Chapter 01 — Two approvals, in a fixed order
The Committee goes first.
Exterior work is approved by the ARC before permit approval
Atlantis publishes its permitting guidelines in a single page of short, direct sentences, and the first of them sets the order of the whole project: "Any exterior work must be approved by the Architectural Review Committee prior to permit approval." Not alongside. Before.
The second sentence is the one that catches people out. Where a property is in a condominium, villa or homeowner group, "any permits for exterior work ... must include written association approval or it will not be presented before the Architectural Review Committee or approved until it is provided". So there is a third approval, and it gates access to the second, which gates the first.
Read as a sequence rather than as a list, that is: association approval, then Architectural Review Committee, then the Building Department. Three bodies, in that order, and only the last of them is the one most owners are thinking about when they start.
The City does publish exemptions, and they are worth knowing: "Roof repairs, air conditioners and hurricane protection are not required to go through Architectural Review Committee." That is a short list, and everything not on it that changes the outside of a building is in scope.

- Vaulted ceiling and structurevisible in this frame
- Skylight in the roof planevisible in this frame
- Entry door and its wallvisible in this frame
- Compact kitchen runvisible in this frame
- Floor through the whole unitvisible in this frame
Association, then ARC, then City
Exterior work needs ARC approval before permit approval, and where an association governs the property its written approval must be in hand before the ARC will hear the item at all.
Roofs, air conditioners, hurricane protection
The City names three categories that are "not required to go through Architectural Review Committee". Everything else that changes the exterior is in scope.
$2,500, and $7,500 for mechanical
"Notice of Commencement is required for all jobs over $2,500 - ($7,500 for mechanical). No permit will be released until Notice of Commencement is received."





























