St. Joseph County Area Plan Commission and Zoning Administrator

Improvement Location Permit (zoning, unincorporated St. Joseph County)

St. Joseph County Code 154.596(A) provides that no building, structure, improvement, sign or use of land may be altered, changed, enlarged, placed, erected or located unless it conforms to the zoning chapter and an improvement location permit has been issued. Under the section's opening paragraph, a building permit issued by the county building department that includes the establishment of a use, or the alteration, placement or erection of a building, structure, improvement or sign that increases its height, area or bulk, constitutes the improvement location permit, and the building permit application must include the site, landscape, lighting, elevation or sign plans needed to check compliance. Under 154.596(C)(2) the zoning administrator may take up to 15 business days to study an application for commercial/mixed use, industrial or special exception buildings, uses and signs; a use authorised by variance also needs the Board of Zoning Appeals' written approval and compliance with its conditions (154.596(C)(3)). The permit is valid for the longer of one year or the length of a building permit obtained within that year, and extensions may not total more than six months (154.596(B)). County Code 32.02 establishes area planning under IC 36-7-4. This record covers the unincorporated county; a site inside a city or town follows that municipality's zoning process.