The role of a pre-application meeting
A pre-application meeting is an early discussion with the city or county. It’s a chance to introduce a rough project concept, ask questions, and understand what the jurisdiction will require to be able to approve your project. It is in a pre-application meeting (also called a pre-app) that we learn what a project will take, what obstacles it faces, any red flags that impact cost substantially, and what each department will look for.
The goal of this meeting is to identify potential issues early so you don’t waste time or money heading down the wrong path.
Typically, representatives from the following departments attend pre-application meetings: planning or community development, public works, natural resources or critical areas, building, parks, fire, and the health department. If your project is in shoreline jurisdiction, a shoreline planner will also attend. During the meeting, staff will explain the applicable zoning rules, development standards, environmental or traffic requirements, and any special studies or reports your project might need. This helps you refine your concept, budget more accurately, and plan for the overall permitting timeline.
Here’s how they work: After you request the meeting—typically with an application form, site plan, and brief project description—the agency circulates your materials to the departments listed above. At the meeting, representatives from these departments come together to review your concept. You present your idea, and staff provide comments, ask clarifying questions, and outline the necessary steps to move toward a formal application.
During the meeting, you can expect to discuss:
Site constraints
Access and circulation
Utility availability and locations
Zoning compliance
Environmental considerations
Permit pathway and process
Submittal requirements
Most jurisdictions provide a written summary afterward with their feedback. While the feedback isn’t an approval, it gives you a clear roadmap for designing a compliant project and helps reduce surprises later in the process. By the end, you should have a solid understanding of feasibility, next steps, and what it will take to get your project approved.
How you benefit when it’s optional
Not all projects require pre-application meetings. For example, a single-family house that’s not on a lake? You can proceed without a pre-app. But even if the municipal or county code doesn’t require a pre-app for your project type, it can be beneficial (and for a nominal cost) to have a pre-application meeting anyway.
Land use consultants and property owners can have conversations with each department to answer questions and paint a full picture of what’s required outside of a pre-app, but it’s more fragmented. Often, the value is having every department in the room together—in-person or virtually—to initiate dialogue. Not only does it save time going back-and-forth, but it sets a tone for the project.
Tone and mindset matter
I always encourage my clients to go into a pre-app with an open mind. Rarely does a project end the way it begins, for dozens of reasons. The site plan presented in a pre-app is a starting point. It’s the conversation starter. I also recommend clients accept feedback and chew on it for a few days. What sounds scary or intimidating in the moment, or sounds like it jeopardizes a project’s future, can often be creatively resolved in a follow-up conversation.
Cost and support
Pre-application costs range typically from $500 in a small jurisdiction to around $1,500 in larger ones.
Land use consultants can support you through any phase of the pre-application meeting. Maybe you just need help preparing your application. Maybe you submitted the application and scheduled a pre-application meeting, but want support leading the conversation with confidence. For larger projects, this is part of the feasibility work that is conducted with your design team and marks the launch point for your project.
