Certificate of Occupancy

All residential and commercial properties in the City of Evanston are required to possess a valid certificate of occupancy. There are two types of certificates: Temporary and Final.

Certificate Types

Temporary (TCO)

Temporary certificates of occupancy (TCO) are required before a building may be partially or temporarily occupied. This type of certificate may be requested, for example, when a multi-unit construction project is nearing completion, but only a portion or single story of the dwelling units are ready for occupancy. All life safety inspections, including the building trades and Fire Department inspections must have been passed for the areas proposed to be covered under the certificate. For more information, please see the application linked here:

Final (FCO)

Final certificates of occupancy (FCO) are required before a building may be fully occupied. This certificate will only be issued once a project is complete, all inspections have been passed, all fees have been paid, and any planned development ordinance requirements, Zoning requirements, or Inclusionary Housing Ordinance (IHO) requirements have been satisfied (if applicable). For more information, please see the application linked here:

Digital Submissions for FCO

The City of Evanston requires projects costing greater than $500,000, or with a significant impact on the city, to provide digital versions of “as built” construction documents. Projects that will require digital plans are new buildings (BLDC & BLDR) and additions (ADDC & ADDR), unless another type of permit significantly alters the built environment. Required documents include a general site plan, floor plans, and a building elevation view, all of which need to be “as-built” rather than the original plans. These documents are in addition to and do not replace any current submission requirements for permits. The City of Evanston will use this information to maintain a digital base map of all the buildings and significant features in Evanston. The base map is used extensively to provide information, analysis and public safety services to Evanston.

What is Required?

Building and Development Services division staff will inform you if you must submit these documents for your permit. 

• Site Plan: A plan view, drawn to scale, depicting the project location and showing at a minimum: property lines, building footprints, building elevation changes, sidewalks, driveways, proximate reference points identifiable within the City of Evanston and any fire lanes. (Example Site Plan)
• Floor Plans: Interior plan view for each floor, drawn to scale, showing at a minimum: interior walls, exterior walls, doors and any stairs and elevators. In multi-floor buildings, identical floor plans need not be submitted for each floor, but you should indicate which floor(s) each plan is for. (Example Floor Plan)
• Elevation Views: Exterior profile view, drawn to scale, showing at a minimum: height of building sections, main entrance and roofline. (Example Elevation View)
• Permit Number, Address or Location, and an Index of Files explaining what is being submitted.

Acceptable Document Formats

• SHAPE: Popular Esri geographic file format (include all files .shp, .shx, .dbf, .prj, etc.)
• DWG: Native AutoCAD file format
• DXF: Drawing Exchange Format, popular with most CAD software
• DGN: Intergraph graphics file format

Accuracy Requirement

The data must be a proportionally accurate representation of the construction project, sufficient to fully explain the scope, with the defined scale clearly represented.

When to Submit

Submission of construction/design documents in a digital format is required prior to the issuance of a Final Certificate of Occupancy (FCO). The City will not issue the FCO until informed by GIS staff that all required documents have been submitted.

How to Submit Documents

• Email: digitalplans@cityofevanston.org (preferred method)
• Physical media: Bring to permit desk or mail to Digital Plans address provided below.