McCandless, Pennsylvania Building Permit Guide

In the Town of McCandless, the Building & Planning Department, headed by the planning and development administrator who is also the zoning officer, issues combined building and zoning permits and has its own building inspector. Under Resolution 2025-32, effective December 15, 2025, a new house is $0.25 per square foot of gross floor area with a $500 minimum, and additions and renovations are charged the same rate with a $250 minimum.

What requires a building permit in McCandless?

McCandless uses one application for both building and zoning permits, and its check boxes show what the Town expects to see: new houses, two-family homes and townhouses, additions, structural alterations, decks, retaining walls, pools and spas, covered decks and porches, solar panels, driveways, patios and sidewalks, accessory structures, and EV chargers, plus commercial new buildings, interior and exterior renovations, alteration levels 1 to 3, roofs and repairs.

The Town’s submission guidelines set the common residential limits. Front-yard fences may be no more than 3 feet high and at least 80% open, and every yard that faces a street counts as a front yard; side and rear fences may be solid and up to 6 feet. Walls over 4 feet need engineered drawings. An above-ground pool with walls under 4 feet needs a locking fence 4 to 6 feet high, or a fence on the pool deck that brings the total to 4 feet. An in-ground pool must be fenced with a locking gate before it is filled, and the Town’s zoning code does not let a locking cover replace the fence.

What McCandless decides and what the state holds

The construction standards are the state’s Uniform Construction Code; L&I lists McCandless as an opt-in municipality since July 5, 2004, with pre-1999 amendments recorded. The Town writes its own Zoning Ordinance (Part 13, adopted in 2023), stormwater, waterway buffer and floodplain rules (sections 913 and 912 of its code), grading rules (Article 1705), a Town Building Code, Property Maintenance Code and Fire Prevention Code, and the fee resolution.

McCandless building department: who handles permitting

The home rule charter requires a planning and development administrator, appointed by the Town Manager with Council’s concurrence, who heads planning, zoning, building and code enforcement and serves as zoning officer. The department’s contact list names Matt Innes as Planning Director and Zoning Officer. The department also has a building inspector, a code enforcement officer and a permit coordinator, and it assists the fire marshal, the Zoning Hearing Board and the Planning Commission.

McCandless permit types and applications

Most projects use the Application for Building Permit or Zoning Permit, revised in October 2025, together with the Building and Zoning Permit Submission Guidelines (revised September 2024). Separate forms cover fences, signs, grading, demolition (with a Duquesne Light clearance checklist), commercial occupancy, home occupations, temporary zoning use, timber harvesting, rezoning and conditional use, and fire alarm and suppression systems. Large drawings must also be sent as PDFs.

Residential permits

Every building or zoning project except an interior renovation needs a survey by a registered professional land surveyor, with the new work drawn on it, the setbacks dimensioned, all new hard surface shown, any stormwater facility located, and a stamp from MTSA showing whether sewer easements cross the lot. Screenshots from Google Maps or the county real estate site are not accepted. A new house needs a grading plan, floor plan, basement and garage floor details, footer and foundation specifications, framing from foundation to roof, snow load and wind speed, fastener and lumber details, window sizes and locations, smoke detector locations, and an attic access shown in a hallway. Deck plans show footer depth, framing, railings and how the deck and any roof attach to the house. A new structure or a change of use also needs the “green sheet” MTSA issues once it approves the tap-in.

Building or remodeling a home here? Alliance handles residential permit filing, so the crew isn't waiting on the counter.

Commercial permits

Commercial projects use the same application, marking new building, renovation, addition, roof or repair and the alteration level. Plan review is charged per square foot: the Town’s internal review is $0.10 per square foot with a $300 minimum, and where an outside agency reviews the plans the applicant pays that agency’s rate. A commercial occupancy permit is $100.

For tenant improvements and new commercial builds, Alliance handles commercial permit expediting through issuance. More on this: commercial building permits explained.

What comes before the building permit

• Zoning. Variances, special exceptions and appeals from the zoning officer go to the Zoning Hearing Board; conditional uses are heard by Town Council, which acts in a quasi-judicial role and must decide on the hearing evidence.
• Stormwater. Adding 400 square feet or more of impervious area triggers the Town’s small projects stormwater requirements, such as a sized sump pit shown on the survey; at 2,500 square feet, or with significant earth disturbance, a full design reviewed by the Town Engineer is required, paid from an escrow, and an operation and maintenance agreement is recorded before the permit is released.
• Waterways and floodplain. Structures stay 35 feet from the center line of small streams draining 10 to 100 acres and 50 feet from the top of bank of larger ones; in a floodplain some construction is limited or prohibited, permitted work can require raising usable space, basements included, above the base flood elevation, and the Town Engineer reviews it.
• Sewer. MTSA provides sewer service in the Town and must stamp the survey.
• Driveways. Under Ordinance No. 1420, driveway work in the right-of-way of a Town road needs a Public Works permit, and contractors call Public Works for the inspections; on a state road, PennDOT issues the Highway Occupancy Permit.

McCandless permit fees

Town Council adopted Resolution 2025-32 on December 15, 2025, effective immediately, as the master resolution for Town fees; it repeals earlier fee resolutions where they conflict. The Town’s charges do not include state fees, so the $4.50 Uniform Construction Code fee is added to each building permit.

A 400-square-foot addition works out to $100 at $0.25 per square foot, so the $250 minimum applies, and the permit costs $254.50 with the state fee. A new 3,000-square-foot house is $750 plus $4.50, with no separate fee for its certificate of occupancy. Zoning permits that do not need UCC review are charged at the same square-foot rates, and fire alarm permits run from $200 to $600 by building size.

Trade permits and who may pull them

• Electrical: the Town’s application warns that electrical work may need an additional permit and inspections from a certified third-party inspection agency; EV chargers are listed as electrical work on the application.
• Plumbing: administered by the Allegheny County Health Department Plumbing Program, which issues the permits, licenses plumbers and inspects.
• Fire protection: fire alarm and suppression systems take their own Town permits; sprinkler permits run from $150 to $400 by head count, and cooking hood and other suppression systems are $200 each.

The application asks for the principal contractor, any design professional and the contractor’s federal or state ID number on letterhead, and the Town must be named as certificate holder on the workers’ compensation policy; an owner working alone files a notarized affidavit instead. McCandless lists no local contractor license, and home improvement contractors register with the Attorney General under HICPA.

How to apply for a McCandless permit

Review, corrections and what causes delay

The state allows 15 business days for a residential decision and 30 for commercial work. In McCandless, a submission missing a required item may be rejected as incomplete or simply take longer. Items the guidelines insist on include a surveyor’s survey rather than an aerial screenshot, the MTSA stamp, the impervious-area figures and the height of the structure on every plan. Projects that reach the 2,500-square-foot stormwater threshold, or that touch a floodplain, wait for an engineering escrow before review starts. Permits lapse if work has not begun within 180 days.

Inspections in McCandless

The application makes the owner responsible for calling for each inspection and warns that skipping one can be a violation of the Uniform Construction Code. For building inspections, contact the Town’s building inspector at 412-364-0616 extension 160 or the permit coordinator at extension 128. Electrical inspections are made by the certified third-party agency, plumbing inspections by the county Health Department, and driveway work in a Town right-of-way by Public Works.

Nobody may occupy a new structure, or the new part of one, until a certificate of occupancy is issued. New houses get theirs without a fee; other certificates and commercial occupancy permits are $100.

Pennsylvania building code in McCandless

McCandless enforces the Uniform Construction Code with its own building inspector and adds its local Building, Property Maintenance and Fire Prevention codes. FEMA’s Community Status Book lists McCandless (community 421081) as participating in the National Flood Insurance Program, with its current flood map effective September 26, 2014; the Town keeps the current FEMA maps and its zoning office answers floodplain questions.

Pennsylvania has one Uniform Construction Code for the whole state, based on the 2021 International Codes since January 1, 2026. Most municipalities enforce it themselves or through a certified third-party agency; where a municipality has opted out, the Department of Labor and Industry handles commercial work and home owners hire a certified agency. Counties do not issue building permits. Pennsylvania rules

McCandless permit search and official resources

McCandless posts monthly building permit reports on its Permit Reports page, and the Town lists these reports among the records available without a Right-to-Know request. For anything else, send a written request to the Town’s Open Records Officer at Town Hall, by mail, in person, by fax to 412-364-5066 or by email; the Town has five business days to respond and may extend by up to 30 calendar days.

• Building & Planning Department
• Zoning and land development permits and forms
• Application for building or zoning permit (October 2025)
• Building and zoning permit submission guidelines
• Resolution 2025-32, schedule of fees and charges
• Fence application
• Small projects stormwater flowchart
• Commercial occupancy (Fire & Life Safety Permit) application
• Public Works right-of-way permits
• Monthly permit reports
• Proposed zoning ordinance amendments
• Right-to-Know requests
• McCandless Township Sanitary Authority
• Allegheny County Health Department plumbing program
• L&I municipal UCC election list
• FEMA Community Status Book, Pennsylvania

McCandless building permit FAQs

How much is a building permit in McCandless?

A new house is $0.25 per square foot of gross floor area with a $500 minimum; additions and renovations are $0.25 per square foot with a $250 minimum. The $4.50 state fee is added.

Do I need a permit for a shed?

Yes. A shed up to 120 square feet is a $75 accessory structure permit, and one from 121 to 400 square feet is $150; larger ones are charged by the square foot.

How high can a fence be in McCandless?

Up to 6 feet in side and rear yards; front-yard fences are limited to 3 feet and must be at least 80% open while the proposed amendments are pending.

Can a pool cover replace a pool fence?

No. In-ground pools need a fence with a locking gate, 4 to 6 feet high, installed before the pool is filled.

When do I need a stormwater plan?

When a project adds 400 square feet or more of impervious surface, including gravel, decks with collection systems and covered pools.

Who inspects electrical and plumbing work?

A certified third-party electrical inspection agency and the Allegheny County Health Department.

Can I see what permits were issued near me?

Yes. The Town posts monthly building permit reports on its website.

Simplify McCandless permitting with Alliance Permitting

Alliance Permitting is a permit documentation and submission company in Pennsylvania. We prepare your paperwork, file it correctly and coordinate with the permitting authority through issuance. We are not a contractor and we do not perform licensed plan review or inspections; that work stays with your licensed team and the jurisdiction.

This guide is provided by Alliance Permitting for general information about McCandless permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.