Plan Review Services

Overview

The Building and Safety Department is committed to providing timely and professional review of plans and documents for all building permit applications to assure that the proposed work complies with all state and local codes and requirements.

Additional Information

Types of Plan Review

The review of plans for permit issuance may take place in one of the following ways.

Over-the-Counter (OTC) Plan Review

OTC plan review is limited to projects that are not complex and are small in scope-of-work that can be reviewed within approximately 30 minutes. Such projects include patio covers, roof calculations, and minor field revisions.

OTC Hours
Tuesdays and Thursdays
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
1:00 PM - 3:30 PM

Note: Every effort will be made for the plan reviewers to be available during the OTC hours; however, due to workload, meetings, emergencies, training/seminars, etc. there may be some times that the reviewers may not be available at the time for the OTC review process.

Regular Plan Review
Regular plan review is for all projects that require more than approximately 15 minutes to review. Multiple plan sets shall be submitted and will be forwarded to the appropriate city departments for review and approval. The plans are placed in the queue of each respective city department to be reviewed in the order they were received.

Expedited Plan Review
An expedited plan review service is available subject to availability of the plan reviewer and the amount of workload. Please contact the permit technician for additional information.

Online Plan Review
For more information, please see Online Building Services.

Submittal Requirement

Plan Requirements

  • Completed permit application
  • 3-sets of plans, 2-sets of calculations and Title 24 energy calculations shall be embedded, and 2-sets of soils report (if applicable) are required.
  • Plans shall be on minimum 11” x 17” (ledger size) paper
  • Plans shall be of sufficient clarity to indicate the location, nature and extent of the work proposed
  • Plans shall show in detail that the project will conform to the provisions of the applicable building codes and ordinances
  • For additional requirements, see Plan Check Submittal Requirements for:

Re-Submittal Requirements

  • 3-sets of revised plans & updated calculations
  • Original plan check markup plan set
  • Written response to plan check comments

Building Codes in Effect

The following codes are applicable beginning January 1, 2020:

  • 2019 California Building Code (CBC)
  • 2019 California Residential Code (CRC)
  • 2019 California Mechanical Code (CMC)
  • 2019 California Electrical Code (CEC)
  • 2019 California Plumbing Code (CPC)
  • 2019 California Green Building Standards Code (CGBC)
  • 2019 California Energy Efficiency Standards (CEES)
  • City of Dana Point Municipal Code

The new California Building Codes are available for review at the Building and Safety permit counter, available for purchase directly from the International Code Council at www.iccsafe.org or you may view and download a pdf. version of the codes from the California Building Standards Commission website.

Design Criteria

  • Climate zone 6
  • Basic Wind speed 110 MPH (Ultimate Design Wind Speed)
  • Seismic zone D or E or by a property specific Soils Report
  • Rain Loads: 3” per hour

Soils Report Requirement

Except for small projects with minor foundation work and/or when a soils report requirement is waived, the foundation shall be designed based on an approved soils report.

Soil Bearing Pressure

  • Allowable Foundation = 1500 psf (for projects without a spoils report)
  • Allowable Lateral = 100 psf (for projects without a spoils report)

Pool Design Requirements

  • Active Pressure = 100 pcf (for projects without a spoils report)

Fire-Sprinkler Requirements

For fire-sprinkler requirements for new structures & additions/remodels see:

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