El Paso | Plats, Permits and Fees
El Paso Plats, Permits and Fees: Plat Types, Deadlines, Impact Fees and What the City Charges
A new home on a new or changed lot in El Paso passes through two City reviews. The first is the plat, the recorded map that divides land into lots, under Title 19 of the El Paso Municipal Code. The second is the building permit, under Title 18. Along the way the City and El Paso Water charge application fees, parkland fees and, in three service areas, water and wastewater impact fees. This page gives the plat types, the deadlines and the amounts, with the source for each. The El Paso overview gives the short version.
El Paso plats and fees in six facts
- El Paso must act on every preliminary, final, minor, development and replat application within thirty days from the date it is deemed complete, unless the applicant asks in writing for more time. Source: El Paso Code, Sec. 19.01.040
- A minor plat creates four or fewer lots on an existing public street, is decided by the city manager or designee, and is deemed approved if not acted on within thirty days. Source: El Paso Code, Ch. 19.06
- The City lists a minor subdivision application at $1,040, a resubdivision combination at $2,390 and a development plat at $1,886, effective September 1, 2025. Source: City of El Paso, Subdivision Application Fees
- For a meter smaller than one inch, the water impact fee is $1,508 in the Northeast, $844 on the Westside and $892 on the Eastside service area. Source: El Paso Code, Sec. 15.22.100 and Appendix B
- Inside the city limits, water and wastewater impact fees are collected when the building permit is issued. Source: El Paso Code, Sec. 15.22.130
- A building permit expires if work does not start within six months, and a permit holder may ask for up to two extensions of up to 180 days each, with no fee. Source: El Paso Code, Sec. 18.02.105.23
When a Plat Is Required
Section 19.01.020 says "a final plat shall be submitted approved and filed prior to any non-exempt land division," and requires a replat "any time a platted, recorded lot is further divided or expanded." Section 19.01.030 lists divisions that need no plat once the City approves an exemption determination; the City lists that platting determination at $106. The lot size page explains the exemptions homeowners use most, including splitting a recorded duplex lot.
A second kind of plat covers building on land that was never platted. Under Section 19.05.010, a development plat is required for new construction or enlarging a building on a tract "which has not been platted or replatted," on land whose "only access is a private easement or street," or on tracts over five acres where no public improvement is dedicated. No building, utility or electrical permit is issued "until a development plat, or if applicable a subdivision plat, has been approved by the city plan commission" and recorded with El Paso County.
Plat Types and Who Decides
| Type | When it applies | Who decides | Decision time | Approval lasts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minor plat | Four or fewer lots, all fronting an existing public street, with no new street or alley and no extension of City facilities | City manager or designee | 30 days; deemed approved if no action | 2 years to record |
| Amending plat | Corrects errors or moves lot lines between adjacent lots without adding lots | City manager or designee | 10 days | Same recording period as a final plat |
| Replat | Changes a recorded plat; four or fewer lots may be approved as a minor plat when no hearing or notice is needed | City Plan Commission | 30 days | As a final plat |
| Preliminary plat | First stage of a subdivision plat | City Plan Commission | 30 days from completeness | 3 years |
| Final plat | Last stage, before recording | City Plan Commission | 30 days | 3 years to record |
| Development plat | Development of an unplatted tract, a tract reached only by a private easement, or tracts over five acres | City Plan Commission | 30 days | 2 years to record |
Source: El Paso Municipal Code, Title 19, Article 1 (Sec. 19.01.040, 19.03.060, 19.04.060, 19.05.010, 19.06.010 to 19.06.050, 19.07.010 and 19.07.040), Supplement 95 Update 4.
A subdivision plat may pass through three stages under Section 19.01.060: a land study where required, a preliminary plat and a final plat. An applicant may file a preliminary and final plat together as a "combination," which must meet every final plat requirement before the City Plan Commission approves it. The minor plat is the shortcut for a small split: "the purpose of a minor plat is to simplify divisions of land," and the applicant files a combined preliminary and final plat prepared by a registered professional land surveyor. An appeal of a staff decision on a minor plat goes to the City Plan Commission at its next available meeting.
Two rules on small replats use different numbers. Section 19.07.010 lets "a replat of four or fewer lots" be approved administratively as a minor plat when no hearing or notice is required, while the infill incentives in Section 19.26.020 speak of "replats with less than four lots." For a four-lot infill replat the two numbers differ, and the code does not say which controls; ask the planning division which route applies.
Completeness and the Thirty-Day Clock
Every application gets a completeness check. Under Section 19.37.020, the City must tell the applicant in writing whether an application is complete "no later than the fifth business day" after it is submitted. If it is incomplete, the letter lists what is missing and the applicant has forty-five days to supply it, or the application expires. If the City sends no letter within five business days, the application counts as submitted on the day it came in. Fees "shall not be refundable" and are due no later than the date the application is found complete (Section 19.37.070).
Section 19.01.040 then requires action on "all preliminary plat, final plat, minor plat, development plat, replat, and land study applications" within thirty days "from the date a submitted application is deemed complete." An applicant may ask in writing for an extension of up to thirty days. State law sets the same period: Local Government Code 212.009 requires a decision "within 30 days after the date the plat is filed," and a plat counts as filed when the applicant submits it "along with a completed plat application and the application fees." If the two ever conflict, Section 19.65.010 says "the conflicting portion of Title 19 shall be replaced with the prevailing portion" of chapter 212.
A conditional approval or a denial must come with a written statement of each condition or reason, "directly related to the requirements in Title 19" and the Street Design Manual, with "a citation to the law" behind it. The applicant may answer in writing, and the City Plan Commission decides the resubmitted plat within fifteen days (Sections 19.03.030 and 19.04.030).
Replats on Older Residential Lots
Section 19.07.030 adds steps when, in the past five years, the area was limited by zoning "to residential use for not more than two residential units per lot," or any lot in the earlier plat was limited that way by deed restrictions:
- No variance needed. Within fifteen days after approval, the City mails notice to each owner of a lot in the original subdivision within two hundred feet, with the new zoning and a contact for the City.
- Variance needed. The City Plan Commission holds a public hearing, with newspaper notice and mailed notice before the fifteenth day before the hearing (Sections 19.38.010 and 19.38.020).
- Protest. When the replat needs a variance and owners of at least twenty percent of the land within two hundred feet, inside the original subdivision, file written protests before the hearing closes, approval takes "at least three-fourths of the members of the city plan commission present."
An amending plat avoids these steps for its listed purposes, such as fixing a survey error or moving a lot line between adjacent lots without adding lots: "Notice, a hearing, and the approval of other lot owners are not required" (Section 19.07.040).
Subdivision Fees
Title 19 sets no dollar amounts. Section 19.60.010 says all fees "shall be in the amount authorized by city council in the annual budget resolution." The City publishes the plat fees on its Subdivision Application Fees sheet, which the Planning and Inspections forms page links as its latest. The sheet is headed "Effective September 1, 2025" and "FY2026," and says "Technology fee is included in fee amounts shown."
| Application | Fee, effective September 1, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Platting determination | $106 |
| Pre-application meeting | $181 per hour |
| Amending plat | $865 |
| Minor subdivision | $1,040 |
| Development plat | $1,886 |
| Resubdivision preliminary | $1,890 |
| Resubdivision final | $2,140 |
| Resubdivision combination | $2,390 |
| Major preliminary | $2,290 |
| Major final | $2,260 |
| Major combination | $2,340 |
| Subdivision extension or reinstatement | $630 |
| Vesting request | $356 |
| Dedication of right-of-way or easements | $1,790 |
Source: City of El Paso, Subdivision Application Fees, FY2026, read October 8, 2026. El Paso's fiscal year starts September 1, so confirm that no newer sheet has been posted.
"Resubdivision" is the sheet's word for a replat. A four-lot split on an existing street that qualifies as a minor plat costs $1,040 on this sheet; the same split filed as a resubdivision combination costs $2,390.
Parkland Dedication and Fees
Every residential subdivision provides parkland under Chapter 19.20: one acre for every one hundred single-family or two-family units, and one acre for every two hundred multifamily units. Where more than one home per lot may be allowed, the count uses "the gross density permitted by the zoning classification." The City may take cash instead, for example when less than one acre is due. The fee in Section 19.20.110 is "one thousand three hundred seventy dollars per dwelling unit" for single-family and two-family homes and $680 for multifamily, "indexed to any increase in the National Consumer Price Index (CPI) and adjusted no less frequently than every three years." It is paid by cashier's check with the recording plat.
Section 19.20.060 excludes "a residential replat of an area where the density has not been increased from the original subdivision," as well as PMD land and land in an adaptive reuse or transit oriented development overlay.
Water and Wastewater Impact Fees
An impact fee is a one-time charge on new development that pays for the added water and sewer capacity it needs. Chapter 15.22, the City of El Paso Impact Fee Ordinance, is administered by El Paso Water Utilities. It sets three service areas, the Westside, Eastside and Northeast, within the city and its extraterritorial jurisdiction. A service unit is the water and wastewater flow "for a single family residential or equivalent unit with a water meter smaller than one inch." Ordinance No. 019626 of May 7, 2024 adopted the current land use assumptions, capital improvements plan and fee amounts.
| Service area | Water, meter under 1 inch | Wastewater, meter under 1 inch | Water, 1-inch meter | Wastewater, 1-inch meter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northeast | $1,508 | $372 | $2,518 | $622 |
| Westside | $844 | $1,187 | $1,409 | $1,981 |
| Eastside | $892 | $1,178 | $1,489 | $1,967 |
Source: El Paso Municipal Code, Chapter 15.22, Appendix B (Impact Fee Assessment Schedules), Ord. No. 019626, § 5, May 7, 2024. The schedule runs to 12-inch meters.
The adopted amounts sit below the maximum the law allows. Section 15.22.100 lists a maximum allowable water fee per service unit of $5,012 in the Northeast, $1,568 on the Westside and $7,477 on the Eastside, after a credit of fifty percent of the plan's projected cost under Local Government Code 395.014(7), and says "the impact fee to be assessed is the impact fee adopted by the city council." Timing works in two steps. The fee is assessed when the plat or replat is recorded, and after that it "cannot be increased" unless the plat expires and the service units or meter size grow (Sections 15.22.110 and 15.22.120). It is collected, for land platted inside the city limits, "at the time a building permit is issued" (Section 15.22.130), and "No building permit shall be issued without payment of an impact fee" (Section 15.22.140).
- Affordable housing. The city manager or designee "shall administratively reduce or waive an impact fee for a service unit" that qualifies as affordable housing under 42 U.S.C. Section 12745, under the City's fee waiver program and an enforced affordability period (Section 15.22.145).
- Conversions. No impact fee on land where a building has been converted to mixed-use residential or apartment use, unless the land already owed one (Section 15.22.200, added November 18, 2025).
- Refunds. A fee not spent within ten years is refunded to the record owner with interest (Section 15.22.150).
Section 15.22.145 begins "Notwithstanding Section 15.20.130 of this chapter," a section number outside Chapter 15.22; the collection rule it sits beside is Section 15.22.130.
The Building Permit
A required subdivision must be recorded first. Section 19.08.020 says "no building permit shall be issued for any lot until the subdivision has been recorded," except that for industrial, commercial and multi-family developments and subdivisions with several single-family lots, permits for up to fifty percent of the buildings or lots may issue once the improvement plans are reviewed and the work is under way.
Chapter 18.02 sets the permit rules. The fee for a new home is "based on the square footage cost prescribed by the FY Schedule C in effect on the date of the permit application" (Section 18.02.106.6.1). VanPlex did not find the current Schedule C residential rate on a City page, so this page gives no permit fee per square foot. The City's Planning and Inspections page lists, effective September 1, 2025, a residential submittal fee deposit of $200.00, "credited to permit fee," and a residential expedited plan review submittal fee of $200.00.
- Plan review clock. If no permit is secured within 180 days of the application, the application expires and a plan review fee of thirty percent of the permit fee is due (Section 18.02.106.11).
- Expiry. A permit expires if work does not start within six months, stops for six months, or goes six months without a called-for inspection (Section 18.02.105.23).
- Extensions. Up to two extensions of not more than 180 days each, requested in writing before expiry; "There shall be no fee for the extension of an unexpired permit."
- Owner-builders. A homeowner may pull a permit for work on the home the owner lives in as a primary residence, acting as general contractor, when registered contractors do the electrical, plumbing, mechanical and irrigation work (Section 18.02.105.29.1).
State law sets the outer deadline. Local Government Code 214.904 requires a city, by the 45th day after a permit application, to grant or deny it, give written reasons for the delay, or agree on a deadline in writing. A city that misses the deadline "may not collect any permit fees associated with the application" and must refund those it collected.
Where a detailed site development plan is required, Section 20.04.150 lets the zoning administrator approve it for a site of two acres or less with no more than two buildings. Others go to the City Plan Commission, which hears them within thirty days of the staff recommendation. An approved plan expires if construction does not start within four years.
Best For
- ✓ A split into four lots or fewer on an existing public street, which staff decide as a minor plat for $1,040.
- ✓ A home on the Westside, where the water impact fee for a small meter is $844.
- ✓ An applicant who files a complete application, since the thirty-day clock runs from completeness.
Usually Fails When
- ✕ The replat lies in a subdivision once limited to two units per lot and needs a variance, which brings a hearing and a protest right.
- ✕ The budget leaves out water, wastewater and parkland fees due at the building permit or recording plat.
- ✕ Work does not start within six months of the permit and no extension was requested in writing.
What To Verify Before Spending Money
- → Which impact fee service area the lot is in, with El Paso Water Utilities.
- → Whether a newer subdivision fee sheet has replaced the FY2026 one.
- → The current CPI-indexed parkland fee and the Schedule C building permit rate.
Where to Go Next
Related on VanPlex: the El Paso overview, how Texas zoning works, and other 2025 Texas housing laws.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a plat to divide land in El Paso?
What is a minor plat in El Paso?
How long does El Paso have to approve a plat?
How long is an El Paso final plat approval valid?
What are the El Paso water and wastewater impact fees for a house?
When are impact fees paid in El Paso?
Can El Paso waive impact fees for affordable housing?
When does an El Paso building permit expire?
How much is the El Paso parkland fee per home?
Can I get a building permit before my El Paso plat is recorded?
Who approves a detailed site plan in El Paso?
Official sources (checked October 2026)
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