City of Hot Springs, Arkansas - Planning and Development Department (Building Safety)

City of Hot Springs, Arkansas

city

133 Convention Boulevard, Hot Springs, AR 71901

Required

Required

The Planning and Development Department's Building Safety division is located at Hot Springs City Hall, First Floor, 133 Convention Boulevard, Hot Springs, AR 71901; office phone (501) 321-6851, fax (501) 321-6854, email [email protected]. Permits are applied for online through the City's permit-application portal (see permit_portal_url), and inspections are scheduled online as well, separately for homeowners and contractors. Work started without a required permit is subject to a tripled fee (Sec. 15-7-2.1(h)). Hot Springs maintains two historic districts under Code of Ordinances Chapter 16-7 - the Central Avenue Historic District and the Pleasant Street Historic District (boundaries described in detail at Sec. 16-7-3) - each governed by the Hot Springs Historic District Commission. Sec. 16-7-1 defines a regulated "Alteration" to expressly include, verbatim, "the changing of roofing or siding materials," and Sec. 16-7-11 requires a certificate of appropriateness from the commission "prior to the issuance of a building permit or other permit" whenever a building within either district is "erected, altered, restored, moved, or demolished" - "whether or not a building permit is required." Sec. 16-7-13 exempts "ordinary maintenance and repair" (defined at Sec. 16-7-1 as work "which do[es] not involve a change in design, material, color, or outer appearance") from this requirement, so a like-for-like roof repair in the same material is exempt, but changing to a different roofing material within either historic district requires commission approval first. This applies only within the two named historic districts, not citywide, and is a design-review/historic-preservation requirement - no provision was found requiring any specific roof covering material, impact-resistance class, or rating anywhere in this chapter.

Hot Springs adopts the statewide residential floor code by its own city instrument, styled the "Hot Springs Fire Prevention and Building Code." City of Hot Springs Code of Ordinances Sec. 15-7-1.1 (short title), verbatim: "This Code shall be known and cited as the Hot Springs Fire Prevention and Building Code, 2023 Edition." Sec. 15-7-1.2 (Adoption of International Codes), verbatim: "The State of Arkansas, Arkansas Fire Prevention Code (AFPC), 2021 Edition, Volumes I, II and Ill, as amended hereinafter, is hereby adopted by reference as though set out herein word for word. The International Fire Code, 2021; the International Building Code, 2021, and the International Residential Code, 2021, as published by the International Code Council including such Appendixes thereto as adopted by the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code, 2021 Edition, and the rules and regulations added by amendment by the State Fire Marshal shall constitute the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code, 2021 Edition. Said Codes shall collectively be known and cited as the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code (AFPC) and together with this chapter shall constitute the Hot Springs Fire Prevention and Building Code." The City's own "Current Codes" webpage independently corroborates this, listing "2021 Arkansas Fire Prevention Code (based on 2021 International Building Code)" among the publications the City uses to enforce building and safety codes. Arkansas's Fire Prevention Code (AFPC) 2021 Edition is itself a statewide floor, not a ceiling: AFPC [A] 101.2.2 (Locally adopted codes) provides that "Each district, county, municipality, or other political subdivision of this state shall only adopt and enforce the provisions of the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code, 2021 Edition[; t]he AFPC 2021 Edition shall be the only foundation document available for modification by local jurisdictions should they choose to adopt more stringent provisions." Hot Springs' own amendments (Sec. 15-7-1.5) touch building-height limits for fire-district purposes, Thermal Basin District standpipe requirements, fire-department-connection hydrant distance, and a bedroom/closet definitional rule - none amend the IRC's roofing chapters. No IRC Chapter 8 (Roof-Ceiling Construction) or Chapter 9 (Roof Assemblies) amendment, and no Table R301.2(1) fill-in, was found anywhere in Hot Springs' own Fire Prevention Code chapter (all five articles read in full).

Not required — Checked at both layers Hot Springs residential roofing actually runs through. STATE LAYER: the 2021 Arkansas Fire Prevention Code Rules Changes document's Volume III (Residential) chapter disposition list prints, verbatim: "Chapter 8, Roof-Ceiling Construction—No Changes" and "Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies—No Changes" - Arkansas amends nothing in the IRC's roofing chapters. CITY LAYER: I read the City of Hot Springs Fire Prevention Code chapter (Code of Ordinances Title 15, Chapter 7) in full - all five articles (I - Fire Prevention Code, II - Permit Fees, III - Fireworks, IV - Energy Standards, V - Fire Districts), roughly 25 sections - and separately read the Historic Districts chapter (Title 16, Chapter 7, 19 sections) in full, and grepped both specifically for "UL 2218" and "Class 4" per the wave's discipline: zero matches anywhere in either chapter. The Historic Districts chapter does touch roofing materials (see permit_process_note) but only as a design-review trigger within two named historic districts, not a material class or impact-resistance mandate. Neither layer imposes an impact-resistance requirement on Hot Springs residential roofing as adopted.

Hot Springs prints no residential-roofing exemption from its building-permit fee schedule - a routine reroof falls under the same valuation-tiered fee table as other building work. City of Hot Springs Code of Ordinances Sec. 15-7-2.1 (Building permit fee schedule), verbatim: "Building permit fees shall be based on the construction valuation of the proposed structure as follows... Total Building Valuation Permit Fee $0.00 to $1,500.00 $11.25; $1,501.00 to $50,000.00 $11.25 plus $3.75 for each thousand or fraction thereof from $1,501 to and including $50,000." (higher tiers continue through $500,000+). The City's own "Do I Need a Building Permit?" webpage lists the categories exempt from a building permit altogether (accessory structures ≤200 sq ft, fences ≤7 ft, retaining walls ≤4 ft not supporting a surcharge, small water tanks, sidewalks/driveways, painting/finish work, small prefab pools, playground equipment, small window awnings) - roofing work is not among them. Work started without a required permit is subject to a tripled fee, per Sec. 15-7-2.1(h): "the fees herein specified shall be tripled."

9.5% combined (state 6.5% + City of Hot Springs 1.5%, effective 06/01/07 + Garland County 1.5%, effective 07/01/17), per the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration's July-September 2026 quarterly "List of Cities and Counties with Local Sales and Use Tax" table, which prints Hot Springs' row as "26-01 06/01/07 1.500% Garland 1.500% 3.000%" (3.000% combined local, plus the 6.5% state rate).