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CITY OF RENTON Ι PERMIT SERVICES
CONSTRUCTION CERTIFICATE
MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES
The Community and Economic Development Department (CED) is responsible for the administration of all
development issues within the City including permitting, inspection, and review of all construction, along with
the creation of and maintenance of all building permit files and administrative documents (ordinances, building
guides, applications, forms, outreach materials, etc.) related to building and development. All inspections and
permit/plan reviews are conducted by CED as well as all permit approvals.
The purpose of this document is to explain our management procedures for review of Elevation Certificates and
all other required floodplain-related construction certificates including, but not limited to, Floodproofing
Certificates, and engineered flood opening certificates. These procedures outline the types of certificates
required, the collection and review of all certificates, how corrections should be made, where the certificates are
stored/archived, and how we make these certificates available to the public.
(a) TYPES OF CERTIFICATES REQUIRED
When any new construction, substantial improvement or repair for a substantially damaged building is
conducted in the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA), CED shall require applicable floodplain-related certificates
such as Elevation Certificate, Floodproofing Certificate for Non-Residential Structures, certification of
engineered flood openings, or any other floodplain-related certificate that is appropriate for the development.
(a) & (b) WHEN CERTIFICATES ARE REQUIRED
The applicant shall submit an Elevation Certificate marked “construction drawings” with the building permit
application. This Elevation Certificate shall be used to determine if the proposed design is in compliance with the
Renton Municipal Code (RMC) 4-3-050, Critical Areas Regulations. After the foundation is built and the
elevation of the lowest floor is determined, another Elevation Certificate shall be submitted that is marked
“building under construction.” This will document the elevation of surrounding grades and the lowest floor to
ensure they comply with the approved plans before further construction is allowed. Once construction on the
building is finished and all adjacent grading is finalized, a complete and correct “finished-construction”
Elevation Certificate must be submitted by the applicant to show the “as-built” characteristics of the building. A
“finished-construction” Elevation Certificate must be received, reviewed, and corrected (if necessary) before a
certificate of occupancy or final approval of the permit is issued. At this point, all other required certificates
must also be submitted and reviewed.
If a Floodproofing Certificate for Non-Residential Structures is required for a floodproofed non-residential
building, an Elevation Certificate is not required for purposes of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP),
but an Elevation Certificate will be required to help verify compliance with Renton Municipal Code (RMC) 4-3-
050. A complete and correct Floodproofing Certificate is required to be submitted to the CED Department once
construction is finished on the building but before issuing a certificate of occupancy.
When engineered flood openings are installed in the foundation of a nonresidential building, and the Elevation
Certificate indicates that they were installed (Sections A8d and A9d on the Elevation Certificate), an engineered
opening certification is required to be submitted with the Elevation Certificate to help verify compliance and the
insurance rate. CED will verify that the applicant submits either the International Code Council® Evaluation
Service (ICC-ES) form for the engineered opening or an individual certification. Individual certifications must
cover the following, at a minimum:
CONSTRUCTION CERTIFICATE MANAGEMENT
PROCEDURES
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1. An identification of the building (address) that has the engineered openings installed;
2. The design professional’s name, title, address, type of license, the state issuing the license, signature, and seal;
3. A statement certifying the design of the openings will automatically equalize hydrostatic flood loads on
exterior walls by allowing for the automatic entry and exit of floodwaters; and
4. A description of the range of flood characteristics tested or computed for which the certification is valid,
such as rates of rise and fall of floodwaters.
(c) and (d) WHAT DEPARTMENT/OFFICE COLLECTS/REVIEWS CONSTRUCTION CERTIFICATES
All finished-construction Elevation Certificates shall be submitted to the Development Engineering Division for
tracking and review through the Certificate of Occupancy or final permit approval process. The Development
Engineering Project Manager responsible for the project’s engineering permit review logs the Elevation
Certificate in our tracking system, it is then forwarded to the Current Planning Project Manager responsible the
project’s critical areas permit review, and both the Development Engineering and Current Planning Project
Managers review the certificate and all supporting documentation to ensure building and development
ordinances and standards are met. It is then forwarded to the Building Official for final approval for all parts of
the building permit. The certificate of occupancy or final permit approval will not be issued until all problems
with an Elevation Certificate and supporting documentation are resolved. The Development Engineering Project
Manager will route the approved Elevation Certificate to Public Works Department (PW).
(e) HOW CERTIFICATES ARE CORRECTED
The Development Engineering and Current Planning Project Managers should consult the CRS’s Elevation
Certificate Checklist when reviewing an Elevation Certificate to ensure all required fields are completed correctly.
When an error is noticed on an Elevation Certificate, there are three ways to correct it.
1. For any inaccurate or incomplete information in Section C2, the should request a new certificate from the
applicant or his/her representative (surveyor/engineer/architect) who certified the form.
2. If incomplete or inaccurate information is found in the other sections, the Development Engineering Project
Manager can do the following. As a general rule, and as law in some states, the local official should not mark
up a signed and sealed form.
a. The forms may be returned to the applicant (or representative) with instructions on what needs to be
changed or corrected;
b. The Development Engineering Project Manager can prepare a separate memo with the correct
information and attach a “memo of correction.” When the certificate is provided to an inquirer, the
memo must be included with it; or
c. The Development Engineering Project Manager can note the changes or corrections in Section G.
All finished-construction Elevation Certificates that had errors on them should be returned to the applicant for
correction. In no case shall CED accept a finished-construction Elevation Certificate until all corrections deemed
appropriate by the Development Engineering and Current Planning Project Managers are addressed. In no
cases shall a certificate of occupancy or final approval for a permit be granted until the Development
Engineering, Current Planning Project Managers and the Building Official have all approved the permit.
If corrections are completed after the Certificate of Occupancy or final approval, the Development Engineering
Project Manager must ensure the homeowner receives a copy of the corrected Elevation Certificate in case the
correction(s) would affect the building’s insurance rating.
CONSTRUCTION CERTIFICATE MANAGEMENT
PROCEDURES
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(f) and (h) HOW AND WHERE THE CERTIFICATES ARE MAINTAINED
All Elevation Certificates and all required construction certificates, as well as all other permit application
documentation, shall be stored electronically in Laserfiche under the permit number. The certificates shall
also be uploaded electronically as a parcel attachment in Energov, the City’s permitting system, which will
automatically save the certificates in Laserfiche in one of two locations based on whether the building is in or
outside the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA). The certificate shall be organized by CRS Certification Date. The
following shows the Laserfiche file paths:
Within SFHA: CED/Development Engineering/Parcel Attachments/Community Rating
System/Activity 310 Outside SFHA: CED/Development Engineering/Parcel Attachments/Community
Rating System/Activity 430
The certificates shall be retained for six (6) years following the life of the building in accordance with Washington
State
Archives standards. All other state and local records retention policies shall be observed.
(g) HOW CERTIFICATES ARE MADE AVAILABLE TO INQUIRERS
When a member of the public requests a copy of an Elevation Certificate, the request shall be initiated through a
public records request. The Public Records Officer shall act in accordance with the State’s public records
procedures and will respond to the inquiry within 5 business days and make the documentation available to the
inquirer. There is no financial charge for this service.
SIGNATURE
Community & Economic Development Administrator Date