Every new construction project and any significant improvement to an existing structure requires a building permit issued by the local government – the county or an incorporated municipality. In the Baltimore region, permits are issued by Baltimore City; Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties. In addition, permits are issued by the City of Annapolis; the Town of Mount Airy in Carroll County; and the towns of Aberdeen, Bel Air and Havre de Grace in Harford County.

For over three decades, staff of the Baltimore Metropolitan Council (BMC) and its predecessor, the Regional Planning Council, have been compiling the region’s building permit information and organizing it into a standardized database. The resulting information provides a continual record of plans for new and renovated residential, commercial/industrial and institutional building projects. The BMC staff itself makes use of this information as a leading indicator of new regional development patterns.

Because of the interest in this information on the part of many other users — real estate market analysts, economic development professionals, specialty contractors, consultants and academic researchers – the Council now makes the data available in a variety of media: printed reports, a searchable electronic database, and photocopies of the original permits issued by the local government.

A summary of planned building activity across the Baltimore region is compiled on a monthly basis from the building permits received and processed by the BMC staff. The quarterly and annual reports include analysis of regional trends, supported by maps and charts highlighting notable development activity during the reporting period. These printed reports are available through annual subscriptions. Single reports are available for purchase through the Regional Information Center.

New in 2002, Building Permits Online makes it possible for the latest available permits to be searched on the internet at any time of day or night, from your office, home or while you are on the road with your laptop computer. New permits are added to the database weekly, as soon as the latest permits issued by local jurisdictions have been processed by the BMC staff.

Building Permits Online allows the user to generate custom reports by selecting specific types of construction projects, time frame, geographic area and estimated cost of the proposed project. A User’s Manual, describing the service in detail, can be downloaded from the Building Permit section of the BMC web site.

Information about the Building Permits Data System is available on the BMC website at www.baltometro.org.

Contact the Regional Information Center at 410-732-9570, or ric@baltometro.org for pricing and subscription information.