Cooper City publishes
the paperwork first.
Design to it, not around it.

Through the City of Cooper City Building Division, which sits inside the Community Development Department. Complete application packages can be submitted online through the City’s permitting portal or in person with the permit technicians at City Hall, 9090 SW 50 Place. The lobby is open Monday to Friday, 7:30 AM to 3:30 PM.

Yes, and it is unusually complete. The Building Division’s applications and submittal forms page lists county documents, affidavits, checklists, forms and permit applications, including named applications for a driveway, a slab, a fence, an accessory building, a swimming pool or spa, roofs and roofing, windows and doors, a wood deck, solar panels, an electrical service or panel change and a water heater replacement.

The City states that all permit fees are due at the time of submittal of the application package. We do not publish the amounts — they are set by the City and they change. Ask the Building Division for the current schedule before you plan a filing date.

The City states that a new Building Permit Application is required for each and every revision submittal. That is the strongest practical reason to resolve a drawing set before it goes in rather than after.

Cooper City splits its permit records by date. Permits created before 15 September 2025 are handled in a separate legacy system for payments, document uploads and inspection scheduling, while new applications run through the City’s current online permitting portal. Check which system your permit lives in before chasing it, and call the Building Division if you are not sure.

Yes — the City states that all first-time users of the online permitting portal need to create an account before they can apply for a permit, schedule inspections or track a job.

No. It depends entirely on whether the property is governed by a homeowners’ association. The City’s own wording for building permits is that certified copies of a Notice of Commencement or HOA approval "may be submitted at the time of permit pickup, if applicable" — the conditional is theirs. What is true is that a great deal of Cooper City housing sits within associations, so it is a question worth answering at the very start of a project.

It depends on the permit. For a building permit the City allows the certified copy at permit pickup. For a tree removal or relocation permit the City states that where the property is governed by an association, written HOA approval must also be submitted — with the application. The same document, two different points in the process.

No. The City’s process and an association’s process are separate. A permit is not approval under association documents, and association approval is not a permit. Where both apply they run alongside each other, which is why we open the association question at the scope stage rather than at the end.

Your closing documents, your deed restrictions, or a management company statement will say. We can plan around either answer, but we would rather know at the start than discover it at permit pickup.

The City publishes general windows by discipline and says itself that they are subject to change: electrical Monday to Friday 4:00 to 6:00 PM; mechanical Monday to Thursday 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM; plumbing Monday to Thursday 12:00 to 3:00 PM; structural Monday to Friday 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM; fire Monday to Thursday 7:30 AM to 3:30 PM. For a structural inspection the City asks you to call before 8:30 AM on the day for a two-hour window, and for a fire inspection to call the day before.

The permit on site, printed or on a device; the approved plans available, because the inspector compares the completed work to them; gates and doors unlocked, pathways clear and interior access provided; a properly secured ladder for a roof inspection; and pets kept away from the work area. The City also asks that the phone number on the record is current.

The City marks it incomplete. Its published reasons are that the inspector cannot access the work area, that the permit information or approved plans are unavailable, that the work is not ready, or that conditions are unsafe. A reinspection may be required and fees may apply.

We do not publish a figure, because the City does not and because it depends on the package, the completeness of the submittal and the workload at the time. What we can influence is the part that is genuinely in our control: filing a complete package so that a revision — and therefore an entirely new application — is not needed.

Not without checking first. Cooper City requires City review and approval before certain trees are removed or relocated: in general a tree of two caliper inches or greater, with additional requirements above eighteen caliper inches and for trees that are historically or environmentally significant. Removal from a City swale is prohibited without an approved permit.

The City requires a completed application with a notarized signature from the owner or an authorised agent; a survey, sketch or landscape plan showing the location, species and diameter of the trees; written HOA approval where an association governs the property; a pre-removal inspection before any work; a bond; and a final inspection to close the permit out. Where a replacement tree is required it must be installed within 60 days of removal or the bond is forfeited. The tree contractor must hold a valid Broward County Tree Trimmer’s Licence.

Coverage is a real planning question on a suburban lot, and the City publishes an Impervious Calculation Worksheet among its forms. Whether a specific proposal exceeds a limit on a specific property is a question for Planning and Zoning, and it is much cheaper to ask before the design is finished.

That is answered by the City’s own flood zone map rather than by us. What the City does publish is that flood zones in Cooper City recently changed as part of an update to FEMA’s flood models, and that its Class 6 rating under the National Flood Insurance Program means residents can receive a 20% discount on new or renewed flood insurance policies.

Yes. Cooper City is in Broward County, and Florida’s High-Velocity Hurricane Zone covers Miami-Dade and Broward. That is what drives product approvals and installation details for windows, doors, roofing and shutters — and it is why the City lists a Hurricane Mitigation affidavit and a Shutter Detail Information form alongside those applications.

Across the city, and across Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties. Elbaz Construction is a licensed general contractor, licence CBC1265280, so a Cooper City project can run under one contract whether it is a single permitted scope or several running together.

Yes. We would rather tell you a scope is smaller than you thought than invent a process for it. Where something genuinely does need a package — and in Cooper City that includes work people often assume is exempt, such as a fence, a driveway or a water heater — we will say that too.

We can prepare what an association typically asks for and work to its calendar, but the approval is between the owner and the association. What we do is make sure that question is open at the start of the project rather than at permit pickup.

The address, roughly what you want to do, and anything you already hold — a survey, drawings, or your association documents if the property is in one. That is enough for a useful first call.