Arlington
City of Arlington Planning and Development Services
In short
City of Arlington Planning and Development Services issues 17 permits we publish for Arlington, last verified 2026-08-24. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.
What this agency issues
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial Plan Review Fee | City of Arlington Planning and Development Services | 35% of the building permit fee | one-time, per application | 2026-08-24 |
| Specific Use Permit or Planned Developmentonly if it applies to you | City of Arlington Planning and Development Services | $2,400 under 1 acre; $3,000 + $200 per acre from 1 to under 5; $4,000 + $150 per acre from 5 to under 10; $6,000 + $75 per acre at 10 acres or more | one-time, per application | 2026-08-24 |
| Zoning Changeonly if it applies to you | City of Arlington Planning and Development Services | $1,200–$3,000 by site acreage | one-time, per application | 2026-08-24 |
| Temporary Certificate of Occupancyonly if it applies to you | City of Arlington Planning and Development Services | $150 per certificate | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-08-24 |
| Short-Term Rental Permit | City of Arlington Planning and Development Services | $500 per year | one year | 2026-08-24 |
| Commercial Building Permit | City of Arlington Planning and Development Services | $325 up to $2,000 of declared valuation, then banded: $325 + $9 per additional $1,000 to $25,000; $532 + $8.50 to $50,000; $744.50 + $7.50 to $100,000; $1,119.50 + $6.50 to $500,000; $3,719.50 + $5 to $1,000,000; $6,219.50 + $4.25 to $2,500,000; $12,594.50 + $4 to $5,000,000; $22,594.50 + $3 above that | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-08-24 |
| Demolition Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Arlington Planning and Development Services | $200 per building | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-08-24 |
| Certificate of Occupancy — New Structure | City of Arlington Planning and Development Services | $100 per certificate | does not expire; a new certificate is required on a change of use, tenant or owner | 2026-08-24 |
| Certificate of Occupancy — Existing Structure | City of Arlington Planning and Development Services | $100 per certificate | does not expire; a new certificate is required on a change of use, tenant or owner | 2026-08-24 |
| Home Based Business Licenseonly if it applies to you | City of Arlington Planning and Development Services | $50 per license | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-08-24 |
| Sign Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Arlington Planning and Development Services | $85–$750 by sign type and area | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-08-24 |
| Grease Interceptor Plumbing Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Arlington Planning and Development Services | $60 per interceptor | one-time, per installation | 2026-08-24 |
| Backflow Prevention Device Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Arlington Planning and Development Services | $30 per device, first device | one-time, per installation | 2026-08-24 |
| Zoning Verification Letteronly if it applies to you | City of Arlington Planning and Development Services | $75 per site | one-time, per site | 2026-08-24 |
| Commercial Site Plan Reviewonly if it applies to you | City of Arlington Planning and Development Services | $1,000 per review | one-time, per application | 2026-08-24 |
| Temporary Outdoor Event Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Arlington Planning and Development Services | $100 per event, up to 500 attendees | per event | 2026-08-24 |
| Business Registrationonly if it applies to you | City of Arlington Planning and Development Services | $100–$175 for one or two years | one or two years, at the registrant's choice | 2026-08-24 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
About each permit
Commercial Plan Review Fee
Non-refundable, and it decides when your clock starts: the schedule states that a building permit application is not considered received until the plan review fee has been paid. Budget it as 35% on top of the permit fee for every commercial and multi-family application. It is assessed at submittal, so it is spent whether or not the project proceeds.
Specific Use Permit or Planned Development
Twice the cost of a straight zoning change and the gap widens with site size, because the per-acre charge is added on top of the band. The same schedule covers a new or revised planned development, a development plan and an alternate sign plan. An administrative change to an approved development plan, or an alternative equivalent compliance review, is $375 per item of the Unified Development Code involved.
Zoning Change
$1,200 under an acre, $1,500 from one to under five acres, $2,000 from five to under ten, and $3,000 at ten acres or more. A zoning change request sign is a further $100 each, renotification $125, and a zoning pre-application meeting $200. If the site carries an LPO overlay, add $250 plus $50 an acre, capped at $5,000.
Temporary Certificate of Occupancy
$150, and extending it costs the same $150 again. Worth pricing in on a fit-out that is opening to a date: the extension is charged at the full rate rather than a reduced one, so two extensions cost as much as the original certificate three times over.
Short-Term Rental Permit
$500 initially and $500 on each annual renewal — no reduced renewal rate. Zoning is the other half of the question: a short-term rental in Arlington may also need a specific use permit, which is priced separately and starts at $2,400 for a site under an acre.
Commercial Building Permit
Arlington prices commercial construction on declared valuation, and the schedule is explicit about what the declared valuation must include: the fair market value of the proposed improvements together with architectural, structural, electrical, plumbing, mechanical work, paving, parking, drive approach and the contractor's profit. The Building Official may require the applicant to verify the declared value, so understating it is not a saving. New construction, additions, alterations, remodels and repairs are all computed the same way, and so are foundation repair, reroofing, parking lots, retaining walls and public or semi-public swimming pools. A parking lot permitted with the project building permit carries no separate charge. Working without a permit adds a penalty equal to the permit fee itself. Two charges only apply on large projects: a phased permit request above $20M of valuation is $5,000, and reviewing a building permit before the final plat is fully approved is $2,000.
Demolition Permit
$200 per building to demolish, wreck, raze or dismantle a structure in the city. Where the building is historic, Landmark Preservation Committee review of the demolition permit is a further $200 — ask early whether the address is affected, because the review sits ahead of the permit rather than alongside it.
Certificate of Occupancy — New Structure
$100 whether the building is built to suit for a specific occupant, is a speculative shell for future tenants (issued as a Certificate of Completion, and including meters for parking lot and house lights), or is any other new-structure certificate. A mobile food establishment operating as an accessory use needs its own certificate at $75, new or revised. Where a fire code inspection applies it is collected with the building inspection fee.
Certificate of Occupancy — Existing Structure
$100, and the trigger list is wider than most operators expect: a new tenant, an existing business under a new owner, or the same owner trading under a new business name each need one. Apartments and mini-warehouses changing name or ownership are charged $8 per building instead, with a $100 minimum and a $300 maximum for the project. Clean and Show — temporary utility service so a space can be cleaned or shown to prospective tenants, with no occupancy permitted — is a separate $100. Food businesses should read this alongside the health permit: Arlington's food programme page states there is no separate retail food application, and that a certificate of occupancy must be issued before a health permit can be granted.
Home Based Business License
$50. The cheapest way into business in Arlington, and the schedule sets no separate inspection or renewal charge against it.
Sign Permit
Priced by what the sign is, not what it costs. A wall sign, menu board, awning sign, pole sign or ground sign of 50 sq ft or less is $150; the same pole or ground sign above 50 sq ft is $275. Multi-tenant ground signs are $200 and $325 at those two sizes, and $400 once an electronic message centre is fitted. Directory and directional signs are $85, on-site and off-site development signs $110, temporary advertising signs $110, supergraphics $700 and non-digital billboards $750. Two charges recur annually rather than once: electronic message centre signs are inspected each year at $175, and digital billboards at $300 — a digital billboard also carries a $2,000 initial fee. Any sign not otherwise defined is $150.
Grease Interceptor Plumbing Permit
$60 to install or replace each interceptor — grease, sand, oil or lint — on top of the $100 base plumbing permit where the work is not attached to a building permit. Cheap against the fit-out it belongs to, and the same rate covers the sand and oil interceptors an auto repair shop needs and the lint interceptor a laundry needs. Total plumbing charges are capped at $600 per building address.
Backflow Prevention Device Permit
$30 for the first device, indoors or on lawn irrigation, then $7.50 for each additional device, capped at $200 per building address. A commercial irrigation system is permitted separately: $175 to install a new potable-water system, $325 on reclaimed water, and expansion work is a $100 base plus $25 per zone valve above two, capped at $250 on potable and $400 on reclaimed.
Zoning Verification Letter
$75 per site. Small, and usually needed under time pressure: a lender, a franchisor or a state alcohol application will ask for one, and it is the cheapest way to find out before signing a lease whether the use you intend is allowed at that address. An alcohol distance appeal application, by contrast, is $1,000.
Commercial Site Plan Review
$1,000 for a new building on an existing platted lot. Where platting is also needed the site plan review inside the plat process is $350 instead, with public improvement engineering review at $1,000 — so the order of operations changes what you pay. Landscape review is banded by acreage at $230 up to five acres, $400 above five to twenty, and $600 over twenty, with tree preservation plan review a further $400.
Temporary Outdoor Event Permit
$100 for an outdoor event up to 500 attendees. Larger events are charged on attendance bands in the same schedule, which also sets three charges worth knowing before you plan: traffic control plan review is $150 where the event affects a street, right of way or footway and covers review by several departments; an event inside the Entertainment District carries an additional $2,000; and pre-application event coordination is $500 per meeting, required above 5,000 attendees. Submitting inside 45 days of the event adds $100.
Business Registration
$100 for one year or $175 for two, recorded with the Building Official. Despite the name, this is Arlington's contractor registration rather than a license to trade: the Construction Chapter issues a building permit only to a registrant, and the Building Official may refuse inspections or new permits to a contractor whose business registration with the City is not active. The city's own registration guide says the same for street work — a contractor doing work in the right of way must hold a current Business Registration before applying for a right-of-way permit, and the application starts by choosing a contractor subtype. A shop, restaurant or salon having a space fitted out does not register; the contractor it hires does. Taking the two-year term saves $25 against renewing annually.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Arlington
- Phone
- Not verified — use the website
Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.
Sources
Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- Business Registration — right-of-way contractors and general contractors working in the right of way (ArlingtonPermits.com application guide)City of Arlington · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Ordinance amending the Construction Chapter, Article IV (Registration, Permits and Inspections) — 2009 City Council packetCity of Arlington City Council · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Planning and Development Services Fee Schedule — Exhibit A to Resolution No. 25-258, effective 1 October 2025City of Arlington (via Texas DSHS Local Ordinance and Fee Schedule Registry) · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-24
Other offices serving Arlington
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
Industry permit lists that include this agency
Texas jurisdictions
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.