The Building Department conducts plan reviews of commercial structures under a "deferral" from the State Fire Marshal. A deferral means the Building Department exercises the authority of the State Fire Marshal's office, and our plan review of public and commercial buildings is governed by both Alaska statute and local ordinance. Most large communities in Alaska have a deferral.

See also "When are stamped plans required?"and "Frequently asked questions about commercial design requirements."

Drawings and specifications submitted to the Building Official must be sufficient to clearly show the project in its entirety with emphasis on the following:

• Structural integrity
• Fire and Life Safety assurance
• Architectural fire barriers and fire resistive assemblies
• Building codes compliance
• Definition of scope of work

The minimum required drawings will vary greatly depending on the size, nature, and complexity of the project. Following are the minimum basic requirements. Additions and remodels may not require all of the following components.

1. COVER SHEET
   1. Project identification
   2. Project address and location map
   3. Design professional in charge and other design professionals identified
2. CODE SUMMARY
   1. Design criteria (see "Local Design Criteria and Codes in Effect")
   2. Occupancy group (occupancy groups for mixed occupancy structures), including occupant load for each space
   3. Type construction
   4. Square footage, height and number of Stories / Allowable area
   5. Proximity to property lines and/or adjacent structures, and appropriate fire resistive exterior walls, if required
   6. Fire sprinklers
   7. Fire alarm system
3. SITE DRAWINGS

1. Show proposed structure and any existing buildings or structures, all property lines with dimensions, all streets, easements, and setbacks. Show all water, sewer, electrical points of connection, proposed service routes, and existing utilities on the site. Show all required parking, drainage, and grading information (with reference to finish floor and adjacent streets). Indicate drainage inflow and outflow locations and specify areas required to be maintained for drainage purposes. Show north arrow. Indicate proposed and existing tank locations (oil, propane etc) showing distance to property lines, and distance to buildings and building openings. (Including underground tanks.)

2. FOUNDATION DRAWINGS

   Show all foundations and footings. Indicate size, locations, thicknesses, materials, and reinforcing. Show all embedded anchoring such as anchor bolts, hold downs, post bases, etc. Include soil bearing capacity and/or pile details.

3. FLOOR PLAN

   Show all floors including basements. Show all rooms, with their use, occupancy designation, occupant load, over-all dimensions and locations of all structural elements and openings. Show all doors and windows. Provide door and window schedules. When appropriate, show fire rated occupancy separations, and draft stops.

4. FRAME DRAWINGS

   Show all structural members, size, methods of attachment, location, and materials. Indicate characteristics of sheathing, slabs, or decking. Locate all lateral force-resisting elements. Include shear wall details and fastening schedules.

5. EXTERIOR ELEVATIONS

   Show significant views and openings.

6. BUILDING SECTIONS AND WALL SECTIONS

   Show materials of construction, non-rated and fire-rated assemblies and fire-rated penetrations. Show critical dimensions unless indicated elsewhere.

7. MECHANICAL SYSTEM

   Show entire mechanical system. Include all units, their sizes, mounting details, all duct work and duct sizes. Indicate all fire dampers and fire-smoke dampers where required. Provide equipment schedules.

8. PLUMBING SYSTEM

   Show all fixtures, piping, slopes, materials and sizes. Show point of connections to site utilities.

9. ELECTRICAL

   Show all electrical fixtures (interior, exterior and site), exit signs, emergency lighting system (if required), short circuit requirements, wiring sizes and circuiting, grounding, panel schedules, single line diagrams, load calculations and fixture schedules. Show point of connection to utility.

10. SPECIFICATIONS

    Either on the drawings or in booklet form, further define construction components, covering materials and methods of construction, finishes, and all pertinent equipment. Schedules may be incorporated in project manual in lieu of on drawings.

11. ADDENDA AND CHANGES

    The responsible design professional shall notify the building official of significant changes throughout the project and provide revised drawings, calculations or other appropriate documents prior to actual construction. For clarity, all revisions shall be clearly identified on the drawings or resubmitted as a new project.

12. STANDARDS

    If the documents do not meet the criteria of these guidelines, the building official may take any of the following actions:

    1. Provide a complete list of corrections.
    2. Increase the plan check fee for additional plan review time required due to lack of completeness.
    3. Return documents unchecked or partially checked, with recommendations on code sections for the designer to review prior to resubmitting plans.

Note: It is a violation of state law for the Building Department to accept incomplete plans and then to provide design services by providing the missing design elements. For more information see "When are stamped plans required?"