Chesapeake, VA Building Safety: Building Permits (2026)

City Code Sec. 14-31 adopts the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code by reference to control construction, alteration, addition, repair, removal, demolition, movement, location and occupancy of every building in Chesapeake, both existing and proposed. The department of development and permits is the local building department, and its director is the appointing authority for the building official; Sec. 14-32 automatically folds in future VUSBC supplements and amendments without a separate city ordinance. Before that department will issue a building permit, Sec. 14-2 requires the applicant to pay all applicable Hampton Roads Sanitation District and city utility tap fees, or produce a receipt showing they were already paid.

City council sets the full permit, inspection, and appeal fee schedule each year in the annual budget ordinance under Sec. 14-33; anything not listed is set by the director. Sec. 14-33(c) waives fees for permits obtained by city or school-board employees for city or school projects, for certain privately funded bridges subject to third-party inspection, for handicap-ramp permits benefiting a household member with a permanent total disability, and, at the emergency management director's discretion, for repair permits tied to a locally declared emergency. Appeals from a building official's decision go to the local board of building code appeals created under Sec. 14-34, and missing the VUSBC's filing deadline waives the right to appeal.