Episode 5: What is a Preapp Meeting?

In the first few episodes of this series, we’ve spent a lot of time focusing on site selection and conceptual site planning. So what happens next? While you might be chomping at the bit to get started with planning and entitlements, there is an important step that we recommend all developers take before putting pen to paper and signing any agreements. This step could save you thousands in closing costs, engineering fees, and even design fees. It’s the preapp meeting.

What is a Preapp Meeting?

A preapp meeting is simply a meeting with the city or local jurisdiction to present early concepts of the project. Typically these meetings include a city planner and a number of the city’s engineers and consultants like landscaping, fire, trash, sewer, and so on. This meeting gives the city a chance to provide feedback and raise any red flags which may slow or halt the project along the way. Some jurisdictions are pretty casual while other places, like Phoenix or Aurora, are more formal and have a detailed process to follow, often requiring a successful meeting before you can move into the planning phase.

Why Do Preapp Meetings Matter?

The preapp meeting may be the single most important thing you can do when considering a new development. These meetings give you an enormous jump on the entitlement process because you’re getting direct feedback from the people who will ultimately approve your project, long before you’ve spent a dime on full architecture, design, or engineering. Instead of guessing what the city will care about, you hear it from the source. You walk out with a clear roadmap of submittal requirements, and that clarity is gold. It lets your architects and engineers create precise scopes of work so the proposals you receive are accurate, aligned, and actually comparable. It also protects you from the bargain bid that only looks cheap because half the scope is missing. A good pre app doesn’t just save time, it saves you from expensive surprises later.

What Happens in a Preapp Meeting?

Hover has been in preapp meetings across the country. And while things differ from city to city, the general process and talking points remain the same. Usually the city planner or project manager starts off by introducing everyone in the meeting. After that, we dive into the main focus of the meeting: review of our conceptual site plan. 

Each department from the city takes turns sharing potential problems or concerns that may come up throughout the permitting process. 

    • Planning & Zoning – focus on site flow, setbacks, easements and the general layout. Sometimes they will also share specific building requirements like build height or permitted materials and colors. Zoning will confirm the use is permitted and outline any other submittal requirements like Condition Use Permits.
    • Fire and life safety – discuss fire lanes, sprinkler systems, fire riser rooms, and hydrant locations
    • Trash – outline trash enclosure design requirements and access points or pickup schedules
    • Power & Water – share locations of existing utilities and taps as well as the process to apply for new utility hookups. Oftentimes, power and water are handled by outside or private agencies, which comes with its own pros and cons.
    • Storm Water & Sewer – will locate the nearest sewer hookup and likely determine if any detention ponds will be required. They may also detail any special submittals required like a SWMP plan or water quality management plans.
    • Landscaping – most jurisdictions have requirements for landscaping and irrigation. The city’s landscape architect will share information on any landscape buffers, plant requirements and possibly the need for separate taps being required for irrigation.

Following a preapp meeting, you’ll usually receive meeting minutes outlining everything that was discussed, information for key contacts at the city, and a detailed process for planning and building permit submittals along with any other required steps like neighborhood review meetings.

What do we do with the information afterward?

If there are no major sticking points or feasibility issues during your preapp meeting, Hover will begin preparing a proposal. We will share the meeting minutes with any engineers or consultants involved in your project and allow them to reach out to the city for any further clarifications. If, however, the city raises major concerns about the site plan, we may have to go back to the drawing board and rework your conceptual site plan to address some of their concerns. In rare cases, a site just might not be feasible at which point, it may be time to just walk away.

It all starts with a solid conceptual site plan. When you share your project with us, we take your goals, your franchise requirements, and the site information you have and turn it into a clear first-pass layout. From there, we bring that concept into a preapp meeting so you can get real answers before you invest heavily. It’s one of the simplest ways to reduce risk and one of the fastest ways to get a head start on entitlements. I’m Kyle May with Hover Architecture and thanks for watching Just One More Site!