Gainesville, FL Building Safety: Building Permits (2026)

Sec. 52, in Division 10 of the Land Development Code's How-To Guide article, sets the baseline: no building may be constructed, reconstructed, altered or extended, and no excavation, cut, fill, curb cut, street access, sign, or building move may occur, unless a building permit has issued showing the work complies with the chapter's zoning and development standards. That permit is folded into the city's tiered development review process. Sec. 45 sorts every project into rapid, intermediate, or major review based on size: for non-residential work, new construction or expansions of 1,001 to 10,000 square feet fall into rapid review, 10,001 to 50,000 square feet into intermediate review, and anything over 50,001 square feet into major review; residential projects follow parallel tiers by unit count, 3 to 10 multi-family units for rapid, 11 to 50 for intermediate, 51 or more for major.

Anything below the rapid-review thresholds, most single-family construction, additions, and small non-residential work, skips separate development plan review and "will be reviewed in conjunction with a building permit application" instead, per Sec. 45. Once a project clears whichever review level applies, Sec. 53 layers on a second, related requirement: no land, water, or building may be used, and no existing use changed, until the city issues a certificate of occupancy for it. A first-step meeting with staff is required before any application, under Sec. 47, to walk through code requirements and the review process before plans are drawn.