South Tucson building permits
VerifiedDepartment contacts, adopted codes, permit types, fees, and gotchas for South Tucson, Arizona.
Last verified 2026-07-07 · Source · Embed this page’s badge · Version history
Building department
- Address
- South Tucson City Hall, 1601 S. 6th Ave., South Tucson, AZ 85713
- Phone
- 520-792-2424
- Office hours
- Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Permit applications are submitted through the City's Online Permit Portal (live effective March 2, 2026), in person, or by mail/shipment to City Hall; applications require 2 digital copies of a site plan and a floor plan. Inspections are conducted Mondays and Wednesdays, 7:00-9:00 a.m., with requests submitted the business day before.
- Website
- Official site
- Permit portal
- Apply online at South Tucson's portal
Inspection guide
See how inspections work in South Tucson — sequence, scheduling & re-inspection fees.
Codes adopted
Arizona has no statewide building code for non-state buildings; codes are adopted locally. According to the International Code Council, codes are adopted locally in Arizona and are predominantly the I-codes, with different cities and counties choosing their own editions and local amendments. The Arizona State Fire Code (adopting the 2018 IFC) applies only to state and county buildings, public and private schools, and non-residential occupancies in areas without a locally adopted fire code — it does not establish a statewide residential or commercial building code floor. Each city and county adopts its own code editions independently, resulting in different I-Code years and amendment sets across jurisdictions. There is no state-mandated minimum edition; enforcement is entirely local. Always confirm the adopted edition and any local amendments with the specific jurisdiction before submitting plans.
- South Tucson is a separately incorporated city (population roughly 5,000, land area approximately 1 square mile) that is entirely surrounded by, but administratively and legally independent of, the City of Tucson -- it is sometimes called 'The Pueblo within a City.' South Tucson runs its own Planning, Zoning and Development Services Department, which independently reviews building plans and issues its own building, electrical, plumbing, mechanical/HVAC, sign, demolition, and remodel permits; it does NOT contract building-permit administration to the City of Tucson or to Pima County. Source: City of South Tucson Development Services and Permits page (southtucsonaz.gov/devservices) and City of South Tucson Permits page (southtucsonaz.gov/devservices/page/permits), both confirming an independent Development Services Division that 'reviews and conducts all inspections related to construction and enforcement within the City.'
- Arizona has no mandatory statewide building code floor -- code adoption is a per-city/county authority under state enabling statutes (A.R.S. Title 9). The City of South Tucson's currently adopted codes (per 'City of South Tucson Adopted Building Codes, Ordinance No. 25-01') are: 2018 International Building Code (IBC); 2018 International Residential Code (IRC); 2017 National Electrical Code (NEC) (one edition behind the 2018-cycle ICC set); 2018 International Mechanical Code (IMC); 2018 International Plumbing Code (IPC); 2018 International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC); 2018 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC); 2018 International Existing Building Code (IEBC); 2018 International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC); 2018 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code (ISPSC); 2018 International Fire Code (IFC); the 2012 City of Tucson/Pima County Outdoor Lighting Code; Arizona Administrative Code Title 18, Chapter 5, Article 2 (Public and Semipublic Swimming Pools and Spas); and ICC A117.1-2009 (Accessible and Usable Buildings and Facilities). Source: 'CITY OF SOUTH TUCSON ADOPTED BUILDING CODES, ORDINANCE NO: 25-01' (southtucsonaz.gov/media/10481) and southtucsonaz.gov/devservices/page/permits.
- These 2018-cycle codes (and the 2017 NEC) are meaningfully older than the 2024-cycle codes/2023 NEC already adopted by the neighboring, separately-verified City of Tucson and unincorporated Pima County jurisdictions in this dataset -- South Tucson has not yet moved to the 2024 ICC cycle as of this review. Source: Ordinance No. 25-01 (southtucsonaz.gov/media/10486) and the individual 'ST 2018 [Code] AMENDMENTS' documents published on the Permits page.
- Each adopted code carries City of South Tucson local amendments published as standalone PDFs per code (e.g., 'ST 2018 International Building Code AMENDMENTS', 'ST 2017 National Electrical Code AMENDMENTS', etc.), all linked from the Permits page. Source: southtucsonaz.gov/devservices/page/permits.
- New construction, alterations, modifications, or tenant improvements to commercial properties/structures require construction plans drawn by a professional licensed and registered with the Arizona Board of Technical Registration (architect, mechanical engineer, plumbing engineer, or electrical engineer as applicable to the scope); all such registered professionals conducting business within City limits must also hold an active City of South Tucson business license. Source: southtucsonaz.gov/devservices/page/permits.
- All contractors, whether working on residential or commercial properties, must be licensed through the Arizona Registrar of Contractors in the applicable classification, and must hold an active City of South Tucson business license to conduct business within city limits. Source: southtucsonaz.gov/devservices/page/permits.
Permit types & fees
Residential Building Permit (New Construction, Additions, Remodels)
Required for construction of new residential buildings, porches, additions, garages, and remodeling of existing structures in South Tucson. Reviewed against the 2018 IRC and 2018 IBC (for applicable non-residential elements) as adopted and amended by the City of South Tucson under Ordinance No. 25-01. Applications are submitted through the City's Online Permit Portal (live since March 2, 2026), in person, or by mail to City Hall.
Electrical Permit (including Reconnect)
Required for electrical service reconnections, service upgrades, panel replacements/repairs, and new circuit/fixture work in South Tucson, governed by the 2017 National Electrical Code (NEC) as adopted and amended by the City of South Tucson under Ordinance No. 25-01.
Plumbing Permit
Required for gas line pressure tests and water heater installation/replacement in South Tucson, governed by the 2018 International Plumbing Code (IPC) and 2018 International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC) as adopted and amended by the City of South Tucson under Ordinance No. 25-01.
Mechanical / HVAC Permit
Required for furnace, heat pump, air conditioner (new or replacement), and new evaporative cooler installations in South Tucson, governed by the 2018 International Mechanical Code (IMC) as adopted and amended by the City of South Tucson under Ordinance No. 25-01.
Demolition Permit
Required for demolition of any commercial or residential structure regulated by the Building Code in South Tucson. Requires 15-day advance notice to adjacent property owners (City of South Tucson IBC amendment, Section 3303.1.1) and coordination with Pima County Department of Environmental Quality for asbestos (NESHAP) and, if applicable, septic closure.
Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Permit
Required for installing a rooftop or ground-mount photovoltaic system within City of South Tucson limits. No dedicated solar/photovoltaic permit, application, or fee line is published by the City — a solar installation is permitted as TWO components of the City's existing general process: a Building Permit (structural/roof-mount, 2018 IBC/IRC as adopted under Ordinance No. 25-01) and an Electrical Permit (PV electrical connection, 2017 NEC as adopted under the same ordinance), both valuation-based with no numeric fee schedule published by the City.
EV Charger / EVSE Permit
No dedicated electric-vehicle-charging-station permit, application, or fee line is published by the City of South Tucson. An EV charger installation is permitted as an Electrical Permit under the City's existing general process (2017 NEC as adopted and amended under Ordinance No. 25-01) — the same valuation-based, no-published-fee-schedule mechanism documented in this file's Electrical Permit and Solar PV Permit entries. If the installation also involves structural/mounting work, a separate Building Permit (2018 IBC/IRC as adopted) would apply. Re-chased for this review (2026-07-20): re-checked the City's Development Services/Permits pages, the City Code library (amlegal.com), Ordinance No. 25-01 itself, and the City's newly-launched (effective 3/2/2026) Online Permit and Code Complaint Portal announcement — none of these publish a numeric electrical/building fee schedule or valuation table. No Wayback-archived version of a South Tucson fee schedule PDF was located either. Cost is genuinely valuation-dependent and quoted only at application time by Development Services (520-792-2424).
New residential construction activity
New privately-owned residential construction onlyHousing units authorized by building permits for new privately-owned residential construction — this is not total permit volume (no commercial permits or remodels).
- Latest month (2026-05)
- No data reported
- Trailing 12 months
- 0units
1 of 12 months reported · #78 in Arizona coverage by units
- Year to date (2026 YTD through 2026-05)
- 2units
2 buildings · $85,000 valuation
4 month(s) reported to Census
- Full year 2025
- No data reported
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey (BPS), 2026-05 vintage. Census survey data — separate from the permit-requirements verification above. All Arizona building activity
Tips & gotchas
- South Tucson is a genuinely separate, independently incorporated city entirely surrounded by the City of Tucson -- do not confuse it with a Tucson neighborhood. It runs its own Planning, Zoning and Development Services Department and issues its own building permits; it does not defer to the City of Tucson PDSD or to Pima County Development Services. Its city limits are only about one square mile (roughly bounded by the alley between W. 26th/25th Streets on the north, I-10 on the south, the railroad tracks on the east, and the east side of S. 12th Ave. on the west).
- South Tucson launched its first-ever Online Permit Portal and Online Code Complaint Portal on March 2, 2026 -- prior to that date, all permit processing was paper-based/in-person/mail only. This is a very recent modernization for a small city.
- South Tucson's currently adopted codes (2018 IBC/IRC/IMC/IPC/IFGC/IECC/IEBC/IPMC/ISPSC/IFC and 2017 NEC, per Ordinance No. 25-01) are one full ICC code cycle behind the 2024-cycle codes and 2023 NEC already verified for the neighboring City of Tucson and unincorporated Pima County in this dataset.
- CONFIRMED GAP, applies city-wide across every permit type in this file: unlike Buckeye, Pima County, and the City of Tucson (all of which publish a numeric valuation-based fee table and/or a formal A.R.S. Section 9-835 licensing/review-timeframe document), the City of South Tucson does not publish either a numeric building-permit fee schedule or a permit review-timeframe table anywhere on its website, in its adopted-code local amendments, or in any Wayback Machine snapshot found. The City's own code amendment affirmatively deletes the ICC model fee table (IBC Section 109.3) and defers to 'the fee schedules adopted by the jurisdiction by separate ordinance' -- but that separate ordinance's numeric content is not posted online, and the underlying adoption-ordinance PDFs (Ordinance 15-01 and Ordinance 25-01) are scanned images with no extractable text layer. This gap was reached only after: live-page fetches with full browser headers, the City Code Chapter 4 Municode page (confirmed JS-rendered, returns an empty shell), pdftotext extraction attempts on both ordinance PDFs (0 characters each), searches of the City's Finance/fee pages (business-license fees only, no construction-permit fees), and Wayback Machine CDX search (no historical fee/timeframe snapshot). Applicants must call Development Services directly at 520-792-2424 or email submittals@southtucsonaz.gov for a current, case-specific fee quote and review-time estimate.
- Inspections are only conducted Mondays and Wednesdays, 7:00-9:00 a.m., and requests must be submitted the business day before -- plan any time-sensitive project (e.g., an electrical reconnect to restore power) around this narrow, twice-weekly inspection window.
- All contractors (residential or commercial) need both an Arizona Registrar of Contractors license in the applicable classification AND an active City of South Tucson business license to legally perform work within city limits -- this dual-licensing requirement is stricter than a simple state-license-only rule.