Right-of-Way Permits for Plumbing Work by Valley City

Phoenix spells it out in the administrative chapter of its 2024 building code: "Separate permits shall be obtained from the Planning & Development Department for work within the public right of way including off-site sewer or water extensions." The same line goes on to list "sewer or water taps and all connections to public sewer and water." So a new restaurant pad can hold a fully approved plumbing permit and still not be allowed to tap the main in the street.

The other cities say the same thing in their own street or utility chapters, and each adds its own conditions:

• What needs the permit. Any excavation, pipe, tap or repair in the public way (Mesa, Tempe, Paradise Valley, Litchfield Park, Chandler), or specifically digging to connect to water or sewer (Gilbert, Surprise).
• Who issues it. The City Engineer in most cities; Phoenix's Planning & Development; Gilbert's building official; Litchfield Park's Public Works director.
• What rides along. Engineering plans, a traffic control or barricade plan, insurance, a bond, and a promise to put the street back.

A few words decide which permit you need, and the codes use them loosely.

• Right of way (ROW). Public land for streets, alleys, sidewalks and the strip behind the curb. Tempe's code defines it as property granted to the city "for street purposes," whether by deed, easement or dedication.
• Public utility easement. A strip of private land where the city or a utility holds rights to run lines. Mesa and Avondale put easements under the same permit as streets; other cities handle them through the utility.
• Encroachment permit. Chandler and Surprise call the right-of-way permit this. Paradise Valley uses the word only for things left in place permanently.
• Offsite work. Our label, not a code term: anything past the property line of the lot being built, such as a main extension, tap, or the street half of a sewer lateral. It usually shows on civil plans, not plumbing plans.
• PWR. Scottsdale's Permit to Work in the Right-of-Way.

Whoever does the work applies, and the owner usually pays. In practice that's the plumbing or utility contractor on a commercial job. Glendale is the strictest on who may dig: only "a properly licensed state contractor, a utility company, a governmental agency" or a homeowner working between their own property line and the back of the curb.

This does not apply if all the work stays on your lot. A sewer repair that ends at your cleanout, or a water line from the meter to the building, is covered by the plumbing permit (or an exemption) alone.

A Chandler strip center needs a new sewer tap. The plumber has the building permit. The tap still needs a written City Engineer permit under Chandler 51-7, and the trench in the street needs an encroachment permit under Chapter 46. Two permits beyond the plumbing one.

A Mesa restaurant's lateral breaks under a street repaved last year. Mesa 9-1-6 says the City Engineer "shall not approve" a cut for two years after new pavement. The code allows exceptions, including an interruption of essential utility service and building service that has no other feasible route, but then the permittee pays the restoration fee and repairs the pavement to the city's standard. Where the break sits changes the answer: in Mesa, the city repairs a broken lateral section in the street for owners (City Code 8-4-8(F)).

A Tempe owner starts digging on Monday and files on Tuesday. Tempe charges an investigation fee on top of the permit fee for work started without one, and wants 24 hours notice before any permitted work starts.

A Litchfield Park job with lane closures. The traffic control plan has to come from an ATSSA-certified designer and be approved before any work, filed at least two business days ahead.

Start with the address and the civil plans, then line up the permits in this order.

1. 1Mark the property line on the plan. Everything past it is offsite work under a separate permit, even if it's the same trench.
2. 2Identify who owns the road. City street, county road or state highway (ADOT district permit office). The permit follows the road owner, not the mailing city.
3. 3Call Arizona 811 before digging. A.R.S. 40-360.22 says no one may "make or begin any excavation in any public street, alley, right-of-way" or utility easement without first finding out where underground lines are.
4. 4Apply to the city's engineering or right-of-way desk with plans, the contractor's license, insurance, and a traffic control plan if lanes or sidewalks close. Glendale also takes a cash or surety bond before issuing.
5. 5Pull the utility-side approvals separately. Sewer taps need the water or sewer department's own permit in Phoenix (28-27) and Chandler (51-7).
6. 6Schedule the right-of-way inspection and restore the surface to the city's standard before closing the permit.

• "The plumbing permit covers the whole job." Not past the property line. Phoenix's code calls the right-of-way permit "separate."
• "Only the plumber needs a permit; the owner's off the hook." Litchfield Park bills plan review and inspection fees to the customer when a utility works on their behalf, and Tempe's code makes anyone working in the right of way indemnify the city.
• "Any licensed contractor can dig in the street." Glendale limits who may do the work, and Peoria requires "a licensed contractor, the scope of which license allows him to work within a public right-of-way" for lateral repairs in the street.
• "Emergency repairs don't need a permit." Mesa's emergency language is an exception to the pavement-cut ban, not to the permit itself.
• "811 is only for big excavators." The statute covers any person making any excavation in a street, right of way or utility easement.

Gilbert and Surprise both make unpermitted digging in the street a class one misdemeanor (Gilbert 66-8, Surprise 58-425). Tempe adds an investigation fee. Paradise Valley permits expire if work doesn't start within 90 days, so an old permit won't cover a late start.

If you're planning a tap, main extension or lateral repair that crosses into the street, HQ handles offsite and right-of-way plumbing across the Valley and gives free estimates.