City of Carrabelle

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.

• Is this authority the AHJ for residential solar at this address? Yes. The City of Carrabelle is the AHJ for residential solar inside the city limits. It has its own Building Department (1206 Hwy 98 E), its own adopted permit fee/fine schedule headed 'CITY OF CARRABELLE BUILDING DEPARTMENT', its own live permitting portal (iWorQ), its own budgeted Building Department with named payroll, and its own NFIP community number (CID 120090, distinct from Franklin County unincorporated 120088). 92% · department page + adopted fee resolution + live permit portal
• What does this authority permit itself, and what does it delegate? Both, in-house, plus zoning and floodplain. The City issues building, electrical and all supplemental trade permits and administers its own floodplain regime (LDC Part 3.06.00, NFIP CID 120090). Zoning/planning and code enforcement sit with the City Clerk. CONTRACTOR REGISTRATION is delegated to Franklin County — the city's own application carries a 'County Registration #' field and states 'ALL CONTRACTORS DOING WORK IN FRANKLIN COUNTY MUST BE REGISTERED IN FRANKLIN COUNTY'. Resolution 02-2020 additionally records an interlocal under which the Franklin County Building Official performs plan review and inspections and is reimbursed from city permit fees. 80% · adopted budget worksheet + final actual + fee resolution
• Is a permit required for a residential rooftop PV system? Yes. A permit is required. Three independent city instruments: LDC Sec. 3.06.04.01 requires a permit for 'any development activity ... wholly within or partially within any flood hazard area' (69.4% of the city's land is SFHA — see q10 note); Code Sec. 22-31 adopts the Florida Building Code by reference; and the city's adopted fee schedule prices 'Electrical Upgrade Permits $100.00' and 'Supplemental Permits (Temp Power Pole, Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC, Gas & Roofing) $100.00 Each'. The city publishes NO dollar or area threshold below which a permit is waived — the '$1,000.00 or 100 Sq ft' threshold on Franklin County's site is expressly scoped to unincorporated Franklin County. 88% · adopted fee schedule + codified ordinance
• Is there a separate electrical permit, or is it combined? Separate. Solar routes as a supplemental/trade permit alongside (or instead of) a main development permit. The city fee schedule prices supplemental electrical permits at $100.00 each, and the iWorQ inspection menu carries 'Rough Electrical', 'Electrical Final' and 'Electrical upgrade' as distinct inspection types. The iWorQ application named 'Supplemental Permit and Single Family Resident' is the combined intake form. 80% · adopted fee schedule + permit portal
• Is a HOA or architectural approval required first? No HOA or architectural approval is required by the City for a residential solar installation. Carrabelle has no historic district overlay, no architectural review board, and no certificate-of-appropriateness regime reaching residential work: the only 'Certificate of Appropriateness' reference in the entire codified corpus is a definition in the LDC glossary plus a passing mention in the level-three review section, with no operative regime attached. The only architectural design standards in the LDC (Part 7.09.00) consist of a single section, Sec. 7.09.01, scoped by its own definition to 'Any new commercial retail building, whose total gross leasable area equals or exceeds 25,000 square feet'. Private HOA covenants may of course exist on individual subdivisions; that is a title matter, not a city one. 88% · codified Land Development Code, enumerated
• Is there a historic-district review? No. There is no historic-district review in Carrabelle. The word 'historic' appears 86 times across 12 of 1,229 codified nodes, and every operative use is either the LDC glossary (63 of the 86), the floodplain ordinance's FEMA 'historic structure' exemption (Sec. 3.06.07.04), or a 'historical or archaeological resources' consideration inside special-exception and level-three review — none of which reaches a by-right residential alteration. There is no historic preservation board, no register, and no COA process in the code. 88% · codified code, enumerated
• Is a wind or windstorm certification required? No separate windstorm certificate is issued, but a wind-load analysis IS a submittal item: the city's residential checklist carries '[ ] Wind Load Analysis [ ] Engineered'. Franklin County is NOT in the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone (Miami-Dade and Broward only), so standard Florida Product Approval applies rather than Miami-Dade NOAs. The county publishes design wind speeds of 130 mph for unincorporated Franklin County and 140 mph for St. George Island but expressly scopes those to the unincorporated area — the City of Carrabelle does not publish a design wind speed of its own, so ASCE 7 via the Florida Building Code governs. 78% · city permit application checklist + county guidance
• Is a Specific Use Permit or Council approval ever required? Yes, for a large GROUND MOUNT — and this is the sharpest local trap in Carrabelle. LDC Sec. 7.08.01(A): 'Structures up to 625 square feet and no more than 16 feet in height, at a maximum point of roof pitch, from the grade, shall be allowed or permitted in residential and office professional districts. Structures more than 625 [square feet] or in excess of 16 feet to the peak of the roof, as measured from the grade, shall be listed as CONDITIONAL USES in residential and office professional districts.' A ground-mounted array whose footprint exceeds 625 sq ft — roughly 30-34 modern modules, about 12-14 kW DC — therefore needs a conditional-use approval with 'requirements and/or data pertaining to height, increased setbacks and landscaping plans around the perimeter'. Sec. 7.08.01(D) additionally bars accessory structures from ANY required front, secondary front, side or rear yard setback. A ROOFTOP array triggers none of this. Separately, site-plan/development-order review does NOT apply: LDC Sec. 11.02.01.01(A) exempts 'Single-family and duplex dwellings ... being constructed on an existing lawfully platted lot or certified parcel' from the development order process entirely. 80% · codified LDC Sec. 7.08.01 and Sec. 11.02.01.01
• Is there a system-size cap on residential generation? No local cap on residential generation size. The city's code says nothing about generation at all. The operative cap is the utility's tier boundary: Duke Energy Florida's Tier 1 Standard Interconnection Agreement covers systems of 10 kW or less in total, and requires that the system 'does not exceed 90% of the rating of service currently provided to the customer'. Above 10 kW the customer moves to Duke's Tier 2 or Tier 3 agreement. Note the interaction with q27: a ground mount big enough to matter for Tier 2 is also big enough to cross Carrabelle's 625 sq ft conditional-use line. 85% · utility tariff + enumerated local absence

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? A Florida-licensed contractor in the appropriate trade who is registered with Franklin County, or the property owner as owner-builder. The city's Development Application collects 'State License #' and 'County Registration #', carries a SUB-CONTRACTOR LIST with an 'Electrical: ______ [ ]Registered' line, and states 'ALL GENERAL, RESIDENTIAL & BUILDING, ELECTRICAL, PLUMBING, HVAC & ROOFING CONTRACTOR'S ARE REQUIRED TO PULL PERMITS ON ALL NEW, RENOVATIONS, REMODEL PROJECTS.' 85% · city permit application form
• Must the contractor be registered with this authority before applying? Yes — registration is with FRANKLIN COUNTY, not with the City, and it is enforced at the point of application. The iWorQ portal states: 'A contractor is required to submit this application. A matching contractor must be selected from the search results... Contractors with expired licenses are not eligible to submit this form.' Franklin County's Building Department holds 'Registration and disciplinary control of all contractors in Franklin County' and publishes a Contractor License Application. 88% · permit portal application form
• Is a homeowner permitted to self-install and self-permit? Yes. FS 489.103(7)(a)1 exempts owners acting as their own contractor with direct onsite supervision when improving a one-family or two-family residence for their own use. The city's residential checklist includes an 'Owner/Builder Affidavit'; Franklin County states 'Homeowners are allowed to act as a contractor without obtaining a Contractor License... Owner builders are held to the same standards as contractors.' NOTE the dedicated solar limb, FS 489.103(7)(a)3, is a dead letter here: it applies only where the local permitting agency's county or municipal government participates in a US DOE 'SunShot Initiative: Rooftop Solar Challenge' grant, and it still requires a licensed electrical contractor to do the wiring and interconnection. 85% · city permit application checklist + Florida Statutes

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? The City publishes no solar-specific checklist. Its general residential package (Development Application, p.2) is: Application; Supplemental Application; Boundary Survey (non-flood zones); Site Plan; Septic Tank Permit; Energy Code Form; 3 Complete Sets of Building Plans; Wind Load Analysis / Engineered; State permits (DEP/COE/FDOT) as applicable; Structure Height & Number of Stories Affidavit; Portable Toilet Agreement; Owner/Builder Affidavit; Dumpster Affidavit; Termite Affidavit; Flood Proofing Certification (if applicable); Recorded Notice of Commencement. ADDITIONAL IN FLOOD ZONES: Topographical Survey; Flood Plain Management Review (requires its own permit); V Zone Certification; Smart Vent Certification; Elevation Affidavit; Non-Conversion Agreement. For comparison, the neighbouring Franklin County Building Department DOES publish a dedicated Solar Panel Permit Application whose required documents are only: APPLICATION, SCHEMATIC/ELECTRICAL, RECORDED NOTICE OF COMMENCEMENT, and SITE PLAN FOR GROUND SYSTEMS. 78% · city permit application checklist
• How many copies, and in what format? Online is the primary route: the iWorQ portal takes the application, the contractor and property lookups, a typed signature and file uploads ('Choose Files' / 'Upload'), so the whole package can be submitted electronically. Paper is accepted at City Hall, 1206 Hwy 98 E. Where paper plans are used the city's own checklist calls for '3 Complete Sets of Building Plans'. 75% · permit portal + city checklist
• Is a site plan required, and what must it show? Yes. (a) Floodplain: LDC Sec. 3.06.05.01 requires site plans and construction documents for development in flood hazard areas, and the city's form requires a Topographical Survey plus flood zone, panel number, FIRM zone and elevation-per-survey entries. (b) The city's form requires a Site Plan for residential work and, in the Critical Shoreline District, that construction be 'a minimum of 20 feet from the mean high water or wetland' and that this 'Must be indicated on submitted site plan'. (c) For ground-mounted systems specifically, the nearest published solar form (Franklin County) requires 'SITE PLAN FOR GROUND SYSTEMS' — i.e. the roof/ground split is drawn at the site plan. Context for why this matters here: 69.43% of the city's LAND area is in a Special Flood Hazard Area (VE 12.14%, AE 47.13%, AH 0.26%, unnumbered A 9.91%; X 30.57%). 85% · city permit application + codified LDC + FEMA NFHL measurement
• Is a one-line / three-line diagram required? No one-line or three-line diagram is required by any City of Carrabelle published document. The nearest published solar requirement in this county is Franklin County's Solar Panel Permit Application, which requires a 'SCHEMATIC/ELECTRICAL' — a schematic, not a one-line specifically. 65% · enumerated absence + neighbouring county solar form
• Are string and conductor calculations required? Not required by any published city document. Neither the city's checklist nor the county's Solar Panel Permit Application asks for string sizing, conductor ampacity or voltage-drop calculations; the county solar form asks only for a schematic/electrical, a recorded NOC, a site plan for ground systems, and the contract cost. 62% · enumerated absence + neighbouring county solar form
• Is a structural PE stamp required, and at what threshold? No solar-specific structural PE threshold is published. What IS required city-side is a wind-load analysis: the city's residential checklist carries '[ ] Wind Load Analysis [ ] Engineered'. The city adopts the Florida Building Code with no local structural amendment, so FBC/ASCE 7 product-approval and attachment requirements govern. Franklin County is NOT in the HVHZ (Miami-Dade and Broward only); the county publishes 130 mph for unincorporated Franklin and 140 mph for St. George Island, but expressly scopes those to the unincorporated area, so the city's design wind speed is not locally published and comes from ASCE 7 via the FBC. 70% · city permit application checklist
• Is an electrical PE stamp required, and at what threshold? No local electrical PE-stamp threshold is published. FS 471.003(2)(h) sets the statewide electrical PE exemption boundary. One city-side trigger does exist and is easy to miss: in the Critical Shoreline District, and in VE zones, the city requires engineer-sealed work — the Development Application requires 'certified breakaway construction by Engineer' for VE-zone storage under 299 sq ft, and LDC Sec. 3.06.37.07 requires 'analyses prepared by qualified registered design professionals' for ANY development activity other than buildings and structures in a coastal high hazard (V) zone. 68% · city permit application + codified LDC Sec. 3.06.37.07

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? iWorQ Citizen Portal, at carrabellefl.portal.iworq.net/portalhome/carrabellefl, linked from the city's Building page as 'Apply For A Building Permit >>'. It carries three application types (Supplemental Permit and Single Family Resident; Development Permit; Mobile Home Permit), a public permit search, an inspection request form, and a code-violation report form. Online card payments for permits are taken on a separate city page. The 'Building Permit Search Portal' still linked from the city's Links page (carrabelleflpermitsearch.azurewebsites.net) is DEAD — the hostname does not resolve. 92% · live permit portal
• Can the whole application be completed online? Yes, effectively the whole application. The iWorQ forms take the property and contractor lookups, all owner/contractor/development fields, the mandatory acknowledgements, a typed signature, and an arbitrary file upload, and end in a Submit. Inspections are also requested online from the same portal, and permit fees are payable online through the city's Building Permit Online Payments page. Paper remains accepted at City Hall. 88% · live permit portal
• What does a residential solar permit cost? NOT PUBLISHABLE AS A SINGLE FIGURE, and here is exactly why. The City's adopted fee schedule (Resolution 02-2020, Exhibit A) names no solar line. It prices 'Electrical Upgrade Permits $100.00' and 'Supplemental Permits (Temp Power Pole, Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC, Gas & Roofing) $100.00 Each' — so a PV job taken as a supplemental electrical permit is $100.00. Everything else falls under 'ITEMS BASED ON CONTRACT COST', for which the schedule publishes NO rate, NO percentage and NO table; plan and flood review fees are 'calculated within the ICC's current Valuation Data Table' with an annual regional modifier that the city does not publish. On top of the permit fee the city's application form carries separate RADON and C.S.I. surcharge lines (see q16). So: $100.00 if written as a supplemental electrical permit; otherwise an unpublished contract-cost figure. I am not estimating a total. 80% · adopted fee/fine schedule (Resolution 02-2020 Exhibit A)
• How is the fee calculated? Mixed: Flat for named items, Valuation for everything else. The schedule's own words: 'RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL: ALL NEW CONSTRUCTION BASED ON VALUATION, DETERMINED BY GROUP AND TYPE OF CONSTRUCTION PER ICC'S CURRENT VALUATION DATA TABLE. REGIONAL MODIFIER INCLUDED TO BE CALCULATED ANNUALLY'; named flat items (mobile homes, moving, demolition, site prep, electrical upgrade, supplementals); and 'ITEMS BASED ON CONTRACT COST: Copy of Contract Required with Contractor/Owner Signatures'. STATUTORY FLAG: FS 553.79(1)(f) (2025) provides that 'A local government may not require a contract between a builder and an owner, any copies of such contract, or any associated document ... for the issuance of a building permit or as a requirement for the submission of a building permit application.' Both the City's schedule and Franklin County's schedule ('A COPY OF CONTRACT/PROPOSAL REQUIRED WITH PERMIT APPLICATION') require exactly that, and a solar job is not on either named list, so it falls into the contract-cost branch. Surcharges: the city's application prints separate FEE / RADON / FLOOD / C.S.I. / TOTAL lines but publishes no rate or citation for RADON or C.S.I.; the statutory rates are FS 553.721 at 1% (minimum $2) and FS 468.631 at 1.5% (minimum $2), i.e. 2.5% with a $4 combined floor. 85% · adopted fee schedule + Florida Statutes 553.79/553.721/468.631
• Is there a separate plan-check fee? Yes, but it is not separately priced — it is folded into the valuation calculation. The city schedule says 'Plan and Flood Review fees are calculated within the ICC's current Valuation Data Table.' So plan review and FLOODPLAIN review are both charged, and both are valuation-based, but neither is published as a standalone number. Resolution 02-2020's recitals confirm the intent: the fees 'represent the cost of permit processing services provided by City staff and necessary to reimburse the County Building Official for time spent performing plan review and building inspections', 'including FEMA and flood plain review'. 82% · adopted fee schedule + adopting resolution

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? Not published by the City. The governing floor is FS 553.792(1)(a)1 as amended by ch. 2024-191: a local government must approve, approve with conditions, or deny within 30 BUSINESS DAYS of a complete and sufficient application for an 'electrical' permit or a residential unit where the structure is less than 7,500 square feet (60 business days at 7,500 sq ft or more). The completeness clock is 5 business days — if the city does not give written notice of what is missing within 5 business days, the application is automatically deemed complete. Penalty for missing the deadline: the permit fee must be reduced by 10% for each business day late (20% per business day after a revision round). 80% · Florida Statutes 553.792 (2025)
• How long is an issued permit valid before it expires? ONE YEAR from issuance, with construction required to commence within six months. The city prints this on every permit instrument: the Development Application says 'THIS PERMIT IS VALID FOR ONE YEAR FROM THE DATE OF ISSUANCE. CONSTRUCTION MUST COMMENCE WITHIN SIX MONTHS OF THIS DATE', and the identical sentence appears on all three live iWorQ applications. SEPARATE AND SHORTER: a floodplain development permit or approval under LDC Sec. 3.06.04.05 'shall become invalid unless the work authorized by such permit is commenced within 180 days after its issuance, or if the work authorized is suspended or abandoned for a period of 180 days'. Extensions of not more than 180 days each may be requested in writing with justifiable cause. 90% · permit portal signature block + city form + codified LDC
• Which utility handles interconnection here? Duke Energy Florida, LLC — and it is the ONLY retail electric seller in the county. EIA Form 861 Service Territory 2024 lists exactly one utility for FL / Franklin County: 'Duke Energy Florida, LLC' (utility number 6455). For contrast, neighbouring Gulf County has two (Duke plus Gulf Coast Electric Coop) and Wakulla has two (Duke plus Talquin Electric Coop) — so the single-seller result for Franklin is a real finding, not a thin file. The City is definitively NOT the seller: its budget carries a revenue line '311-100 Franchise Fee- Electricity' at $180,000 budgeted / $130,293.22 actual in FY2023-24, and a city cannot pay itself a franchise fee. 95% · EIA-861 Service Territory 2024 + city budget
• Where does the utility sit in the sequence? Parallel, with the AHJ's final inspection as the gate. Duke's filed Tier 1 Standard Interconnection Agreement (Section VII, sheets 7.310-7.313, effective 29 April 2013) requires at paragraph 7: 'The Customer agrees to provide Local Building Code Official inspection and certification of installation. The certification shall reflect that the local code official has inspected and certified that the installation was permitted, has been approved, and has met all electrical and mechanical qualifications.' Paragraph 12 requires 10 days' notice before parallel operation and gives Duke the right to inspect; paragraph 29 requires the executed agreement and application to be returned at least 30 calendar days before parallel operation begins. Paragraph 2: 'The Customer shall not be required to pay any application fee for this Tier 1 ... interconnection.' Tier 1 is 10 kW or less and the system must not exceed 90% of the service rating. 92% · utility's filed interconnection tariff

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? NEC 2020, effective 31 December 2023, under the Florida Building Code 8th Edition (2023). Carrabelle adopts the FBC by reference with no edition named (Code Sec. 22-31: 'There is hereby adopted by reference ... that certain published code known as the Florida Building Code'), so the edition is a state fact and floats with the state adoption. FAC 61G20-1.001 'Florida Building Code Adopted' shows the 8th Edition effective 12-31-2023 and has been amended since, most recently effective 18 March 2026. 78% · state adopting rule FAC 61G20-1.001 + standing dataset evidence
• Which building code edition is in force? Florida Building Code 8th Edition (2023), adopted by reference and floating. Code of Ordinances Sec. 22-31 adopts 'the Florida Building Code' with no edition, date or supplement named, so the city automatically follows the state. FAC 61G20-1.001 shows the current adoption effective 12-31-2023, amended by rules effective 8-15-24, 8-19-24, 2-23-25, 7-6-25 and 3-18-26. 90% · codified ordinance Sec. 22-31 + FAC 61G20-1.001
• Which fire code edition is in force? Florida Fire Prevention Code 8th Edition (2023), adopted by reference and floating. The city's entire fire code is one sentence — Code Sec. 38-1: 'There is hereby adopted by reference, as fully and to the same extent as if set out at length in this section, that certain published code known as the Florida Fire Prevention Code.' Chapter 38 contains no other section. The 9th Edition is in rulemaking but NOT yet adopted: FAC 69A-60.001 shows a rule-development notice for the 9th Edition published 26 August 2024, a further development notice on 9 January 2026, and a WITHDRAWAL of the title notice published 2 July 2026, so the 8th Edition remains in force as of today. 88% · codified ordinance Sec. 38-1 + FAC 69A-60.001 docket
• Are there local amendments to any of the above? Yes, but only two, and neither touches solar. The city's only amendments to the Florida Building Code sit in LDC Division 4 (Sec. 3.06.41, 'Amendments to the Florida Building Code'), and both are modifications of the SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT definition (see q33/q45 note). There are no local electrical, structural, roofing or energy amendments anywhere in the code. IMPORTANT: Sec. 3.06.41 used to have more. The Code Comparative Table records that Ordinance No. 481, adopted 3 September 2020, 'Rpld 3.06.41 A.—C.' and renumbered former D. and E. as A. and B. — three FBC amendment subsections were repealed in 2020 and only the two definitions survive. Whatever those three did, the city no longer has them, and no freeboard amendment exists in the current code. 85% · codified LDC Sec. 3.06.41 + Municode Code Comparative Table
• What is the installation judged against? Against the Florida Building Code as adopted by Code Sec. 22-31, which carries the NEC 2020 as the electrical standard, plus the city's floodplain overlay. The floodplain overlay is the part that actually bites a PV job here, and it is scoped to the EQUIPMENT: LDC Sec. 3.06.37.01(5) requires all development for which no specific provision is made to 'Have mechanical, plumbing, and electrical systems above the design flood elevation or meet the requirements of ASCE 24, except that minimum electric service required to address life safety and electric code requirements is permitted below the design flood elevation provided it conforms to the provisions of the electrical part of building code for wet locations.' The same section also requires such development to be 'anchored to prevent flotation, collapse or lateral movement resulting from hydrostatic loads, including the effects of buoyancy' and 'constructed of flood damage-resistant materials'. This section was itself amended by Ord. 481 in 2020, so it is the current text. 88% · codified LDC Sec. 3.06.37.01

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.

Nothing recorded for City of Carrabelle on this step yet — 1 question checked and found unpublished. The guidance above is general.

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? Rapid shutdown is required to the NEC edition in force — NEC 2020 Section 690.12, which requires module-level shutdown to 80 V within 30 seconds inside the array boundary and 1 ft outside it. Carrabelle adds nothing and subtracts nothing: the word 'solar' does not appear once in 2.24 million characters of its codified code, and there is no local electrical amendment of any kind. 75% · enumerated local absence + NEC edition in force

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? The AHJ requires no placards of its own. The placards that apply are the NEC 2020 ones via the adopted Florida Building Code — Article 690 (PV system marking, DC circuit and disconnect marking), Article 705 (interactive-system and point-of-interconnection marking, including 705.10 the permanent plaque/directory) and, where storage is present, Article 706. The UTILITY adds none either: Duke Energy Florida's filed Tier 1 agreement contains ZERO placard, label, marking or signage requirements across all four tariff sheets. 78% · enumerated local absence + utility tariff read first-hand
• Does the authority specify placard wording of its own? No. The City of Carrabelle specifies no placard wording of its own. 85% · enumerated absence across code, site and document library
• Does it specify letter height, colour or material? No letter height, colour, contrast or material is specified by the City. NEC 110.21(B) and the Article 690/705 marking rules as adopted through the FBC are the only source of those attributes here. 85% · enumerated absence across code, site and document library
• Is a site plan / facility map placard required, and what must it show? No local site-plan or facility-map placard requirement. NEC 2020 705.10 (permanent plaque or directory at the service equipment or at an approved readily visible location, showing the location of all electric power source disconnecting means) is the operative requirement, inherited through the adopted Florida Building Code. Note the separate city document that IS a site plan requirement but is not a placard: for ground systems, a site plan is a submittal item (q10). 72% · enumerated local absence + NEC 705.10
• Does the UTILITY specify placards beyond the AHJ's? No. Duke Energy Florida specifies no placards beyond the AHJ's. I read all four sheets of Duke's filed Tier 1 Standard Interconnection Agreement for Customer-Owned Renewable Generation Systems (10 kW or less), Section VII sheets 7.310-7.313, effective 29 April 2013, and there is no placard, label, marking, plaque or signage requirement anywhere in it. The only 'notice' Duke mentions is a door hanger the Company leaves if IT disconnects the customer. 88% · utility filed tariff, rendered and OCR'd
• Where must the labels be placed? At the service equipment / point of interconnection, per NEC 2020 705.10 and 690.13(B), with no local override. The one placement rule that IS local and IS enforceable here is not a label rule but an elevation rule: in a flood hazard area, LDC Sec. 3.06.37.01(5) requires electrical systems to sit above the design flood elevation (or meet ASCE 24), which in practice pushes the inverter, the DC and AC disconnects and any labelled equipment up out of the flood plane on 69.43% of the city's land — VE at 12.14%, AE at 47.13%, AH 0.26% and unnumbered A 9.91%. 78% · codified LDC Sec. 3.06.37.01 + NEC 705.10

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? There may be no AC disconnect at all, and if there is one Duke installs it at Duke's expense. Duke's Tier 1 agreement paragraph 15: 'In the event the Company elects to install a manual disconnect switch, it shall be at the Company's expense. The Company installed disconnect switch shall be the visible load break type to provide a separation point between the [customer's generation and the] Company's system. The disconnect switch shall be mounted separate from, but adjacent to the Company's meter socket. The Customer shall ensure that such disconnect switch shall remain readily accessible to the Company.' So: Duke's option, Duke's cost, adjacent to the meter socket, readily accessible, visible load-break type. FAC 25-6.065 independently exempts inverter-based Tier 1 systems from a required external disconnect and bars the utility from requiring liability insurance; Duke's paragraph 8 only RECOMMENDS $100,000 of general liability cover. 90% · utility filed tariff + FAC 25-6.065
• Must equipment be on a specific approved list? Yes, by the utility rather than by the AHJ. Duke's Tier 1 agreement paragraph 5: generation 'shall be considered certified for interconnected operation if it has been submitted by a manufacturer to a nationally recognized testing and certification laboratory, and has been tested and listed by the laboratory for continuous interactive operation with an electric distribution system in compliance with the applicable codes and standards of IEEE 1547, IEEE 1547.1 and UL 1741.' Paragraph 6 requires a utility-interactive inverter that automatically isolates on grid loss. The City itself maintains no approved-equipment list; Florida Product Approval applies to the mounting/roofing components through the FBC. 88% · utility filed tariff
• Are batteries permitted, and under what conditions? Batteries are permitted; no local condition is imposed. The City has no energy-storage ordinance — 'energy storage', 'battery' and 'ESS' produce nothing operative in the codified corpus, and the Florida Fire Prevention Code 8th Edition applies by the one-sentence adoption in Code Sec. 38-1. Two local conditions do reach an ESS: LDC Sec. 3.06.37.01(5) requires electrical systems above the design flood elevation (or ASCE 24 compliance), and (3) requires anchoring against flotation and buoyancy — both of which matter for a ground-level or garage-level battery on a site in an SFHA. Under FS 553.791(1)(q), 'solar energy and energy storage installations or alterations' are expressly single-trade work for private-provider purposes. 70% · enumerated local absence + codified LDC + FS 553.791(1)(q)
• Is there a separate ESS permit or inspection? No separate ESS permit or ESS inspection type exists. The city's inspection catalogue — enumerated in full from the live iWorQ inspection-request form — is: All Rough Inspections, Dock, Electrical Final, Electrical upgrade, Final Inspection, Footings, Foundation, Framing, HVAC, HVAC rough, Inspection, Insulation, Plumbing Final, Power Pole, Re-Inspection, Roofing Final, Rough Electrical, Rough Plumbing, Sheathing, Sheetrock, Temporary Power Pole, Temporary/Permanent Power, Under Slab Plumbing. There is no battery, storage, ESS or solar entry. A battery would be permitted and inspected as electrical work. 85% · live permit portal inspection-request form (full enumeration)
• Is a ground mount treated as a structure? Yes — and it is treated as an ACCESSORY STRUCTURE with a hard size trigger. LDC Sec. 7.08.01 governs 'all new accessory uses and structures incidental to any permitted or conditional use': up to 625 square feet and 16 feet in height it is allowed by right in residential districts; ABOVE 625 square feet or above 16 feet it becomes a CONDITIONAL USE (q27). Sec. 7.08.01(D) bars accessory structures from any required front, secondary front, side or rear yard setback. Three further constraints bite a ground mount here: (a) Critical Shoreline District, LDC Sec. 3.05.03.01 — 'Structures shall be setback a minimum of 20 feet from the inland boundary of waters and wetlands. No impervious surface shall be permitted within this setback and the alteration of vegetation shall be prohibited', with exceptions only for water-dependent and erosion-control structures; the district runs 150 feet landward of all waters and wetlands, and Sec. 3.05.03.03(F) caps impervious surface at 20% of the portion of the site inside it. (b) In VE zones, LDC Sec. 3.06.37.07 permits 'development activities other than buildings and structures' only if located outside the footprint of and not structurally attached to buildings AND supported by a registered design professional's analysis showing no harmful diversion of floodwaters or wave runup and reflection. (c) Sec. 3.06.37.01 requires anchoring against buoyancy, flood-damage-resistant materials and electrical systems above the design flood elevation. 78% · codified LDC Secs. 7.08.01, 3.05.03.01, 3.05.03.03, 3.06.37
• Is there a local rule on service upgrades or busbar sizing? No local rule on service upgrades or busbar sizing. NEC 705.12 via the adopted FBC governs. The only service-related local instrument is procedural, not electrical: LDC Sec. 11.01.06(C) makes it 'the responsibility of the building official to withhold final inspection and notification of electric utility to initiate service until all conditions of development have been met', with a checklist signed by city officials 'prior to final inspection and authorization for permanent electric service'. The city's fee schedule separately prices 'Electrical Upgrade Permits $100.00', and the iWorQ inspection menu has an 'Electrical upgrade' inspection type — so a service upgrade is a recognised, separately-permitted and separately-inspected job here. 80% · codified LDC Sec. 11.01.06 + city fee schedule + portal inspection menu
• Is a specific mounting system or attachment spacing required? No mounting system or attachment-spacing rule is specified locally. Attachment is governed by the Florida Building Code and Florida Product Approval (Franklin County is not in the HVHZ), with the city requiring a wind-load analysis at submittal. Two local constraints do reach the mounting decision, both flood-driven: LDC Sec. 3.06.37.01(3) requires anchoring 'to prevent flotation, collapse or lateral movement ... including the effects of buoyancy', and in coastal high hazard (VE) areas Sec. 3.06.37.07 requires that development other than buildings be 'located outside the footprint of, and not structurally attached to, buildings and structures' and be supported by an engineer's analysis of wave runup and reflection. 75% · codified LDC Sec. 3.06.37

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 (with a phone/email fallback through City Hall). Inspections are requested from the iWorQ portal — every permit row in the public ledger carries a 'Request An Inspection' button, and every permit detail page carries the request form inline. The form requires: an ACCESS CODE (with a 'Need your access code? / Email me my code' link), Requested By, Phone #, Email, Requested Date, inspection Type from a fixed 23-item list, and Comments. FS 553.79(1)(d) independently requires the city to accept electronic inspection requests. 88% · live permit portal inspection-request form
• How much notice is required? Next business day is bookable; weekends are not. The portal's own client-side validation states 'Weekends are not available dates for inspections' and blocks Saturday and Sunday selection, and its unavailable-dates list was EMPTY when I read it — no blackout dates set. The date picker defaulted to the next calendar day (Sunday 14 September was the pre-filled 'Pick a Day to Check Availability' value) and offers a 'View Calendar Openings' check. So the mechanism is a live availability calendar rather than a fixed notice period, and the city publishes no minimum-notice rule. 65% · live permit portal scheduler
• Are same-day or AM/PM windows offered? No AM/PM or timed windows are offered. The inspection request captures a DATE only — 'Requested Date' plus a type and comments; there is no time, window, or AM/PM control anywhere on the form, and the availability tool is a day calendar ('Pick a Day to Check Availability' / 'View Calendar Openings'). 80% · live permit portal inspection-request form (full field enumeration)

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 — but with a live documentary conflict that a next run should settle by telephone. FOR the city doing it: the iWorQ portal takes inspection requests directly against city permit numbers; the city budgets a Building Department with named payroll and no outside professional-services line; and the city's FY2023-24 actuals show ZERO spent on the only non-payroll line (TBD/Legal, budgeted $28,950). AGAINST: Resolution 02-2020, still the city's current published fee instrument, recites an 'Interlocal Agreement with the Franklin County Board of County Commissioners for the purpose of coordinating the processing of building permits and provision of plan review and inspection services associated with development in the City of Carrabelle', and says the fees 'reimburse the County Building Official for time spent performing plan review and building inspections'. Franklin County's own Building Department website, meanwhile, scopes itself to 'the unincorporated areas of Franklin County including, St. George Island, Eastpoint and Alligator Point' and refers callers to 'City of Carrabelle - (850) 697-3618'. Both documents are live on their respective sites today. 68% · adopting resolution + county department page + city budget (conflicting)
• If delegated, to whom? If delegated at all, to the FRANKLIN COUNTY BUILDING OFFICIAL under the interlocal recited in Resolution 02-2020 — currently Steve Paterson, Franklin County Building Department, 248 Hwy 98, Eastpoint FL 32328, 850-653-9783, permits@franklincountyflorida.com (Floodplain Administrator: Angela Lolley; Permitting Specialists: Tammy Lewis and Erica Wilson). Note that contractor licensing and discipline are unambiguously the County's regardless of how inspections are performed. 60% · county department staff page + city adopting resolution

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? Enumerated in full from the live portal, the city's inspection catalogue is 23 types: All Rough Inspections, Dock, Electrical Final, Electrical upgrade, Final Inspection, Footings, Foundation, Framing, HVAC, HVAC rough, Inspection, Insulation, Plumbing Final, Power Pole, Re-Inspection, Roofing Final, Rough Electrical, Rough Plumbing, Sheathing, Sheetrock, Temporary Power Pole, Temporary/Permanent Power, Under Slab Plumbing. There is NO solar, PV, battery or ESS type. A residential PV job therefore books as 'Rough Electrical' then 'Electrical Final' (or 'Electrical upgrade' where the service is being changed), with 'Final Inspection' for the permit as a whole. In a flood hazard area LDC Sec. 3.06.06.01 adds elevation-certificate stages, and Sec. 11.01.06(C) makes the building official withhold final inspection and the utility notification until every development condition is met. 82% · live permit portal inspection catalogue (full enumeration)
• Is a rough-in or mid-roof inspection required? Yes for the electrical work: the catalogue carries 'Rough Electrical' and 'All Rough Inspections' as distinct types alongside 'Electrical Final', so a rough-in stage exists and is bookable. There is no mid-roof inspection type. In a flood hazard area LDC Sec. 3.06.06.01 imposes its own intermediate stage — a building-under-construction elevation certificate 'upon placement of the lowest floor ... and prior to further vertical construction' — but that is a new-construction stage, not a retrofit one. 75% · live permit portal inspection catalogue

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.

• Is there a published inspection checklist? No published inspection checklist for solar or for electrical work. Enumerated: the city publishes 256 documents in total in its media library and none is an inspection checklist of any kind; its 31 web pages include no inspection page; and the codified corpus contains no inspection criteria beyond the floodplain elevation-certificate stages. For contrast, the neighbouring Franklin County Building Department publishes a 'Final Inspection and CO Request Form' with a checklist and a 'New Construction Inspection List', neither of which is solar-specific either. 85% · enumerated document library and page set
• What must be on site at inspection? Not published as a rule, but the permit instrument itself tells you: the city's permit carries the condition 'VIOLATIONS OF THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS PERMIT MAY WARRANT A STOP WORK ORDER OR REVOCATION', and the fine schedule's second listed offence is 'Permit Not Posted' — so the permit must be posted on site. Where the site is in a flood hazard area, elevation certificates and, in VE, the V-Zone certification are part of the file before final. Where a contractor is working, current county registration and proof of liability and workers' compensation insurance (or exemption) must be in force — the fine schedule penalises 'Working outside scope of current county registration' and 'Failure to be properly insured'. 70% · adopted fine schedule + permit conditions

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? A Certificate of Occupancy for work that creates or changes occupancy; for a trade-only job such as a PV retrofit, a passed Final Inspection closing the permit. The city's codified rule is LDC Sec. 11.01.06(C): 'All conditions of the development order shall be satisfied prior to conducting the final building inspections. It shall be the responsibility of the building official to withhold final inspection and notification of electric utility to initiate service until all conditions of development have been met... A check list shall be completed providing for signature of appropriate city officials to verify compliance with all criteria and conditions, prior to final inspection and authorization for permanent electric service.' The portal's inspection catalogue carries both 'Final Inspection' and 'Electrical Final', and 'Temporary/Permanent Power' as a distinct type. 78% · codified LDC Sec. 11.01.06 + live portal inspection catalogue
• Who notifies the utility for PTO? For interconnection PTO: the INSTALLER/CUSTOMER notifies Duke, by supplying the AHJ's inspection certification. Duke's Tier 1 agreement paragraph 7 puts the duty on the customer: 'The Customer agrees to provide Local Building Code Official inspection and certification of installation. The certification shall reflect that the local code official has inspected and certified that the installation was permitted, has been approved, and has met all electrical and mechanical qualifications.' Paragraph 12 requires 10 days' notice before parallel operation and paragraph 29 requires the signed agreement and application at least 30 calendar days before parallel operation. SEPARATELY, for permanent SERVICE (not PTO), the AHJ notifies the utility: LDC Sec. 11.01.06(C) makes it 'the responsibility of the building official to withhold final inspection and NOTIFICATION OF ELECTRIC UTILITY TO INITIATE SERVICE until all conditions of development have been met'. Two different notifications, two different senders — do not conflate them. 85% · utility filed tariff + codified LDC Sec. 11.01.06
• Is there a re-inspection fee? The City publishes NO re-inspection FEE. What it publishes instead is an INSPECTION FINE SCHEDULE for wasting a trip: 'If you call for an inspection and it is not ready: PER JOB: FIRST OFFENSE: $50.00; SECOND OFFENSE: $100.00; THIRD OFFENSE: $200.00 Delayed Inspection For 2 Weeks.' That third tier is the one to plan around — a two-week enforced delay, not just money. A 'Re-Inspection' type does exist in the portal's booking catalogue, so re-inspections are booked as such; they are simply not priced. Pair this with FS 553.79(7)(a): where work fails an inspection and the inspector fails to give a Florida Building Code, Florida Fire Prevention Code or local-ordinance reason within 5 business days, the local enforcement agency MUST refund 10% of the permit AND inspection fees. 85% · adopted fine schedule + live portal + FS 553.79(7)(a)
• How are corrections issued and cleared? Not published by the City. The statutory floor governs and it is unusually specific: FS 553.79(2)(b) bars the local enforcing agency from requiring substantive changes to plans after a permit is issued except for code compliance, and where it does require them it 'must identify the specific plan features that do not comply with the applicable codes, identify the specific code chapters and sections upon which the finding is based, and provide the information to the permitholder in writing'; a plans examiner or inspector who fails to give the building code administrator his reasons is subject to discipline under FS 553.79(2)(c)1. On inspections, FS 553.79(7)(a) gives the 10% refund described at q59 when no code-based reason is supplied within 5 business days. 72% · Florida Statutes 553.79(2) and (7)