AQD FY24 ANNUAL PERMITTING REPORT 2024-08-21.PDF

Air Quality Department 
Office of the Director 
301 W. Jefferson St., Suite 410 
Phoenix, Arizona 85003 
P: 602-506-6443 
E: Philip.McNeely@maricopa.gov 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
August 21, 2024 
 
 
To: 
Jack Sellers, Chairman, District 1 
 
Thomas Galvin, Vice Chairman, District 2 
 
Bill Gates, Supervisor District 1 
 
Clint Hickman, Supervisor District 4 
 
Steve Gallardo, Supervisor District 5 
 
Cc: 
Jennifer Pokorski, County Manager 
 
Darcy Kober, Assistant County Manager 
 
From: 
Philip A. McNeely, Director 
 
Subject: 
FY2024 Annual Permitting Report 
 
Pursuant to A.R.S. § 49-471.14 (Reporting; Compliance with Time Frames), on or before 
September 1 of each year, the Maricopa County Air Quality Department (MCAQD) Control 
Officer must report to the Board of Supervisors the county’s compliance level with overall 
time frames to grant or deny air quality permits for the prior fiscal year. The following table 
provides such report. 
 
Type 
Sub-Grouping 
Overall Time 
Frame 
Total 
Decision
s 
Within Time 
Frame 
Outside 
Time 
Frame 
On-Time 
Compliance 
Percentage 
Title V 
(Major 
Sources) 
New permits 
18 months 
0 
0 
0 
N/A 
 
 
Minor modifications 
 
 
90 days 
4 
4 
0 
100.0% 
Other significant 
permit revisions 
18 months 
6 
6 
0 
100.0% 
Renewals 
18 months  
4 
3 
1 
75.0% 
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Type 
Sub-Grouping 
Overall Time 
Frame 
Total 
Decision
s 
Within Time 
Frame 
Outside 
Time 
Frame 
On-Time 
Compliance 
Percentage 
Non-Title V 
(Minor 
Sources) 
New permits 
9 months 
58 
57 
1 
98.3% 
 
 
Minor modifications 
 
60 days 
120 
91 
29 
75.8% 
 
 
Non-minor 
modifications 
 
 
9 months 
13 
12 
1 
92.3% 
Renewals 
9 months 
169 
50 
119 
29.6% 
Authority to 
Operate 
(ATO) Under 
a General 
Permit 
 
 
All 
180 days 
1,141 
1,141 
0 
100.0% 
Dust 
All 
14 days 
4,695 
4,695 
0 
100.0% 
All Permits Issued 
6,210 
6,059 
151 
97.6% 
All Permits Denied 
0 
 
 
 
 
MCAQD issues four types of air quality permits that are subject to legislative time frames: 
 
 Title V: For major sources (e.g., power plants and large industrial facilities), 
 Non-Title V: For minor sources or light industrial sources, heating units, and internal 
combustion engines that are not major sources of air pollutants, 
 Authority to Operate (ATO) Under a General Permit: For smaller sources (e.g., dry cleaners, 
gas stations, vehicle refinishers, and woodworking shops), and 
 Dust: For dust-generating operations that disturb one tenth of an acre of land or more. 
 
The “overall time frame” for a given type of permit represents the maximum number of days that 
are allowed by law to elapse between receipt of an application and MCAQD’s decision to grant 
or deny a permit. 
 
In FY24, MCAQD processed 6,210 permits, compared to 5,173 in FY23, an increase of 20% or 
1,037 permits. Although the department had one TV renewal and 119 NTV renewals completed 
outside the regulatory timeframes, department regulations allow these facilities to continue 
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operations under their existing permit until the new permit renewal is issued.  In addition, the 
vast majority of the NTV minor modifications that exceeded the time frame did so by 
approximately 7-10 days. Overall, 97.6% of the 6,210 permits issued in FY 2024 met the 
prescribed time frames. Although this represents a slight decrease from preceding years, 
MCAQD has taken several steps to ensure that our customers receive the timely service they 
deserve, such as: 
 
 Partnering with qualified contractors to review air quality permit applications and issue air 
quality permits, 
 Reorganizing the department by separating the Title V and Performance Testing supervisory 
roles and hiring a new Title V engineering supervisor allowing for focused supervision of 
both groups, 
 Hiring two additional permit engineers and backfilling four permit engineering positions, 
 Notifying customers awaiting renewals of NTV permits that their current permits will remain 
valid until they receive their renewed permit from us, regardless of its printed expiration date, 
and 
 Aggressively prioritizing NTV new permits and modifications, rather than renewals, so that 
businesses that need a permit to start up or expand their operations are not delayed. 
 
In addition, since 2020, all air quality applications, notifications, payments, and other 
transactions are received and processed exclusively through the IMPACT online portals, which 
has significantly enhanced customer access to permitting information and has led to permitting 
efficiencies. 
 
MCAQD will continue to improve and deliver quality service to our customers. If you have any 
questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at 602-506-6701. 
 
 
Sincerely, 
 
 
 
Philip A. McNeely 
Director 
 
 
 
 
 
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