Brooklyn Park building department

Brooklyn Park’s Building Inspection Division handles building, mechanical, plumbing, sign, and sewer and water permits. It works from City Hall, which is open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. You can email the division at [email protected]. The city does not issue electrical permits or do electrical inspections; the State of Minnesota handles those.

Two online systems

Brooklyn Park splits online permitting between two portals:

• Geocivix Electronic Permit Application (brooklynpark.geocivix.com). Use this for any project that needs plans or plan review. You create the application, upload drawings, and track plan review, payment, and inspections from a project dashboard.
• eSuite Instant Permit portal. Licensed contractors use it for over-the-counter residential permits, and anyone can use it to search a property’s permit history by permit type, permit number, or address.

Instant permits cover these residential jobs:

• furnace or AC replacement
• roof, siding, or window and door replacement (not new egress windows)
• water softener replacement
• like-for-like water heater replacement (tankless heaters go through Geocivix)
• new-house plumbing and mechanical
• fireplaces
• hood cleaning

If you’re doing any other work along with the replacement, apply through Geocivix instead.

To get an eSuite account, building, plumbing, and mechanical contractors must first have a current contractor license on file with the city. Email a copy of your DLI license or mechanical bond to [email protected]. The city confirms account activation within one business day. Hood-cleaning contractors get their city license number from the Fire Department.

Plan review and timing

Re-siding, re-roofing, and window and door replacements can often be issued the same day. Projects with plans take 5–7 business days for plan review, and longer in the summer construction season. Once review is done, the city emails you when the permit is ready to pay for. You can’t start work until the permit is paid for and issued. A permit expires if work doesn’t start within 180 days of issuance, or if work stops for more than 180 days. The building official can grant written extensions of up to 180 days at a time, and city ordinance charges a fee to reopen an expired permit.

Commercial plans must be prepared by a Minnesota-licensed architect or engineer. New commercial buildings and additions need a cover letter describing the business, architectural, structural, and civil plans, and a certificate of survey. The city won’t approve the permit until it also has a Met Council SAC determination letter, a geotechnical report, energy code forms, a performance bond or letter of credit, and any special-inspection forms.

What doesn’t need a building permit

The city’s exemption list follows Minnesota Rules 1300.0120. A building permit is not required for:

• fences under 7 feet
• retaining walls up to 4 feet that don’t hold back a surcharge
• one-story detached accessory structures of 200 sq ft or less
• decks 30 inches or less above grade that aren’t attached to a frost-footed structure and don’t serve a required exit door
• private sidewalks and driveways
• prefab above-ground pools up to 5,000 gallons and 24 inches deep
• finish work such as painting, flooring, cabinets, and countertops

Several of these projects can still need zoning or Public Works approval. Accessory structures must be set back 20 or 30 feet from the right-of-way, depending on the zoning district, and the curb is not the right-of-way line. They also need 5 or 7.5 feet from interior lot lines, can’t sit on an easement, and can’t go between the house and the street.

Valuation table

Brooklyn Park bases fees on project valuation, using the International Code Council fee schedule, which the city updates every February. The eSuite portal announces a permit fee increase effective January 1, 2026. The city’s published valuations for residential projects include:

Project	Valuation used
New home or heated addition with foundation	$169.09 per sq ft
Addition on posts (heated)	$120 per sq ft
Garage, shed, three-season porch	$66.20 per sq ft
Basement finish / unfinished basement	$31.50 per sq ft
Deck	$26 per sq ft
Bathroom remodel	$7,100
Egress window	$5,100
Re-roof, re-side, or window replacement	$4,000

Scheduling inspections

Call 763-488-6379 or use the city’s online inspection request form. Have your permit number and job-site address ready, and request at least two business days ahead. In busy seasons, expect to wait three to four days. The approved stamped plans and the permit card must be on site for every inspection, or the inspector can’t do it. If the inspector needs to go inside, the contractor or another adult must be there.

Re-roof and re-siding finals require photos at the house: of the ice-and-water underlayment at eaves and valleys for roofs, and of the water-resistive barrier for siding. Re-roof inspections stop once winter snow covers roofs.

Homeowners, licensing and codes

If you own and live in a homesteaded house you don’t rent out, you can pull your own building, plumbing, and mechanical permits. Gas piping is the exception: it requires a mechanical license. To apply for a residential building permit, a company must have a valid DLI residential building contractor license. Solar installers who contract with homeowners have needed that license since July 1, 2023. Sewer and water work must be done by a state-licensed plumber or pipe layer. Plan review applies the 2020 Minnesota State Building Codes (effective March 31, 2020) and the 2024 Minnesota Commercial Energy Code.

Other offices

Need	Contact
Electrical inspection (state inspector Rich Myers, for DLI)	(612) 528-5265
Fire inspections, hood-cleaning licenses	Fire Department, (763) 493-8020
Zoning, setbacks, planning applications	Planning, (763) 493-8057, [email protected]
Water meters, sewer backups (business hours)	Utility Billing, (763) 493-8185

Under the city’s records retention schedule, building plans are kept for one year. Surveys submitted with permits may be on file, so ask the division before ordering a new one.