in or mid-roof inspection, where one is required, has to happen before the work it covers is closed up. Missing a stage means opening something back up, and it is the most expensive kind of correction.

• Which inspections are required, and in what order? For the state-defined small residential rooftop solar system (<=10kW AC), only one consolidated inspection is required (may include both Building Official and Fire Official); a subsequent re-inspection is allowed if it fails. Larger/traditional systems follow normal rough/final building and electrical inspection sequencing. 75% · ordinance

The approved plan set, the permit, and the equipment listings should be on site and reachable. Inspectors routinely verify that installed equipment matches what was approved, and that the labels are the ones the plan set promised.

• Does the inspector verify labels and listings? Yes (implied) 65% · utility installer instructions

Passing gives you a final or an equivalent sign-off. That is not the same as permission to operate: PTO comes from the utility, and who tells the utility the inspection passed varies. A system left switched off for weeks is usually waiting on this handover.

• What is issued on pass? Final (permit finaled in the Burbank Online Permits system) 70% · city's own permit log
• Who notifies the utility for PTO? AHJ 90% · utility installer instructions
• Is there a re-inspection fee? $184.93 per hour (general Building Division reinspection penalty fee; not solar-specific) 60% · fee schedule