A building permit is an official approval issued by local government that allows your Borrower or the contractor to proceed with a construction or remodeling project on the property being mortgaged. The permit is intended to ensure that the project plans comply with local standards for land use, zoning, and construction.

A Community Development District (CDD) is a governmental unit created to serve the long-term specific needs of its community. Created pursuant to chapter 190 of the Florida Statutes, a CDD’s main powers are to plan, finance, construct, operate and maintain community-wide infrastructure and services specifically for the benefit of its residents.
 

A CDD is funded through the issuance of Special Assessment Revenue Bonds to finance community infrastructure. Generally, Community Development Districts assess each property owner a yearly capital debt service assessment to pay back those bonds. In the case of the CDD a significant portion of this capital assessment will be prepaid by the developer at the time of closing. In addition to maintaining the facilities of the community and the responsibility of administering the CDD, the development district conducts a public hearing each year at which it adopts an operating and maintenance budget. 
 

Land developments where a CDD is being created are typically larger in scale. Loans made by the Bank on land development’s where a CDD is involved present higher risks to the Bank. As such, the formation of the CDD must be disclosed in the credit memo and any materials outlining the responsibilities of the CDD and any leverage the CDD may have over the Bank’s collateral and/or our borrower must be fully disclosed and understood by the Bank. All CDD documents are required to be reviewed and approved by the Bank’s counsel prior to the closing. 

Comprehensive development plans (CDPs) provide the policy foundation for local planning and land use decisions on capital improvements, conservation, intergovernmental coordination, recreation, open space, future land use, housing, transportation, coastal management (where applicable) and public facilities. 

Concurrency, as it relates to the land development code in Florida, is the principle that the public facilities and services necessary to support a proposed development must be available, or shall be made available, concurrent with the impacts of the development. The municipality, oftentimes the City or County, measures the potential impact of any development proposal upon the following public facilities:

• Transportation
• Potable water
• Sanitary sewer
• Solid waste
• Drainage
• Recreation and open space
• Public schools 
   

Once the impacts are determined, developers will be assessed mitigation or impact fees in an amount necessary to bring the public facility and service levels up to the required needs. Not all developments are subject to concurrency. 

This type of permit authorizes water to be withdrawn from surface and groundwater sources for reasonable and beneficial uses such as public supply (drinking water), agricultural irrigation, and industry and power generation. 

Development Order (DO) is the order the City or County issues once the plans or requests for development have been approved. Most activity involving new construction, additions, renovations, demolitions, lot clearing, signs, trees, and other site improvements, including accessory structures, require a DO. CCB lenders  are required to obtain a copy of the development order prior to closing on any land development loan and prior to funding the first draw on any commercial construction loan. 

Under Florida Land Development, an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a framework and formal process that provides a set of guidelines for examining and assessing how a proposed project will affect the environment and the human health and welfare. The EIA outlines the various aspects that must be analyzed before moving forward with the project, such as scope, criteria, methodology, and others. In addition, the EIA will address the means and measures to mitigate and monitor the identified impacts.  

The Environmental Resource Permit (ERP) - is required for development or construction activities to prevent flooding, protect the water quality of Florida's lakes and streams from stormwater pollution, and protect wetlands and other surface waters. This type of permit is required if a development in Florida involves any of the following construction activities:  

• Dredging and filling in wetlands or surface waters
• Constructing flood protection facilities
• Providing storm water containment and treatment
• Site grading
• Building dams or reservoirs
• Other activities affecting state waters

Lenders are required to obtain a copy of the environmental permit prior to closing on any commercial construction or land development loan. 
 

The Environmental Protection Division (EPD) of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources is a state agency charged with protecting Georgia's air, land, and water resources through the authority of state and federal environmental statutes.

Georgia Water Management Regions

Similar to the concept of concurrency, when approving new development projects, the approving authority will estimate the anticipated expansion costs to the multi-modal transportation facilities that are being created as a result of the new development. The developer will be assessed mitigation fees to offset the identified expansion costs.

A Natural Features Inventory (NFI) is performed during the permitting process of a land development. The purpose of the NFI is to document the preservation or conservation features of a development site. If a site has conservation features, limited development might be possible subject to strict standards to ensure the conservation of the resource. Examples of a preservation feature might be a gopher turtle habitat located at the site and an example of a conservation feature might be canopy roads or a closed basin on site.

Planned Unit Development (PUD) or master planned community is an area of land that is planned and developed as a single entity or in approved stages with uses and structures substantially related to the character of the entire development, or a self-contained development in which the subdivision and zoning controls are applied to the project rather than to individual lots. 

A plat is a map of a particular neighborhood, subdivision, or tract of land, detailing where the original surveyor established property lines and separated each parcel or lot. Useful information a plat will provide include:

• Dimensions of a lot
• Directional positioning of a property
• Public and private roads
• Easements on the land
• Location of utilities and important infrastructure like sewer systems and water lines
   

This a drawing of a proposed subdivision showing the general layout of streets and alleys, lots, blocks, and other elements of a subdivision consistent with the requirements of the local permitting authority. The preliminary plat shall furnish a basis for the approval or disapproval of the general layout of a subdivision. The Bank will require the borrower to submit the approved preliminary plat prior to closing on a Residential or Commercial acquisition and development (A & D) loan.

A subdivision plat, as previously discussed under preliminary and final plats, is a survey of a parcel of land indicating the creation of new lot/parcel lines, retention ponds, and roads. Bankers will rely on these survey’s when financing proposed residential and commercial subdivisions.

This is a proposed drawing of a potential development that outlines various important features of the project such as the building footprint, roadway access, parking, and street access. A development review committee is responsible for reviewing a site plan and issuing the required approval. A site plan approval is a pre-requisite to obtaining a building permit. 

Well construction permits are issued by water management districts and their delegated authority prior to the installation of a well. The permits ensure that wells are constructed by qualified contractors and meet rigid safety and durability standards.

The Uniform Mitigation Assessment Method (UMAM) was established to perform a uniform mitigation assessment to determine the amount of mitigation needed to offset adverse impacts to wetlands and other surface waters that a land development may present. This type of assessment will determine if the development will be awarded mitigation credits or if mitigation credits will be deducted.

This is a practice in which an environmental enhancement and preservation project is conducted by a public agency or private entity (“banker”) to provide mitigation for unavoidable wetland impacts within a defined region (mitigation service area). The bank is the site itself, and the currency sold by the banker to the impact permittee is a credit, which represents the wetland ecological value equivalent to the complete restoration of one acre. The number of potential credits permitted for the bank and the credit debits required for impact permits are determined by the permitting agencies, Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP)

A zoning verification letter is a legally recognized document which informs property owners, lenders and prospective buyers of the current zoning designation related to a particular property based on the municipality's current zoning codes. These letters can be issued by the local planning and growth department where the property is located, or lending associates can visit the property appraiser’s website to determine the current zoning of a property and the approved land use.

An approved variance allows minor deviations from the zoning requirements that regulate how a property may be developed, but only when unique circumstances affecting that particular property are demonstrated.