City of Parker

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 Parker (Bay County) is the AHJ for residential solar inside its ~2 sq mi limits, but it exercises that jurisdiction through a private contractor and keeps a City-side gate in front of it. The building department is operated by EPCI (EP Consultants, Inc., trading as EPCI Code Administration Services, 205 West 7th Street, Panama City, 850.818.0213), which publishes a 'PARKER BUILDING DEPARTMENT' application headed 'EPCI' and a dedicated Parker contractor/homeowner page. The City retains land-development review: no building permit issues until the City signs a Development Order. Parker is NFIP community 120011 on Bay County DFIRM 12005C. 94% · City development order form
• What does this authority permit itself, and what does it delegate? Both building and electrical, delegated in operation to a private firm but not to another government. EPCI receives applications, reviews plans, issues Building/Electrical/Mechanical/Plumbing/Roofing permits and inspects. The City retains: the Development Order (Minor Development review by the City Clerk or designee; Major Development by Planning Commission and City Council), floodplain administration (City Clerk), and code enforcement. Note the mismatch — Code Sec. 14-39 authorises the Council to hand permitting and inspection to the COUNTY building inspection department by interlocal agreement, and that is not what has happened; the arrangement in fact is a private contract that the Code does not describe. 90% · adopting ordinance + city budget
• Is a permit required for a residential rooftop PV system? Yes. A permit is required for residential rooftop PV, and the one exemption the City advertises cannot reach it. The City's only published permitting document is a 'House Bill 803 — Residential Permit Exemptions' flyer whose exemption requires the work to be non-structural AND to involve no electrical work AND the property not to be in a designated flood hazard area, with a $7,500 project-value ceiling. Solar fails on electrical work alone, and most of Parker is Zone AE or VE. The exemption is codified at FS 553.79(1)(g) (not 553.792), inserted by Ch. 2026-63. Note the distinction that decides it: the exemption turns on 'flood hazard area', not on 'special flood hazard area'. Parker's LDR defines FLOOD HAZARD AREA as the GREATER of the 1%-chance floodplain and the area so designated on the community's flood hazard map, and Sec. 8-2.4 lets the Floodplain Administrator treat surveyed ground below the closest applicable BFE as flood hazard area even outside a mapped SFHA — so the answer to 'is it in an SFHA' and 'is it in a flood hazard area' can differ, and it is the second that closes the exemption. 90% · city flyer (OCR) + enacted bill record
• Is there a separate electrical permit, or is it combined? Separate. The Parker Building Application states in its certification paragraph: 'I understand that a separate permit must be secured for electrical work, plumbing, signs, roofing, pools, furnaces, boilers, heaters, tanks, and air conditioners, etc.' EPCI runs a distinct combined MEP form with MECHANICAL___ ELECTRICAL___ PLUMBING___ tick-boxes, so the PV electrical permit is applied for on a different sheet from any building permit. 93% · permit application
• Is a HOA or architectural approval required first? No — and this is stated more plainly here than at most authorities. The Parker Building Application carries a boxed notice: 'NOTICE: EPCI: The EPCI/Parker Building Department does not have the authority to enforce DEED RESTRICTIONS or COVENANTS on properties.' LDR Sec. 8-2.6 likewise provides that the Regulations 'shall not impair any deed restriction, covenant or easement'. From 1 July 2026 CS/CS/HB 803 additionally prohibits an association or committee from requiring a building permit as a prerequisite for its own review. 88% · permit application
• Is there a historic-district review? No. Parker has no historic district, no historic preservation board and no certificate-of-appropriateness procedure. The LDR defines HISTORIC RESOURCES (Florida Master Site File / National Register / City-designated) and HISTORIC STRUCTURE, and Art. 8 allows a flood variance for a historic building under FBC Existing Building Ch. 11 — but no review process attaches to either. 'Certificate of appropriateness' returns zero across the whole 528,000-character LDR. 85% · land development regulations
• Is a wind or windstorm certification required? No separate windstorm certification is required by the City. Neither the Code nor the LDR states a design wind speed for buildings; the only wind provision in the LDR is a HUD manufactured-housing rule — 'The City of Parker is located within Wind Zone II, therefore all new and used mobile home / manufactured homes must be designed to meet the standards of Wind Zone II.' Wind loading for a rooftop array therefore comes entirely from the FBC 8th Edition and ASCE 7, determined at the parcel, not from any Parker instrument. DO NOT assume wind-borne-debris-region status from 'panhandle' — Parker's limits run from the St. Andrew Bay shoreline inland, and the WBDR test is a parcel-level one. 80% · land development regulations
• Is a Specific Use Permit or Council approval ever required? Yes — a City Development Order is always required first, and the level of review depends on scale. A rooftop retrofit or a ground-mount accessory structure is 'Minor Development', reviewed by the City Clerk or the City Clerk's designee against Article 4 (Land Use Districts) and Article 5 (Development Standards), with a site plan. 'Major Development' — everything not on the minor list — goes to the Planning Commission AND the City Council with an impact assessment covering, among other things, drainage, lighting and impacts on natural resources. A Council-level approval is therefore not normally required for a house. 88% · land development regulations
• Is there a system-size cap on residential generation? No local cap of any kind — the limits are all FPL's. System size is bounded by three FPL rules: the system must be estimated to produce less than 115% of the customer's annual kWh consumption; customer generation is limited to 90% of the FPL service capacity (transformer rating), with FPL upsizing at the customer's expense; and the tier boundary is an AC number reached by multiplying the array DC rating by 0.85, so the Tier 1 ceiling of 10 kW AC is about 11.76 kW DC. Any system 50 kW or greater must interconnect at 120/208V or 277/480V wye three-phase. 90% · utility interconnection guidelines

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 state-licensed contractor registered with the Parker building department, or the homeowner under the Florida owner-builder exemptions. The Parker application collects 'STATE LICENSE NUMBER' and 'COMPETENCY CARD #' side by side, so a county competency card sits alongside the state licence. The homeowner route runs on the FS 489.503(6) electrical exemption and FS 489.103(7) construction exemption, both reproduced verbatim on Parker's notarised Disclosure Statements form. 90% · permit form
• Must the contractor be registered with this authority before applying? Yes. EPCI's Parker page states that to apply for a building permit all contractors must obtain a state licence and be 'Registered with the Building Department', supported by driver's licence, general liability insurance and workers' compensation or an exemption card, a Contractor's Registration Application and a Contractor's Letter of Authorization for any employee who will pull permits. 93% · building department page
• Is a homeowner permitted to self-install and self-permit? Yes. 'Homeowners are permitted to apply for building permits provided that the owner oversees the work and is on-site during construction. Homeowners are required to submit an application similar to contractors.' The homeowner package is Building Permit Checklist + Parker Building Application + Notice of Commencement + notarised Disclosure Statement. Code Sec. 14-38 separately preserves a homeowner's right to install or maintain systems within their own property boundaries for their own family's exclusive use, while expressly not exempting them from permits or fees. 92% · building department page + ordinance

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? Two steps. STEP 1 — a City of Parker Development Order: the EPCI checklist states in bold at the head of the page '**If you are making application in the following cities you will need a Development Order before applying. Cities: Panama City, Parker, and/or Springfield.**' STEP 2 — the EPCI building package: driveway/ditch permit application if required; site plan; 1 electronic copy of a complete set of plans (site plan, foundation plan, floor plan, elevations, wall section foundation through roof, all to scale); complete building permit application; energy forms; RECORDED notice of commencement; flood elevation certificate if needed; and all applicable fees. EPCI's Parker page additionally lists '2 sets of engineered plans' and 'Site plan - showing set backs'. Homeowners add a notarised Homeowners Disclosure Statement. 93% · published checklist
• How many copies, and in what format? One electronic copy of a complete set of plans, submitted electronically; a physical copy must be handed over at permit pickup. EPCI's checklist: 'All submissions may be made electronically, however in order to obtain a permit, a physical copy must be submitted at the time of pickup.' EPCI's Parker page, which is older, still says '2 sets of engineered plans' — the two City-facing documents disagree on copy count. 80% · published checklist
• Is a site plan required, and what must it show? Yes, twice over, and the City's site plan is the more demanding of the two. EPCI requires a 'Site plan - showing set backs' and lists Site Plan as item 2 of the checklist and as item (a) inside the plan set. The City's Development Order form then requires, on its face: land use designation, parcel ID, flood zone, current use, total existing square feet of primary structure and accessory structures, driveway/paved parking area, total existing impervious surface, impervious surface to be added, percentage of lot coverage, and setbacks for the new structure stated as side yard, rear yard, road right-of-way, building height and space between structures, against 'Minimums: See attached Table 4.1'. 92% · city development order form
• Is a structural PE stamp required, and at what threshold? Engineered plans are required, with no threshold stated. EPCI's Parker page lists '2 sets of engineered plans' as the first item of the Building Application Packet, and the Parker Building Application carries an 'ARCHITECT'S/ENGINEER'S NAME' block. Neither document states a size, height, cost or scope threshold at which the engineering requirement starts or stops, and neither says whether a manufacturer's engineered attachment detail satisfies it. 60% · building department page

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? None. Parker has no permitting portal. Applications are paper or email to EPCI at 205 West 7th Street, Panama City. The only online transaction anywhere in the chain is EPCI's 'Inspection Request' web form, which is a CAPTCHA-gated contact form on every page of epcicodeservices.com, not a permit portal. The City's own Permitting page holds exactly one file — the House Bill 803 flyer — and no application, fee schedule, checklist, portal link or mention of EPCI. 90% · city permitting page
• Can the whole application be completed online? No. Submissions 'may be made electronically', but EPCI's checklist ends: 'in order to obtain a permit, a physical copy must be submitted at the time of pickup.' There is no online application, no online payment and no online status. 90% · published checklist
• What does a residential solar permit cost? Partly published, and the published part is the City's, not the building department's. The City's Development Order form prints 'Application Review Fee - $350/$150' — two tiers, unlabelled on the form, on the 'MINOR DEVELOPMENT / SINGLE FAMILY HOME/ADDITION' sheet. That is payable to the City before EPCI will take the building permit application. EPCI's own permit and plan-review fee schedule for Parker is NOT PUBLISHED ANYWHERE — not on epcicodeservices.com, not on cityofparker.com, not in the Code (Chapter 14 contains no fee section), not in the LDR, and not in any budget or ordinance. The City's FY2025-26 budget books all of $18,000 of 'BUILDING PERMIT FEES ... Permits and EPCI Fees', which for a city of ~4,000 implies EPCI retains most of what it collects. 62% · city development order form + budget
• How is the fee calculated? Two different bases, one per step. The City's Development Order review fee is FLAT and two-tier ($350/$150). EPCI's building permit fee basis is not published, but the Parker Building Application collects 'Cost of Construction $____' alongside square footage and 'Permit Fee____' as a blank to be filled by staff, which is the signature of a valuation-based schedule. 55% · permit application + city development order form

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? Nothing authority-specific is published for the ordinary route. Two published numbers bound it, and both belong to the alternative private-provider route rather than to EPCI acting as Parker's building department: EPCI's private-provider page cites FS 553.791 for 'a 20-business day timeframe for permit issuance when a private provider is involved' and says 'we strive for a quick turnaround, typically within 5 business days' for plan review. Separately, CS/CS/HB 803 (Ch. 2026-63, effective 1 July 2026) requires local governments to decide certain building permit applications within a specified timeframe, and the City has published a flyer about it. 55% · contractor service page
• How long is an issued permit valid before it expires? Two City-side clocks are published; the building permit's own life is not. A floodplain development permit or approval '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 after the work commences', extendable in 180-day steps on written justification (LDR Sec. 8-4.6). A development permit lapses unless development activity begins within six (6) months of issuance and then continues without interruption (LDR Art. 6). The EPCI building permit's expiry is governed by FBC 105.4 with no local published variation. 70% · land development regulations
• Which utility handles interconnection here? Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), as successor to Gulf Power. A single investor-owned utility city-wide; there is no municipal electric system and no co-operative. The City's FY2025-26 budget names FPL twice on the revenue side: line 01.310.313100 ELECTRIC FRANCHISE FEES, budgeted $313,000, annotated "6% of FPL's net revenue from Parker residents"; and line 01.310.314100 ELECTRIC UTILITY TAX, budgeted $447,000, annotated 'FPL - Taxes collected on electric bills.' The 10% purchaser-paid utility tax is codified at Sec. 74-31. Gas is a different and plural story (TECO, Ferrell, Peoples). 96% · city budget
• Where does the utility sit in the sequence? Parallel, with FPL gates at both ends. FPL requires online pre-approval of the system size BEFORE installation and signature of the tier interconnection agreement; the City Development Order and the EPCI permit run on their own track; then FPL will not order the bi-directional meter until the customer uploads the AHJ-approved permit showing electrical and mechanical inspection signed off, the description of work, the address, the permit number and the building department name; and 'Do not begin parallel operation until your bi-directional meter is installed.' 92% · utility interconnection 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? NEC 2020. Code Sec. 14-32 adopts by reference 'the specifications, rules and regulations promulgated by the National Fire Protection Association and entitled "National Electrical Code, 2020 Edition," as amended or superseded' (Ord. No. 2022-408, § 2, adopted 18 Oct 2022). EPCI's homepage notice agrees: from 1 January 2024, FBC 8th Edition (2023) plus 'the 2020 National Electrical Code (NEC)'. 95% · adopting ordinance
• Which building code edition is in force? Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023) is what is in force; the codified text still says 2020. Sec. 14-31 adopts 'The Florida Building Code, 2020 edition, as amended or superseded' (Ord. 2022-408, 18 Oct 2022), and Sec. 14-37 rolls revisions forward automatically unless the Council rejects them within 30 days of receipt. EPCI, which operates the department, states plainly that projects submitted from 1 January 2024 must be designed to the 8th Edition (2023) Building, Residential, Existing Building, Accessibility, Energy Conservation, Mechanical, Fuel Gas and Plumbing Codes. 92% · adopting ordinance + building department notice
• Which fire code edition is in force? No fire code is properly adopted, and the section that purports to adopt one adopts the wrong book. Sec. 14-36, headed 'Fire prevention code', adopts as the city's fire prevention standards 'the specifications, rules and regulations promulgated by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, entitled "Florida Building Code, Building, 2020 Edition"' — that is the building code, not a fire code. Chapter 38 (Fire Prevention and Protection) adopts no code at all: it regulates open burning and fire pits and constitutes the Parker Volunteer Fire Department. The Florida Fire Prevention Code therefore applies through state law (FS ch. 633), not through any Parker instrument. 88% · adopting ordinance
• Are there local amendments to any of the above? Yes, but none of them touch solar. The real local amendments are: (1) Sec. 14-31 bans NFPA 13R outright — 'use of NFPA 13R … shall not be allowed for construction within the city but instead NFPA 13 … must be complied with; i.e., a standpipe and sprinklers are required for any building in excess of two habitable stories'; (2) LDR Article 8 Floodplain Management, the state model ordinance, adopted with no local strengthening; (3) LDR Sec. 5-10.9(12), a subdivision rule that minimum finished floor OUTSIDE a floodplain be 1 ft above the crown of the nearest street. There is no solar, photovoltaic or renewable-energy amendment anywhere. 90% · adopting ordinance + land development regulations
• What is the installation judged against? The Florida Building Code 8th Edition (2023) family plus the National Electrical Code 2020 (Code Secs. 14-31 to 14-36), together with LDR ARTICLE 8 FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT wherever the parcel is in a flood hazard area — which is most of Parker. There is no Parker-written technical standard for a PV system at any point. WHAT ARTICLE 8 ACTUALLY PRODUCES, because Hurricane Michael (Oct 2018) produced nothing here beyond a map date: (1) FREEBOARD IS ZERO. 'Freeboard' returns 0 across the whole 528,026-character LDR, and the number is absent too — DESIGN FLOOD ELEVATION is defined as 'the elevation of the design flood, including wave height, relative to the datum specified on the community's legally designated flood hazard map', with no added foot, and Zone AO defaults to the map depth number or 2 ft. Searched for the number without the word across the FBC amendments in Chapter 14, the Art. 2 definitions, the Art. 5 development standards including the drainage and stormwater sections, Art. 8 in full, Art. 9 concurrency, and both Comprehensive Plans: the only '1 foot above' anywhere is Sec. 5-10.9(12), a subdivision rule requiring minimum finished floor 1 ft above the crown of the nearest street for structures OUTSIDE a floodplain. Parker builds to BFE + 0. (2) SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT IS 50% OF MARKET VALUE, SINGLE-EVENT, WITH NO DOLLAR FLOOR AND NO CUMULATIVE LOOKBACK. The definition is the FEMA standard verbatim; 'cumulative' appears nine times in the LDR and not once in connection with substantial improvement (it appears in the floodway one-foot-rise test, the remedies clause, the variance test and the concurrency chapter). Market value may be an appraisal, actual cash value, or tax assessment adjusted by a Property Appraiser factor. (3) THE DATUM IS NAVD88, IN FEET, AND NO CONVERSION IS PUBLISHED. The LDR's BASE FLOOD ELEVATION definition still hedges 'National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD), North American Vertical Datum (NAVD) or other datum specified on the Flood Insurance Rate Map' — but the effective maps say NAVD88 and the City publishes no NGVD/NAVD conversion factor. (4) THE MAPS ARE CURRENT AND THE CITY ADOPTED THEM: Ordinance No. 2024-423, adopted September 2024, struck 'June 2, 2009' and inserted 'October 24, 2024' in LDR Secs. 5-7.9 and 8-2.3 — and made no other change except to prohibit hospitals, nursing homes and similar facilities in designated flood zones. FEMA's NFHL, queried against the Census TIGER place polygon for Parker city (GEOID 1255075), returns 38 features on DFIRM 12005C, panels 12005C0363J/0364J/0426J/0427J all effective 24 October 2024: Zone AE with static BFEs of 7, 8, 9 and 10 ft NAVD88 (24 polygons), Zone VE at BFE 10 and 12 ft (4), unnumbered Zone A (2), Zone X minimal and 0.2% shaded (7), and open water. Parker is NFIP community 120011 and has been in the Community Rating System since 1994, giving residents a 10% premium reduction. 90% · adopting ordinance

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 Parker 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? Required, by the adopted NEC 2020 (Article 690.12 rapid shutdown of PV systems on buildings), and by nothing local. Parker restates no part of Article 690. FPL separately requires that 'The customer's system must adhere to National Electric Code (NEC) Article 690 - Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Systems.' 85% · adopting ordinance + utility guidelines

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? None from the authority. Every placard on a Parker job comes from FPL, and FPL's Electric Service Standards (rev. 10-30-25) Section XIII.A make two mandatory at the net-metering stage: at the INTERCONNECTING METER CAN — 'WARNING / MULTI POWER SOURCES / ENTER SOURCES HERE / RATED AC OUTPUT CURRENT ** AMPS / NOMINAL OPERATING VOLTAGE ** VOLTS'; and at the DER DISCONNECT SWITCH — 'GENERATION SYSTEM AC DISCONNECT / RATED AC OUTPUT CURRENT ** AMPS / NOMINAL OPERATING VOLTAGE ** VOLTS'. With battery storage a third placard is permanently affixed to the meter enclosure reading 'Battery storage utilized in this facility.' 90% · utility electric service standards
• Does the authority specify placard wording of its own? No. Parker specifies no placard wording of its own anywhere — not in Chapter 14, not in the LDR, not on any City page, and not on any EPCI Parker form. 88% · adopting ordinance
• Does it specify letter height, colour or material? Nothing from the City. From FPL: 'All labels must be permanent and weatherproof/UV resistant placard with engraved letters. The customer is responsible for all labeling requirements.' No letter height and no colour is specified — engraving plus weather/UV resistance is the entire material specification. Worth knowing: the same sentence appears twice more in Section XIII for non-net-metered and larger distributed generation, where it reads 'should' rather than 'must'; the net-metering limb that a residential job runs under is the 'must' one. 88% · utility electric service standards
• Does the UTILITY specify placards beyond the AHJ's? Yes, and since the AHJ requires none, FPL's specification IS the signage scope of work in Parker. Critically for a small residential job: ESS Section XIII.A item 4 is expressly tier-scoped — 'All tier 2 and tier 3 systems require an FPL approved visually open Distributed Energy Resource (DER) disconnect switch' — while the Labeling item two entries later is NOT tier-scoped. So a Tier 1 inverter-based job with no disconnect at all still owes the INTERCONNECTING METER CAN placard. 92% · utility electric service standards
• Where must the labels be placed? At the interconnecting meter can and at the DER disconnect switch. The battery placard goes permanently affixed to the meter enclosure. Where FPL agrees a remote disconnect location, a sign noting the location of the disconnect switch goes at the meter, and the switch itself carries a warning sign indicating that both sides may be energised. The disconnect, where required, is 'mounted separate from but adjacent to the FPL meter socket within 10 feet', always accessible to FPL, with no locked gates, doors or fences between the meter socket and the switch, and the plans must show the dimension. 92% · utility electric service standards

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? Tier-dependent, and for most residential jobs in Parker the answer is 'none'. A UL 1741 SA / IEEE 1547 inverter-based Tier 1 system (10 kW AC or less, i.e. about 11.76 kW DC) requires NO customer-installed manual AC disconnect: FPL's guidelines scope the requirement as 'Tier 2 and tier 3 renewable generation systems require a manual disconnect switch of the visible load break type'. Where one IS required it must be mounted separate from but adjacent to the FPL meter socket, within 10 feet, readily accessible to FPL at all times and capable of being locked open with a single FPL padlock, disengaging only the renewable source and not the whole service. One more rule catches line-side taps: if the interconnection is made on the line side of the customer's main panel, a manual AC disconnect IS required between the AC generation output and the point of interconnection regardless of tier. And in no case may the interconnection be made in the meter can or any other FPL equipment. 92% · utility interconnection guidelines
• Must equipment be on a specific approved list? Yes, by state product-approval law rather than by a Parker list — and the Parker application enforces it on its face: the very first line of the form is 'DATE: ______ FBC #_______ Permit Fee______', the FBC # being the Florida Product Approval number. Separately, FPL will not interconnect uncertified inverters: 'The customer must utilize a certified UL 1741 SA and IEEE 1547 grid interactive inverter. Inverters that have not been certified to UL Standard will be denied interconnection.' 85% · permit application + utility standards
• Are batteries permitted, and under what conditions? Permitted, with no local rule at all and the conditions coming entirely from FPL. ESS Section XIII.C: battery equipment behind the meter must be NRTL-certified to UL 1741 (or DC-coupled behind a UL 1741 listed device); 'A placard must be permanently affixed to the meter enclosure stating "Battery storage utilized in this facility."'; where the battery is integrated with customer-owned renewable generation 'the customer may not export power from the battery to the grid'; a backup-only battery with no renewable generation needs no interconnection agreement but the customer must prevent back-feed; and stand-alone storage 'is not included in the definition of "renewable energy" pursuant to Rule 25-6.065(2)(d), Florida Administrative Code, and the output from such systems is not net metered.' 85% · utility electric service standards
• Is a ground mount treated as a structure? Yes — a ground mount is an accessory structure, and Parker's accessory-structure rules are specific. LDR definition: accessory structures 'shall not exceed 25 feet in height and shall have at least a 5-foot setback on all sides'. LDR Sec. 5-5.1 adds that they are permitted only in side and rear yards, no closer than five feet to any property line; may not sit in a required buffer or minimum building setback area; must be included in all calculations of impervious surface, stormwater runoff and floor area ratio; and must be shown on the site development plan with full supporting documentation under Article 6. An array of 120 square feet or more triggers a Minor Development Review and therefore a Development Order; under 120 square feet it is de minimis. AND THE ELEVATION RULE IS THE ONE THAT COSTS MONEY, because it is not in the flood chapter's building sections but in its catch-all. LDR Sec. 8-16.1, 'General Requirements for Other Development', reaches 'All development, including man-made changes to improved or unimproved real estate for which specific provisions are not specified in these Land Development Regulations or the Florida Building Code' — which is exactly what a ground-mounted array, its inverters and its AC disconnect are — and requires that such development '5. Have mechanical, plumbing, and electrical systems ABOVE THE DESIGN FLOOD ELEVATION, 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 Florida Building Code for wet locations.' It must also be located and constructed to minimize flood damage, anchored against flotation, collapse and lateral movement including buoyancy, and built of flood damage-resistant materials. With Parker running Zone AE at BFE 7-10 ft NAVD88 and VE at 10-12 ft, and with no freeboard, that puts ground-mount electrical gear at the BFE for the parcel and no lower. In a VE (coastal high hazard) area Sec. 8-16.7 adds that non-building development is permitted only if authorised by the appropriate authority, located outside the footprint of and not structurally attached to buildings, and supported by an analysis from a qualified registered design professional showing no harmful diversion of floodwaters or wave runup. 88% · land development regulations

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? By web form, or by telephone. EPCI carries an 'Inspection request' form on every page of its site collecting name, phone, email, permit number, address of permit, City of Inspection, field contact and contractor, behind a CAPTCHA. The Parker building department telephone is 850.818.0213 (fax 850.818.0214); the flyer the City publishes gives the same number and permits@codesouth.com. 82% · building 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? Delegated — to a private firm, not to another government. EPCI performs the inspections; the City of Parker employs no inspector. The City's FY2025-26 budget has departments 519 General Government, 521 Police, 522 Fire, 523 Code Enforcement, 534 Trash, 541 Street, 549 Fleet and 572 Parks, and no building department: there is no building official, plans examiner or inspector salary line anywhere in it, and Code Enforcement carries a single regular-salaries line of $55,199. 92% · city budget
• If delegated, to whom? EPCI — EP Consultants, Inc., trading as EPCI Code Administration Services, 205 West 7th Street, Panama City, FL 32401, 850.818.0213 / fax 850.818.0214. It also serves Callaway, Springfield, Mexico Beach, Marianna and Port St. Joe. TREAT THE NAME AS IN FLUX: the City's own June 2026 permitting flyer is branded 'Code South Company' and gives permits@codesouth.com against EPCI's phone number, and codesouth.com resolves an Outlook/Microsoft 365 MX record but has no A record and serves no website. 88% · building department site + city flyer

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.

Nothing recorded for City of Parker on this step yet — 2 questions checked and found unpublished. The guidance above is general.

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. EPCI publishes a 'Building Permit Application Checklist' but it is a SUBMITTAL checklist — plans, energy forms, recorded NOC, flood elevation certificate, fees — not an inspection checklist. Neither EPCI nor the City publishes anything describing what an inspector looks at. 85% · published checklist
• What must be on site at inspection? One document is specified, and it is specified with unusual precision. The Parker Building Application: 'For improvements to real property with a construction cost of $2,500 or more, a certified copy of the Notice of Commencement is required to be submitted to this Department when application is made for a permit or the applicant may submit a copy of the Notice of Commencement along with an affidavit attesting to its recording. A CERTIFIED COPY OF THE NOTICE OF COMMENCEMENT MUST BE PROVIDED TO THIS DEPARTMENT BEFORE THE SECOND OR ANY SUBSEQUENT INSPECTION CAN BE PERFORMED.' Nothing else — no posted permit card, no approved plan set on site — is specified in writing. 80% · permit application

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.

• Who notifies the utility for PTO? The installer or customer notifies FPL; the AHJ does nothing. After the local inspection the customer uploads to FPL a copy of the approved permit — or a screenshot of the AHJ's website showing approval — carrying electrical and mechanical inspection sign-off, description of work, address, permit number and building department name. FPL then acknowledges, orders the bi-directional meter, and only after that meter is installed emails permission to operate. There is no codified power-release duty on Parker's side and no Parker portal from which a screenshot could be taken, so in practice the approved paper permit is the document that moves the job. 90% · utility interconnection page
• How are corrections issued and cleared? By email, to an address the applicant nominates on the permit application. EPCI's MEP (Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing) application — the form a PV electrical permit runs on — carries a starred field: '**EMAIL ADDRESS (FOR INSPECTION RESULTS) ______'. No re-inspection procedure, correction-notice format or clearance mechanism is published. 60% · permit application