Building Division

Responsibilities

The Building Division is responsible for the enforcement of state and municipal codes/ordinances.

The Building Division ensures that minimum safety standards are met for the safeguarding of public health, welfare, and safety through the regulation and control of the design, construction, quality of materials, use, occupancy, location, and maintenance of all buildings and structures, including electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems.

The Building Division is responsible for the review and approval of plans for all proposed buildings or building additions, the issuance of all required building, plumbing, mechanical and electrical permits, and performing all the necessary inspections associated with the issuance of all permits within the City.

The Building Division also conducts inspections related to the Code Compliance Division with the goal of gaining compliance on matters relating to municipal code and building code violations.

Counter Hours

The City of Imperial Beach has moved to a new entirely online building permit, plan check, and payment processing system. To apply for all building permits, applicants must first create a Citizen Self-Service Account in the Citizen Self-Service (CSS) portal (link). City Hall is open Monday through Thursday from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm. Staff will be available during non-inspection hours to assist with permit help from 7:30 am to 9 am and 3:30 pm to 5 pm. Kiosks are available for applicant use.

View instructions (PDF) on how to create a CSS Account and apply for a building permit.

Inspections

Inspections are conducted between 9 am to 3:30 pm. Monday through Thursday. Building Inspections can be requested by calling the inspection hotline at 619-628-1360, Citizen Self-Service (CSS) portal, or via email. Staff will reach out on the morning of inspection with a detailed time frame for inspection.

If you are a California-licensed Contractor, Architect or Engineer, you may be able to self-certify select minor residential building permits without Building Division inspections. To see if you qualify for this program, please refer to the Building Self-Certification Program Procedures, Application, and Checklist (PDF). If you are unable to meet these requirements in order to obtain your required inspections, please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss other alternative inspection measures.

Please keep in mind that building inspections will not be conducted on Fridays.

Important Update

Starting August 14, 2020 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will suspend processing Applications of Letters of Map Revisions based on fill (LOMR-Fs) and Conditional Letters of Map Revision based on fill (CLOMR-Fs) in the City of Imperial Beach. This suspension applies to the entire County of San Diego as well as five other counties; Los Angeles, Orange, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura. This suspension is for an unspecified period of time while FEMA prepares Biological Evaluations (BEs) analyzing the potential effects of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) implementation on Federally-listed species and their critical habitat in California.

Applications for new LOMR-Fs or CLOMR-Fs received prior to August 14, 2020 will be processed and completed, assuming that all necessary information has been provided. Requests to reopen CLOMR-F and LOMR-Fs closed due to inactivity must also be received prior to August 14, 2020. Requests received after August 14, 2020 will be suspended with no determination, and a notice of suspension will be sent to the applicant.

For further information, please email FEMA.