The City of Rockville Department of Planning & Development Services, in the spirit of open and transparency as well as customer service, will publish its permitting administrative issuances to keep its stakeholders informed on various policy changes, interpretations, etc. which ultimately will help you better navigate the city’s permitting process.
These issuances, entitled administrative bulletins, serve the purpose of providing owners, designers, architects, permit expediters, contractors and attorneys formal guidance when there is change in policy or procedure that affects their ability to obtain permits, licenses, inspections and occupancy. They are also issued when for example, the Building Official or Fire Marshal makes a formal interpretation of the building or fire code respectively where the code may be ambiguous or clearly leaves it up to the AHJ to decide how a particular provision is administered or enforced.
The administrative bulletins differ from policy memoranda in that they are not internal policy or procedure, they affect external stakeholders. They differ from codes in that they are not changes to rule-making or the adopted code. They are formal issuances which include description, applicable code section(s),effective date as a well as a revision date should a later director, building or fire official see the need to change. They are intended to provide notice and instruction.