Miami homeowners and small business owners who are tired of watching permits crawl through City Hall just got a break. Mayor Eileen Higgins has rolled out two new programs that promise same-day approvals for many routine projects, part of an early push to drag the permitting process into the modern era. The walk-in “Same Day - No Delay” review for homeowners and a new Annual Facility Permit for commercial sites are both in effect now, according to city officials.
The Walk-Thru Express is the city’s new fast lane for residential plan review. Running Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Miami Riverside Center, it offers same-day permits for qualified small projects. The city lists eligible work such as fences under 6 feet, driveways and pavers, window and door replacements, roofing, small kitchen or bathroom remodels, prefabricated sheds and minor mechanical, electrical or plumbing repairs. To get in the door, applicants must create an iBuild project, upload all documents to ProjectDox and join the Walk-Thru waiting list by 12:30 p.m. Homes in historic districts, projects that need structural review and properties with open violations are excluded, according to the city’s Walk-Thru Express Residential guide (City of Miami).
The timing is not accidental. Miami’s permit system has been buckling under sheer volume, and officials are under pressure to move things faster. During the 2023-24 fiscal year, the city logged nearly 26,000 building permit applications along with more than 168,000 inspection and re-inspection requests. To keep up, commissioners are looking at virtual inspections for low-risk work, which would free staff to focus on more complex reviews, according to Miami Today.
Annual Facility Permit For Businesses
On the commercial side, Miami is launching an Annual Facility Permit that lets property owners and facilities managers handle routine servicing, repairs and minor non-structural renovations under a single year-long permit. City procedures say an AFP is issued per facility and per trade, requires a signed affidavit and a detailed on-site work log, and comes with fee and job-value minimums that must be updated as projects move along. The permit cannot be used if there are open violations or to change a building’s occupancy, and inspectors still have authority to conduct periodic audits and inspections, according to the city’s Annual Facility Permit SOP (City of Miami).
What This Means For Locals
City officials say pairing a same-day residential walk-in option with a year-long facilities permit for businesses should cut back on paperwork and keep smaller projects from stalling out in bureaucracy. The rollout has already been noted by local outlets and aggregators, including Spot On Florida and the South Florida Times.
“Getting a simple project approved should not feel like a full-time job,” Mayor Eileen Higgins said in a statement, per the South Florida Times. Residents who want to confirm whether their project qualifies, or what paperwork they need to bring, can check the city’s permitting pages or call 311 for help.
