Plain-English glossary · Zoning & land use
Site plan approval
Site plan approval is the jurisdiction's review of how a development sits on its parcel — buildings, parking, access, drainage, landscaping, utilities — against the zoning and engineering standards. For most commercial and multifamily projects it's a required step before building permits can issue.
In plain English
Think of it as the project-level review that happens before the building-level review. Civil engineering, traffic, stormwater, and fire access all converge here, which is why site plan review is where multi-department coordination pays off — or falls apart.
We coordinate the resubmittal loop as part of permit management; the per-jurisdiction process is in our site plan approval guides.
Why it matters on a Florida build
Every review round is typically weeks. The difference between two rounds and five is whether someone owned the comment matrix and chased each department — babysitting every department is literally the job.