Pulaski County building department

Pulaski County Planning and Development, at 3200 Brown Street in Little Rock, regulates land development in the unincorporated parts of the county. Inside Little Rock, North Little Rock, Jacksonville, Sherwood, Maumelle, or any other city, building permits and inspections come from that city.

Little Rock’s Planning and Development Department says that, as of August 5, 2025, it no longer has planning or regulatory authority outside city limits in its former extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ), because of a change in state law. Owners just outside Little Rock should start with the county.

What the county permits

The forms the county posts are about land use, floodplain, watershed, and addressing. They do not include a general countywide building-permit application. The one building permit form on the county site is the Registration/Building Permit Application for the Lake Maumelle Watershed only.

Permit or review	When it applies	Where
Floodplain Development Permit	Any development in a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area	Planning and Development
Registration/Building Permit (watershed)	Building or adding impervious surface in the Lake Maumelle Watershed	Planning and Development
Site Plan Review	Commercial, multifamily, and other site plan projects	Planning Board
Preliminary and final plats, lot splits	Subdividing land	Planning Board / staff
911 address	New addresses in unincorporated areas	911 Addressing, (501) 340-8271
Driveway, hauling, and fill dirt permits	Work in or along county roads	Road & Bridge, (501) 340-6800

Floodplain development permits

The county enforces Floodplain Management Ordinance 15-OR-23 and a Floodplain Development Code. If you build, place fill, or otherwise develop in a Special Flood Hazard Area, you need a Floodplain Development Permit before the work starts. The county says the most common violation it sees is people developing in the floodplain without contacting the county first.

Elevation. The county requires 2 feet of elevation above FEMA’s base flood elevation. For example, if the BFE is 100 feet, the county’s standard is 102 feet.

Fees (from the application form):

Item	Fee
Application	$25
Fill, lot of 1 acre or less	$25 per lot, plus $0.01 per cubic yard of fill
Fill, lot over 1 acre	$50 per acre, plus $0.01 per cubic yard of fill
Buildings	$0.02 per sq. ft. of ground-floor area

A permit is valid for one year. A single-family permit covers only one structure in the flood hazard area.

What to submit:

• a site plan drawn to scale, showing the location, dimensions, and elevation of proposed structures relative to the 100-year floodplain
• the lowest-floor elevation (including any basement) above mean sea level, certified by a registered land surveyor or professional engineer
• for non-residential floodproofing, the floodproofing elevation and an engineer’s or architect’s certificate
• a description of any watercourse or drainage that will be altered

Road & Bridge’s stormwater and floodplain inspector checks permitted sites. Builders must also use erosion and sediment best management practices under Stormwater Management Ordinance 07-OR-71 and follow state environmental requirements.

Lake Maumelle Watershed

Lake Maumelle is a public water supply, and the county permits and monitors development in its watershed. The watershed has its own:

• zoning ordinance and zoning map
• stormwater management and drainage manual
• erosion and sediment control field guide
• Site Evaluation Tool (SET), a spreadsheet the county uses to work out pollutant coefficients and any required forest mitigation acreage

The Registration/Building Permit application asks for:

• the parcel’s current zoning
• existing and new impervious square footage
• the exemption square footage that is available, used, and remaining
• surveyor and engineer contacts

The watershed has separate application forms for conditional use permits, zoning variances, rezoning, and home occupations. Questions go to the Lake Maumelle Watershed Inspector at (501) 340-6881.

Site plans, plats, and fees

Fees come from Ordinance 82-OR-29:

Review	Fee
Preliminary or final plat, unincorporated area	$100 base, plus $3/unit for 5–40 units, $2/unit for 41–100, $1/unit over 100 (charged separately for each plat)
Minor subdivision, replat, or lot split (4 units or less)	$10
Extension of preliminary plat approval	$25
Bill of assurance amendment	$10
Site plan review, unincorporated area	$100
Site plan review in a city’s ETJ	$33 (ETJ plat review is 33% of the normal fee)

Site plan filing (April 1, 2024 instructions):

• 15 copies each of the site plan (folded to legal size), the cover letter, and utility and fire department approval letters
• a completed checklist keyed to Chapter 6 of the Subdivision and Development Code
• the filing fee

If you ask for a variance, you must mail written notice to abutting owners at least 15 days before the hearing. You or your agent must attend the Planning Board hearing, held in the Quorum Court Chambers at 201 South Broadway. Filings that miss the published docket closing date, or are incomplete, are not put on the agenda. Filing and meeting dates are posted for the year.

Other contacts

• Plans Review Coordinator: (501) 340-8265
• GIS mapping: (501) 340-8269
• Road & Bridge (driveway, utility, and hauling permits): (501) 340-6800

The county also posts a family-exclusion variance application and a 911 address-check map.