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Codes Department briefs Metro Council on permitting, inspections and enforcement
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Summary
An agency official from the Codes Department told the Metropolitan Council on March 17 that the department processes roughly 14,000 building permits and more than 140,000 inspections a year, described its three divisions, and outlined complaint, inspection and enforcement procedures including typical timelines for abatement and court referral.
An official from the Codes Department presented an overview of the department’s mission, operations and resources to the Metropolitan Council on Tuesday, March 17.
The presenter, representing the Codes Department of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, said the department’s “primary mission is to keep the safety of the occupants in the buildings here in Davidson County” and described three main divisions—Building and Trades, Zoning, and Property Standards—tasked with permitting, inspections and enforcement.
The presentation laid out the department’s recent workload and staffing: roughly 164 employees, about 14,000 building permits processed per year and a little over 140,000 building-and-trade inspections annually. The presenter said the department is fully funded by user and permit fees and contributes “millions to the general fund each year,” noting 2022 and 2023 were record revenue years while 2026 figures remain incomplete for the fiscal year.
On permitting workflow, the presenter explained that permit applications begin in the zoning division, are reviewed by examiners for code compliance, and then are circulated electronically to other departments (for example, NDOT, planning and water) for sign-offs before final issuance. “If you start a building permit with the codes department, you may have to have a sign off on that permit from NDOT or planning or water,” the presenter said.
The Codes Department described customer-facing services the Council can direct constituents to, including a zoning help desk established in 2022 that provides phone, email and in-person assistance in multiple languages and now assists about 4,000 customers per month. The help desk is intended to reduce examiner workloads and speed reviews.
The presentation also reviewed enforcement procedures for property standards complaints: reports enter the department’s system and an inspector is typically sent within 24 to 48 hours; if no violation is found the case is closed, but if a violation exists an abatement letter is issued that gives the owner a period to comply. The presenter said courts require a “reasonable amount of time,” which the department said has typically been at least 30 days in courtroom practice; unresolved cases are referred to Metro Legal and environmental court and may lead to fines or liens.
Speaking about emergency work, the presenter said the department issued roughly 1,400 emergency electrical reconnect releases during a recent ice storm and performed inspections around the clock with average turnaround times under an hour.
The presenter closed by outlining resources for Council members—district permit and complaint reports, a master request-for-service report, weekly docket reviews with Metro Legal ahead of environmental court, and public data portals including Hub Nashville, ePermits, documents.nashville.gov and data.nashville.gov. He said staff are available to speak to neighborhood meetings and to answer Council questions.
The meeting moved to brief questions afterward and then adjourned.
