Town of St. Lucie Village

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 Town of St. Lucie Village is its own AHJ for residential solar. It runs its own Building Department: a named Building Official (Carl Peterson, carl.peterson@stlucievillagefl.gov, 772.528.2777), its own Permit Application, its own Schedule of Fees (Resolution 2026-5), and its own Land Development Code provisions governing permit issuance (LDC 5.4.0-5.8.0). It issues building AND electrical (trade) permits itself; nothing is delegated to St. Lucie County. 95% · department page + adopted budget
• What does this authority permit itself, and what does it delegate? Both. Building and Electrical are both self-performed by the Town; nothing is delegated to St. Lucie County. 92% · fee schedule + permit application
• Is a permit required for a residential rooftop PV system? Yes, a permit is required, but no solar-specific line exists anywhere in the Town's documents. A rooftop PV job would be priced and processed as a combination of the Town's general Electrical Permit line (for the interconnection/service work) and the general 'Permit Fees: All Permits Not Listed above' / valuation-based Building Permit line (for the array and mounting), because 'solar' and 'photovoltaic' do not appear as permit types anywhere in the fee schedule, the Permit Application, or the LDC. 78% · fee schedule
• Is there a separate electrical permit, or is it combined? Separate. The Town's own Permit Application states 'I understand that a separate permit must be secured for ELECTRICAL, Plumbing, Signs, Wells, Pools, Furnaces, Boilers, Heaters, Tanks, and Air Conditioners, ect.' The fee schedule lists 'Electrical Permits 200 amps or Service Change $155.00' as its own line, separate from the general Building Permit valuation line ('Building Permit for Each $25,000.00 in Value $125.00'). 90% · permit application form
• Is a HOA or architectural approval required first? Not by the Town or by FPUA. No HOA or architectural-review requirement for solar appears anywhere in the Town's LDC (no hits for 'historic district', 'architectural review', 'HOA', or 'homeowners association' anywhere in the full LDC text). F.S. 163.04(2) independently voids any private deed restriction or covenant that prohibits solar collectors, leaving such a body only the power to steer placement 'within an orientation to the south or within 45 degrees east or west of due south if such determination does not impair the effective operation of the solar collectors.' 78% · state statute + land development code
• Is there a historic-district review? No historic-district review is required. No historic district, historic preservation ordinance, or Historic Preservation Board appears anywhere in the LDC or the Ordinances Index, despite the Town's own age (founded/incorporated 1961, per its own seal and letterhead, with roots going back further along the Old Dixie Highway corridor). 68% · ordinances index
• Is a wind or windstorm certification required? No PV-specific windstorm certification exists, but a related Town requirement bites on any REROOF component of a solar job. The Town's own 'Re-Roof Windstorm Loss Mitigation Compliance Affidavit' is required, per F.S. 553.844, for reroofing work on structures valued at $300,000 or more built before 1 March 2002 - not triggered by adding panels to an unaffected existing roof, but relevant if the PV job includes a qualifying reroof. More generally, Florida Product Approval governs wind-uplift compliance for roof-attached components under the current FBC (the Town's own Mitigation form cites '8th ed (2023) FBC' by name), though no Town document specifically calls out a Product Approval submittal for PV racking (contrast with some Florida counties, whose trade-permit forms carry an explicit 'FL. PRODUCT APPROVAL CODE' field - St. Lucie Village's own Permit Application has no such field). 65% · town form + state statute
• Is a Specific Use Permit or Council approval ever required? For a rooftop retrofit, no - and this changed materially in December 2024. Before Ordinance 2024-5, LDC 5.8.0 vested BUILDING PERMIT issuance itself in the Board of Aldermen ('shall not be commenced without obtaining a building permit from the Board of Aldermen...plans shall be approved and signed by the Board of Aldermen'), making every permit effectively a Council action. Ordinance 2024-5 (Dec 2024) removed that: permits are now issued by the Building Official directly, 'without prior approval of the Board of Aldermen' (per the ordinance's own title), citing F.S. 468.604. The Building Official may still, at his discretion, 'seek the input of the Village Attorney or...the Board of Aldermen' only if he is uncertain about zoning compliance (LDC 5.5.0(D)(4), as amended). A GROUND MOUNT is a different matter: it would likely be classified as a residential Accessory Structure (see q47), which under LDC Table 1 requires at minimum Administrative Review, with full Site Plan Review/Council approval reserved for uses in Table 1 or Developments of Regional Impact - rooftop PV is not among the Table 1 uses. 75% · ordinance (OCR)
• Is there a system-size cap on residential generation? No system-size cap in the LDC (proved absence). At the utility level, FPUA's net metering is structured in three tiers with no stated ceiling on residential participation: 'TIER 1 - 10 KW or Less', 'TIER 2 - Greater than 10 KW and Less Than or Equal to 100 KW', 'TIER 3 - Greater than 100 KW and Less Than or Equal to 2 MW' - with a $100 application fee for Tier 2/3 and a $500 interconnection-study deposit for Tier 3, but no tier is limited to non-residential customers. 75% · utility interconnection agreement + land development code

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? Either, with a real nuance specific to solar. Generally: a licensed electrical contractor (F.S. ch. 489) may pull the electrical permit, or the property owner may act as owner-builder under F.S. 489.103(7)(a)1 and the Town's own Owner/Builder Affidavit Disclosure Statement. But the statute treats SOLAR specifically, in a separate, narrower clause: F.S. 489.103(7)(a)3 lets an owner personally install, uninstall or replace solar panels ONLY 'when...the local permitting agency's county or municipal government is participating in a United States Department of Energy SunShot Initiative: Rooftop Solar Challenge grant' - and even then, 'an owner must utilize a licensed electrical contractor to effectuate the wiring of the solar panels, including any interconnection to the customer's residential electrical wiring.' No evidence was found that St. Lucie Village (population in the low hundreds) ever held a DOE SunShot Rooftop Solar Challenge grant, a program that operated roughly 2012-2017 in a small number of competitively selected communities. 74% · state statute
• Must the contractor be registered with this authority before applying? No formal pre-registration process is published. Unlike some Florida counties (e.g. Washington County), St. Lucie Village publishes no separate 'Contractor Registration' packet among its 8 Building & Permit Forms. The Permit Application itself asks for the contractor's 'State License Number OR Municipality: License Number', which reads as a check performed at the time of application rather than a standing pre-registration requirement. 60% · department document library
• Is a homeowner permitted to self-install and self-permit? Yes, generally, but not cleanly for the electrical/wiring portion of a solar job specifically. The Town publishes its own 'Owner/Builder Affidavit Disclosure Statement' under F.S. 489.103(7): an owner may 'act as your own contractor even though you do not have a license' and 'provide direct, on-site supervision of the construction yourself' for 'a one-family or two-family residence for your use and occupancy.' That general exemption is broad enough to cover an owner supervising the mounting/structural side of a PV job. But per q5, the wiring/interconnection specifically falls under the narrower, SunShot-grant-conditioned F.S. 489.103(7)(a)3, which the Town shows no evidence of having ever qualified for - so in practice the electrical portion likely still requires a licensed electrical contractor even for an owner-builder job. 78% · owner-builder disclosure form

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? No solar-specific checklist is published. What the Town's general forms require: a completed, NOTARIZED Permit Application (owner/contractor signatures, state license number, value of improvement, scope of work); a Subcontractor List naming each trade and its license number; a Certificate of Zoning Compliance issued by the Building Official before the building permit (LDC 5.5.0, as amended by Ordinance 2024-5); a recorded Notice of Commencement (Ch. 713, F.S.) for work valued over $2,500 (over $10,000 for HVAC), posted on site before the first inspection; a scale drawing of the building and a plot plan under LDC 5.6.0/5.7.0; and, where applicable, an Owner/Builder Affidavit. Payment of the plan-review and permit fees is required before any site plan or certificate of occupancy issues (Resolution 2026-5, para. 2). 68% · department document library
• How many copies, and in what format? Three complete sets of plans for commercial projects, two complete sets for residential projects. 'The plans shall be approved and signed by the Building Official before issuance of a building permit and a complete set of the plans and a copy of the building permit shall be kept on file by the Village.' 88% · ordinance (OCR)
• Is a site plan required, and what must it show? For an ordinary building permit (which is what a rooftop PV retrofit would be), yes: LDC 5.6.0 and 5.7.0 require that 'all building permit applications shall be accompanied by a scale drawing of the building and a plot plan showing the proposed sewage disposal system and well locations' and 'a scale drawing of the building and a plot plan showing the proposed drainage.' The Town's much larger 'Site Plan Review' process under LDC 5.3.0 (Board-of-Aldermen-level review, engineering-consultant fees, a $1,500 Site Plan fee) is a DIFFERENT, heavier track that applies only to uses listed in the LDC's Table 1 and to Developments of Regional Impact - a rooftop PV retrofit on an existing dwelling is not a listed use and would not plausibly trigger it. A ground-mounted system would likely be classified as a residential 'Accessory Structure' instead (see q47), which requires only Administrative Review, not full Site Plan Review. 68% · land development code
• Is a one-line / three-line diagram required? Not published. No one-line or three-line diagram is called for by any Town form, the fee schedule, or the LDC. 70% · department document library
• Are string and conductor calculations required? Not published. No string, conductor, or voltage-drop calculation is called for locally. 70% · department document library
• Is a structural PE stamp required, and at what threshold? No local structural PE threshold is published. What binds is the statewide Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023) (see q30), which the Town's own current Re-Roof Windstorm Loss Mitigation Certification form cites by name ('Current Florida Building Code...8th ed (2023) FBC'). No Town ordinance sets a kW, weight, or attachment-count threshold at which a structural engineer's stamp becomes mandatory for a PV array. 58% · town form citing current FBC edition
• Is an electrical PE stamp required, and at what threshold? No local electrical PE stamp requirement is published. At state level, F.S. 471.003(2)(h) exempts a ch. 489 licensed electrical contractor from engineering licensure where the project 'requires an electrical...system with a value of $125,000 or less' and 'requires an aggregate service capacity of 600 amperes (240 volts) or less on a residential electrical system' - which covers essentially every residential rooftop PV job. 75% · state statute

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. St. Lucie Village runs no online permit portal (no Accela, no iWorq, no CitizenServe, no OpenGov, no eTRAKiT). Applications and forms are submitted by mail (PO Box 3878, Ft. Pierce, FL 34948) or email (building@stlucievillagefl.gov), per the Building & Permit Forms page itself: 'Completed and notarized forms can be: Mailed to...Emailed to...' 78% · department page (site-wide enumeration)
• Can the whole application be completed online? No. There is no portal at all (see q20), so nothing can be completed online. Forms require notarized, physical signatures (the Permit Application and Owner/Builder Affidavit both have notary blocks); the Notice of Commencement form does allow 'physical presence or online notarization.' 78% · department page + forms
• What does a residential solar permit cost? No flat solar fee; no solar-specific line exists anywhere in the Town's fee schedule. Reconstructed from the general categories that would apply: the Electrical Permit line - '200 amps or Service Change $155.00' plus $4.33 surcharge, or 'Each additional 50 amps $25.00' - for the interconnection/service side; the general 'Building Permit for Each $25,000.00 in Value $125.00' plus $4.00 surcharge line for the array/mounting side, scaled to the system's contract value; and a Plan Review fee tiered by value ('Up to $70,000.00 in value $125.00' residential). A re-inspection is $75.00 if needed. So a typical residential PV job likely runs in the low-to-mid hundreds of dollars in Town fees, assembled from at least three separate line items rather than one. 65% · fee schedule
• How is the fee calculated? Tiered/mixed. The electrical component is flat-tiered by amperage ($155 for 200A or a service change, +$25 per additional 50A). The building/array component is valuation-tiered ('Building Permit for Each $25,000.00 in Value $125.00'). The plan-review component is separately tiered by project value ($75 minor / $125 up to $70,000 / $300 $70,000-$300,000 / $450 over $300,000, residential). 70% · fee schedule
• Is there a separate plan-check fee? Yes. Plan Review fees are billed as a separate line from the permit fee itself: for residential, 'Minor Review $75.00', 'Up to $70,000.00 in value $125.00', '$70,000 to $300,000.00 in value $300.00', 'Over $300,000.00 in value $450.00', plus separate charges for 'Commencement or Notice to Owner' ($100), and minor/major revisions ($75/$175). Resolution 2026-5 states 'no site plan or plat approval, or certificate of occupancy, shall be issued until all applicable fees have been paid.' 88% · fee ordinance

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? The Town publishes no plan-review turnaround of its own. What binds is F.S. 553.792(1)(a): 5 business days after a complete application for an electrical or structural permit on an EXISTING single-family dwelling where the value of work is under $15,000; 30 business days where the structure is under 7,500 sq ft; 60 business days where it is 7,500 sq ft or larger. 68% · state statute
• How long is an issued permit valid before it expires? 18 months, per the Town's CURRENT ordinance text - but this conflicts with the base LDC document and with state law, and the conflict has not been resolved anywhere the Town publishes. Ordinance 2024-5 (Dec 2024) amended LDC 5.8.0 to read: 'Building permits shall be valid for a period of eighteen (18) months. If no actual construction begins during the first six(6) month period, the permit shall expire...A permit holder must get an approved inspection within six (6) months (180 Days) of the original permit issuance and every 6 months thereafter up to the 18 month permit expiration date.' The un-amended base LDC PDF (uploaded Feb 2023, still the Town's posted 'Land Development Code' document) still reads the OLD text: 'Building permits shall be valid for a period of twelve (12) months.' Separately, F.S. 553.79(1)(c) sets a state floor: 'A building permit issued by a local government for a single-family dwelling expires 1 year after the issuance of the permit or on the effective date of the next edition of the Florida Building Code, whichever is later.' 78% · ordinance (OCR) vs. base LDC document
• Which utility handles interconnection here? Fort Pierce Utilities Authority (FPUA), a municipally-owned utility headquartered in Fort Pierce. 90% · permit application form + utility own page
• Where does the utility sit in the sequence? Hybrid, gated at both ends. FPUA's own Interconnection and Net Metering Customer Checklist has the customer apply and wait for 'Approval to Proceed' from FPUA BEFORE installation ('Please wait for FPUA to approve your application before proceeding with installation'), then requires the completed system to be inspected and approved by the local code authority (the Town) AFTER installation and BEFORE FPUA will allow parallel operation: 'Prior to commencing parallel operation with FPUA's electric system, Customer shall have the customer-owned renewable generation system inspected and approved by the appropriate code authorities having jurisdiction. Customer shall provide a copy of this inspection and approval to FPUA.' The customer must then give FPUA at least 10 business days' written notice before activation. 82% · utility customer checklist

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 (NFPA 70, 2020 edition) is the edition currently in force statewide, though the Town's own MOST RECENT building-code resolution on file (2017-11, effective 1 Jan 2018) named the OLDER '2014 NFPA-70 National Electric Code.' No newer Town resolution naming a specific NEC edition was found in the Ordinances Index. The state's own Fire Prevention Code administrative rule, FAC 69A-60.005(2)(qq), currently reads '(qq) NFPA 70, 2020 edition, National Electrical Code' - and the Town's founding ordinance (85-3, as supplemented by 2012-5/2015-7/2017-11) adopts each named code 'as well as any amendments, modifications, or changes that may be made to said codes in the future', which is how the state's automatic statewide FBC/NEC update cycle reaches this Town without a new local resolution every cycle. 78% · state administrative rule
• Which building code edition is in force? Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023). This is confirmed BOTH by the statewide adoption rule AND, independently and more directly, by the Town's own current (2025-dated) Re-Roof Windstorm Loss Mitigation Certification form, which reads on its face: 'Current Florida Building Code. Effective date: October 1, 2007 & December 31st, 2023 (8th ed (2023) FBC)...These requirements apply to all structures built prior to implementation of the 8th ed (2023) Florida Building Code.' FAC 61G20-1.001(1) states: 'The Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023), as updated by the Florida Building Commission on June 20, 2023, April 16, 2024, August 13, 2024, December 10, 2024, December 20, 2024, April 15, 2025, and December 9, 2025...is hereby adopted as the building code for the State of Florida', in a rule version effective 18 March 2026. As with the NEC, the Town's own most recent CODE-ADOPTION resolution (2017-11) still names the older '2017 Florida Building Code - 6th Edition', but the Town's own current operational forms have already moved to citing the 8th Edition directly, which is stronger, more current evidence than the stale resolution language. 92% · town form (current) + state administrative rule
• Which fire code edition is in force? Florida Fire Prevention Code: NFPA 1, the Fire Code, Florida 2021 Edition (FAC 69A-60.003, rule text last amended 12-31-23) and NFPA 101, the Life Safety Code, Florida 2021 Edition. Enforcement for the Village runs through the ST. LUCIE COUNTY FIRE DISTRICT / St. Lucie County - Fort Pierce Fire Prevention Bureau, not a Village fire department - the Village has none of its own; its LDC names the 'St. Lucie County - Fort Pierce Fire Prevention Bureau' as the fire-review member of the Site Plan Technical Review Committee (LDC 5.3.0(C)) and requires 'satisfactory' written confirmation 'from the St. Lucie County-Ft. Pierce Fire Prevention Bureau' for adequacy of fire protection on any Site Plan (LDC 5.3.0(D)). 78% · state administrative rule + land development code
• Are there local amendments to any of the above? No local NEC/electrical amendments were found (proved absence - the Village's LDC has no electrical-code chapter or article of its own, unlike some Florida counties). The Village DOES carry its own local zoning-level solar provision, however: the LDC's definition of 'HEIGHT OF STRUCTURE' expressly excludes 'solar panel installations' (along with widows' walks, parapets and ornamental facades) from the height calculation - a genuine, if narrow, Village-specific solar rule (see q35). Beyond that, the Village's building-code chain is bare adoption-by-reference of the state codes (Ordinance 85-3 as supplemented by Resolutions 2012-5, 2015-7 and 2017-11), with no additional prescriptive local requirements of the kind some Florida counties add (e.g. local service-conductor or meter-height rules). 70% · land development code
• What is the installation judged against? The installation is judged against the Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023) and NFPA 70 (NEC), 2020 edition, as adopted by reference through Ordinance 85-3/Resolutions 2012-5/2015-7/2017-11 and kept current by the state's own update cycle (see q29/q30); the Florida Fire Prevention Code (NFPA 1/101, Florida 2021 Editions) as reviewed at the Site Plan stage by the St. Lucie County Fire District; and the Village's own Land Development Code, which governs permit issuance procedure (LDC 5.4.0-5.8.0, as amended by Ordinance 2024-5), zoning use classification (Table 1), and the one Village-specific solar rule - the height-of-structure exclusion for solar panels. 78% · land development code

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 Town of St. Lucie Village 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 NEC 2020 - i.e., NEC 690.12 as it stands in the 2020 edition. Neither the Village nor St. Lucie County adds or removes anything at the ordinance level: the chain runs from the state's current NEC edition (FAC 69A-60.005(2)(qq), NFPA 70 2020) through the Village's blanket 'any amendments...in the future' adoption language in Ordinance 85-3 as supplemented. 75% · state administrative rule

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? No AHJ-specific placard set is published by the Village. What DOES apply, first-party, is the utility's own physical marking-adjacent requirement: FPUA's Standard Interconnection Agreement requires 'a manual disconnect switch of the visible load break type' that must be 'readily accessible to Utility and capable of being locked in the open position with a Utility padlock' (see q42/q48). NEC Article 690/705 marking requirements apply generally through the Village's code-adoption chain, but their text could not be read here (see q37). 62% · utility interconnection agreement
• Does the authority specify placard wording of its own? No. Neither the Village nor St. Lucie County (for this Village) specifies placard wording of its own. 72% · land development code
• Does it specify letter height, colour or material? No. No letter height, colour, or material is specified for any PV-related placard. 70% · land development code
• Is a site plan / facility map placard required, and what must it show? Not published as a PV-specific requirement. The Village's general plot-plan requirement under LDC 5.6.0/5.7.0 (see q10) is the closest analogue for an ordinary permit, but nothing addresses a dedicated site plan/facility-map placard for solar equipment specifically. 62% · land development code
• Does the UTILITY specify placards beyond the AHJ's? Yes, in substance. FPUA's Standard Interconnection Agreement (Section 12) requires the customer to 'provide and install a manual disconnect switch of the visible load break type', 'mounted separate from the meter socket on an exterior surface adjacent to the meter', 'readily accessible to Utility and capable of being locked in the open position with a Utility padlock.' FPUA's own Customer Checklist separately requires documentation certifying compliance with IEEE 1547 (2003), IEEE 1547.1 (2005), UL 1741 (2005), and 'The National Electric Code, state and/or local building codes, mechanical codes and/or electrical codes', plus the manufacturer's installation/operation/maintenance instructions, submitted to FPUA before interconnection. 72% · utility interconnection agreement
• Where must the labels be placed? Not stated in general placard terms. The one concrete location rule that does exist is the AC disconnect switch location itself (see q48): 'mounted separate from the meter socket on an exterior surface adjacent to the meter.' 65% · utility interconnection agreement

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

• Where must the AC disconnect be, relative to the meter? The AC (manual) disconnect switch must be mounted SEPARATE from the meter socket, on an exterior surface ADJACENT to the meter. Quoted verbatim from FPUA's Standard Interconnection Agreement, Section 12.01: 'The manual disconnect switch shall be mounted separate from the meter socket on an exterior surface adjacent to the meter. The switch shall be readily accessible to Utility and capable of being locked in the open position with a Utility padlock.' 88% · utility interconnection agreement
• Must equipment be on a specific approved list? Not published as a Village 'approved list.' FPUA requires equipment, installation, operation and maintenance to comply with IEEE 1547 (2003), IEEE 1547.1 (2005), UL 1741 (2005), the NEC/state/local codes, and the manufacturer's own instructions - a standards-compliance requirement rather than a named product list. 68% · utility customer checklist
• Is there a separate ESS permit or inspection? Not published. No separate ESS permit or inspection process is named by the Village (proved absence). 65% · land development code
• Is a ground mount treated as a structure? Yes. A ground-mounted PV system would be classified as a residential 'Accessory Structure' under the LDC's use table (Table 1: 'Accessory Structures - Residential', Administrative Review), which is treated as a structure for lot-coverage purposes: 'All accessory structures shall be considered in calculating maximum permissible lot coverage and shall be cumulative.' This is the mirror image of q35/q32's rooftop exclusion: the LDC's height-of-structure definition excludes ROOF-MOUNTED solar panels from the height calculation by name, but says nothing excluding a GROUND-mounted array from being treated as a structure, which by omission means it is not exempted. 78% · land development code
• Is there a local rule on service upgrades or busbar sizing? No local rule on service upgrades or busbar sizing is published. NEC 705.12 (the 120%/busbar rule) applies as adopted by reference, with no Village-specific modification found - unlike some Florida counties, the Village's LDC carries no dedicated electrical-code article of its own (contrast Washington County's Chapter 14, Article III). 68% · land development code
• Is a specific mounting system or attachment spacing required? No specific mounting system or attachment-spacing rule is published (proved absence). What IS published, and is genuinely Village-specific, is a favorable local rule: the LDC's definition of 'HEIGHT OF STRUCTURE' reads, in full: 'The vertical distance from the lowest average elevation of the finished grade at the structure to the highest portion of the structure, subject to specified height requirements of this Code. Non-structural architectural treatments, such as widows' walks, parapets, ornamental facades, and solar panel installations are excluded in determining the height of structure.' This means a rooftop PV array does not count against the Village's structure-height limit, whatever attachment method is used. The Village's own Permit Application has no Florida Product Approval field (contrast some Florida counties' trade-permit forms, which do). 72% · land development code

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? Not published in portal/phone/email/walk-in terms explicitly, but by elimination it is Phone (or email/mail, matching how applications themselves are submitted - see q20/q21): there is no online portal, and the only inspection-adjacent contact given anywhere on the Town's site is Building Official Carl Peterson's direct line, 772.528.2777, and the general office line/email. 55% · department page (by elimination)
• How much notice is required? Not published. No notice period for scheduling an inspection is stated anywhere in the Town's documents. 60% · department document library
• Are same-day or AM/PM windows offered? Not published. No same-day or AM/PM inspection-window offering is documented. 58% · department document library

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, self-performed. The Town's own FY2026-27 Proposed Budget salary line reads 'Building Official/Inspector' - a single combined role, paid directly by the Town, not delegated to St. Lucie County or a private firm. 85% · adopted/proposed budget
• If delegated, to whom? N/A - not delegated. See q52: inspection is performed by the Town's own Building Official/Inspector, Carl Peterson. 80% · adopted/proposed budget + officials 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.

• Which inspections are required, and in what order? Not published as a PV-specific sequence. The Town's own Inspection Fee schedule names the individual inspection TYPES it bills for - Electric, Power Change, Plumbing, Insulation, H.V.A.C., H.V.A.C Change Out, Building ('Construction' on the 2026 ordinance text), Drive Way, Roofing, Docks, Residential, Commercial, Demolition - which implies a PV job would draw at least an Electric inspection and a Building/Residential final, but no document states an order or which of these apply together for a solar job specifically. 60% · fee schedule
• Is a rough-in or mid-roof inspection required? Not published. No rough-in or mid-roof inspection stage is named anywhere in the Town's documents. 58% · fee schedule

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. The Town publishes no inspection checklist of any kind - none of its 8 Building & Permit Forms is a checklist, and no checklist is linked from the Ordinances or Zoning & Land Use pages either. 75% · department document library
• What must be on site at inspection? A recorded, posted Notice of Commencement for work valued over $2,500 ($10,000 for HVAC) - 'A Notice of Commencement must be recorded and posted on the job site before first inspection' (Permit Application, and repeated verbatim on the Notice of Commencement form itself, quoting Ch. 713, F.S.). Beyond that, the approved, Building-Official-signed plans are required to be 'kept on file by the Village' (LDC 5.8.0), which implies a set should be available, though the Town's forms do not explicitly say the plans must be ON SITE at inspection as opposed to on file at Town Hall. 65% · notice of commencement form
• Does the inspector verify labels and listings? Not documented specifically for PV. The LDC requires plans to be 'approved and signed by the Building Official before issuance of a building permit' (LDC 5.8.0), which implies a general compliance check, but no document states that the inspector verifies PV labels, rapid-shutdown markings, or equipment listings in particular. 55% · land development code

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? Not explicitly published. For new construction, the general permitting/site-plan framework implies a Certificate of Occupancy is the ultimate sign-off (LDC 5.6.0(C) references 'the certificate of occupancy is issued' for temporary toilet facilities, and Resolution 2026-5 conditions 'certificate of occupancy' issuance on fees being paid). For a trade/electrical permit on an EXISTING house - which is what a PV retrofit would be - no document states what is issued on a passed final inspection (no green tag, letter, or 'Final' terminology appears anywhere), and unlike some other authorities in this survey, St. Lucie Village publishes no online permit register that could be read to observe the pattern directly. 55% · land development code + fee ordinance
• Who notifies the utility for PTO? The installer/customer, to the utility - not the AHJ. FPUA's own Customer Checklist puts the initiative squarely on the customer: 'You must provide FPUA with written notification of the date and time you plan to place the system in service. Notification must be submitted at least 10 business days prior to activation. FPUA may require an employee or city official to be present for activation.' The AHJ's role is a precondition to that notification, not a notification itself: the system must first be 'inspected and approved by the appropriate code authorities having jurisdiction', with a copy of that inspection/approval provided to FPUA, BEFORE the customer's 10-business-day activation notice is meaningful. 85% · utility customer checklist
• Is there a re-inspection fee? $75.00 flat. 'Re-inspection or Violations $75.00' appears identically on the Town's current adopted fee ordinance (Resolution 2026-5), the downloadable fee PDF, and the live fee page - the one fee figure that is fully consistent across all three versions of the Town's fee documents checked in this run. 90% · fee schedule
• How are corrections issued and cleared? Not published in procedural detail. No document describes a written correction notice, a correction-list format, or a re-submittal process for either plan-review comments or field corrections. The only related mechanism found is the 'Permit Renewal Fee 50% of Original Fee' line, which implies a permit can lapse and be renewed, but says nothing about how corrections themselves are communicated. 55% · fee schedule