City of Temple Terrace

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 Temple Terrace Building and Permitting Division (Community Development) is the AHJ for residential building and electrical permitting inside city limits, including rooftop PV 90% · department page
• What does this authority permit itself, and what does it delegate? The City permits and inspects both building and electrical itself, in-house (confirmed by its own FY2024 utilization report: 10 employees, $622,738 personnel cost). It delegates nothing to Hillsborough County. It DOES let an individual applicant elect FS 553.791 private-provider plan review and/or inspection per job (41% of FY2024 inspections were by private provider) and requires county-issued contractor licensing be verified separately from city permitting. 85% · FS 553.80(7)(b) utilization report
• Is a permit required for a residential rooftop PV system? Yes 85% · City exemption request form
• Is there a separate electrical permit, or is it combined? Separate 90% · City permit application form
• Is a HOA or architectural approval required first? No — the City does not condition permit issuance on HOA/architectural approval, but every FormCenter permit application requires the applicant to initial a 'NOTICE OF DEED RESTRICTIONS' clause acknowledging deed restrictions may be more restrictive than City regulations and that compliance is the applicant's responsibility 75% · City permit application form
• Is there a historic-district review? Yes, potentially — the LDC (Ch. 12, Art. XI, 'Historic Preservation') establishes a Historic Preservation Board and requires a Certificate of Appropriateness (Sec. 12-1161) for changes to landmarks, landmark sites, or property within a designated historic district. No PV-specific carve-out or exemption from COA review was found, so an installation on a locally designated historic property would likely need COA review; ordinary residential parcels outside any designated district would not. 65% · codified Land Development Code, Art. XI
• Is a wind or windstorm certification required? Not published as a distinct 'wind/windstorm certification' — Hillsborough County is NOT in the HVHZ (Miami-Dade/Broward only), so standard statewide Florida Product Approval governs. The Required Submittals matrix lists 'FL PRODUCT APPROVAL NUMBERS' as required for most permit types but has no PV/racking-specific column. 58% · City requirements table
• Is a Specific Use Permit or Council approval ever required? No evidence found that rooftop residential PV triggers a Special/Conditional Use Permit or Council approval — the LDC's conditional-use process (Sec. 12-259) exists generally, but zero Municode hits for 'solar' or 'photovoltaic' (with passing positive/fabricated controls) means no PV-specific SUP trigger is codified. 55% · Municode search (absence, controls passed)

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 licensed electrical contractor — the Electric Permit Application requires 'Qualifier/License Holder Name' and 'State License Number' as required (*) fields under Contractor Information, with no homeowner-only path on that form 75% · City permit application form
• Must the contractor be registered with this authority before applying? Yes — the City publishes its own 'Contractor Registration Form' (FormCenter, Community-Development-6, Form 80) separate from state licensure and the county's Certificate of Competency 62% · City registration form
• Is a homeowner permitted to self-install and self-permit? Unclear — no Temple Terrace-specific Owner-Builder Affidavit form was found on the Applications and Forms page (unlike neighboring Ocoee, which publishes one), and the Electric Permit Application's State License Number field is marked required with no visible owner-exception option. Florida's statewide owner-builder exemption (FS 489.103/489.503) exists independent of any city form and may still apply. 42% · City forms page (absence)

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.

Nothing recorded for City of Temple Terrace on this step yet — 7 questions checked and found unpublished. The guidance above is general.

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? Two systems in parallel: Click2GovBP (temp-egov.aspgov.com/Click2GovBP) for permit status lookup, fee payment and inspection scheduling; and CivicPlus FormCenter web forms (templeterrace.gov/FormCenter/...) for submitting the permit applications themselves, which the City also accepts by email for over-the-counter trades including electrical. 80% · portal landing page + department page
• Can the whole application be completed online? Partially — the application itself is submitted via a FormCenter web form or email (not a unified online intake-to-issuance workflow), but once a permit number exists, status checks, fee payment, and inspection scheduling/results can all be completed online through Click2GovBP. 68% · department page
• What does a residential solar permit cost? No PV-specific fee line exists. A PV job would be billed under the general Electrical fee schedule: Residential minimum fee $50, 'Renovations' $0.07 per gross sq ft, or 'Service Upgrade' $100 flat if a service change is involved — plus the Building side if racking/structural work triggers a building permit (Residential 'Renovations and Remodels' $0.26/gross sq ft, minimum $75). Processing fee $8.50/permit, 1% Certification Maintenance Fee (min $2), 1.5% FBC Administrators/Inspectors surcharge (min $2). 60% · City fee schedule
• How is the fee calculated? Mixed — Electrical fees are mostly per-gross-square-foot or flat-fee by work type (not generally valuation-based), while Building fees for anything not on the specific list are computed 'using the valuation schedule.' A PV job with no clear square-footage basis would likely fall to the Building side's valuation schedule or the Electrical 'Service Upgrade'/minimum-fee flat rates. 55% · City fee schedule
• Is there a separate plan-check fee? A 1% 'Certification Maintenance Fee' (minimum $2/permit) and a 1.5% Building Code Administrators and Inspectors Fund surcharge (minimum $2/permit) apply on top of the base permit fee to every permit; these read as statutory pass-throughs (FS 468.631) rather than a discretionary plan-review fee, and no separate residential plan-review line was found. 55% · City 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.

• Which utility handles interconnection here? Tampa Electric Company (TECO) 88% · City permit application form + codified ordinance (Sec. 12-829)
• Where does the utility sit in the sequence? After permit, before energization — TECO's own filed Standard Interconnection Agreement for Tier 1 Renewable Generator Systems (Sheet No. 8.1005, ¶4) requires: 'The Customer shall have the completed RGS inspected and approved by the appropriate code authorities having jurisdiction. The Customer shall provide proof of this inspection and approval to the Company' before the Company will execute the agreement and allow parallel operation. 90% · utility's own filed tariff (Standard Interconnection Agreement)

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 Dec 2023 (statewide floor) — the City does not name a year itself 70% · City code-reference page (linking to state adoption)
• Which building code edition is in force? Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023) 92% · City permit application form
• Which fire code edition is in force? Florida Fire Prevention Code — current edition (8th Ed., 2023 per statewide adoption); the City's own Adopted and Referenced Codes page links out to floridabuilding.org rather than stating a year itself 60% · City code-reference page
• Are there local amendments to any of the above? Yes, at least on fees and administration — Code of Ordinances Chapter 8, Art. II ('Construction Code') carries the City's own permitting, penalty and re-inspection-fee provisions (e.g., Sec. 8-22 violations/penalties, Sec. 8-28 permits) layered on top of the state-adopted Florida Building Code base. 62% · codified ordinance, Ch. 8
• What is the installation judged against? Florida Building Code 8th Edition (2023) for structural/general construction; NEC 2020 (state floor, city does not name a year) for electrical 70% · City permit application form

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 Temple Terrace 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? Not stated locally by name, but required as a function of the state-floor NEC edition — NEC 2020 (effective 31 Dec 2023) contains the current NEC 690.12 rapid-shutdown requirements; Municode search for 'rapid shutdown' returned zero hits 55% · City code-reference page + inference from state NEC edition

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.

Nothing recorded for City of Temple Terrace on this step yet — 6 questions checked and found unpublished. The guidance above is general.

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? TECO territory: a manual disconnect switch (visible load-break type) IS required even at Tier 1 (<=10kW) — 'mounted separate from the meter socket on an exterior surface adjacent to the meter,' readily accessible to the Company and capable of being locked open with a Company padlock. Distinctively, TECO's own Tier 1 agreement states the Customer shall install it 'at the Company's expense and subject to the approval of the cost by the Company' — i.e., mandatory hardware, but Company-funded, not merely Company-optional as at some municipal utilities. 90% · utility's own filed tariff (Standard Interconnection Agreement, Sheet 8.1010)

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 phone (24/7 request line) or online 78% · department page
• How much notice is required? Requests received before 4pm are scheduled for the next business day; requests after 4pm go to the second business day. Same-day inspection is possible case-by-case/emergency, at the inspector's or building official's discretion. 85% · department page
• Are same-day or AM/PM windows offered? No AM/PM window is offered — all requested inspections are scheduled generically between 9am and 4pm the following business day 72% · 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, primarily — City building inspectors perform final inspections, though the applicant may elect (per-job, via the Building Permit Application's own checkbox) to have plan review and/or inspection performed by a private provider under FS 553.791. 75% · FS 553.80(7)(b) utilization report
• If delegated, to whom? Not delegated to another government; delegable per-job to a registered FS 553.791 private provider at the applicant's election 70% · department page

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 Temple Terrace 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.

Nothing recorded for City of Temple Terrace on this step yet — 3 questions checked and found unpublished. The guidance above is general.

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? Installer/customer — TECO's own Tier 1 Standard Interconnection Agreement places the burden on the Customer to obtain AHJ inspection/approval and 'provide proof of this inspection and approval to the Company,' after which the Company executes the agreement and permits parallel operation 78% · utility's own filed tariff
• Is there a re-inspection fee? $75 for the first re-inspection occurrence, $150 for each occurrence thereafter 88% · City fee schedule
• How are corrections issued and cleared? Not fully published for solar specifically — general policy: corrections/violations noted at inspection trigger the re-inspection-fee list (technical code violations, plans not on site, work not ready, etc.); no described online/portal correction-comment workflow was found comparable to Ocoee's for Temple Terrace specifically. 45% · department page (partial)