Last reviewed October 31, 2026.
A couple on a side street off Sunrise Highway spent the winter catching drips in the upstairs hall closet. Now they have a roofing estimate in hand, and the roofer says the permit will be handled. They nod. Then they wonder which office that means.
They know they live in the Town of Hempstead. Their electric bill comes from the village. For building permits, the village is the one that counts.
Rockville Centre is its own permit office
Nassau County’s list of cities, towns and villages places the Village of Rockville Centre inside the Town of Hempstead, one of 22 incorporated villages there. But the village keeps its building work in house. Its Building Department page says the department issues residential and commercial construction permits, licenses electricians and plumbers, issues certificates of occupancy and completion, and investigates complaints of code violations.
You’ll find it at 110 Maple Avenue. The village’s departments page lists its phone as 516-678-9247, and the Building Department page names a Superintendent at 516-678-9250, a Deputy Superintendent at 516-678-9249 and a clerk at 516-678-9248.
What the village paperwork says about roof work
We couldn’t find a roofing handout. What the village does post is a residential permit package, and it opens with a broad rule: “A Building Permit is required in Rockville Centre when you are making any addition, alteration, or repair to residential property, or for new construction on residential property.”
Chapter 115 of the village code draws a tighter line. It bars starting the erection, alteration, improvement or demolition of a building without a permit from the Superintendent of Buildings, “except that no building permit shall be required for the performance of ordinary repairs which are not structural in nature.” The code never says whether a full tear-off and reshingle is an ordinary repair. Patching a few shingles likely is. Replacing rafters or changing the roofline is not.
Our reading: the village’s own rule names repairs, so treat a reroof as permit work until the Building Department tells you otherwise. Call 516-678-9247 before the dumpster shows up.
If the job changes the roof’s shape, the village’s residential zoning affidavit, dated January 2015, lists a 32 foot maximum height and a minimum main roof slope of 6 on 12.
Filing in person, in two short windows
Plan your morning around this one. The permit instructions say the residential application goes directly to the residential inspector, between 8 and 9 a.m. or between 11:30 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. The department’s web page adds that an inspector has to review a permit before it can be submitted.
The checklist, updated January 30, 2021, asks for:
- A completed and notarized application form and a $135 application fee
- A copy of the contractor’s Nassau County Home Improvement License
- Workers’ compensation, liability and disability insurance for the contractor
- Two copies of a property survey and a zoning affidavit
- Two detailed construction drawings stamped by a New York State architect or engineer, with energy code calculations
- An affidavit of no electrical work and no plumbing work, when that applies
- An asbestos affidavit when asbestos rules apply
That list was written with construction projects in mind, so ask the inspector which items a reroof actually needs. The village’s insurance sheet asks for $1,000,000 in liability coverage naming the village as additional insured and certificate holder, and says ACORD forms are accepted only as proof of liability insurance. A dumpster in the street needs a separate permit from the Department of Public Works.
One more warning from the application: a file left dormant for 90 days gets thrown out, and the fees paid on it are not refunded.
Fees and the three-month clock
The $135 application fee is only the start. When a construction permit fee has to be calculated, the instructions say the department contacts the applicant with the amount, and a second check covers the certificate of occupancy or letter of completion. Chapter 115 says fees are set by resolution of the Board of Trustees and that the Superintendent determines the estimated cost of the work. We couldn’t find a current village fee table, so get the number straight from the department.
Once the permit is issued, a clock starts. Under Chapter 115, as amended in 2005 and 2010, a permit allows work to begin for three months after issue and stays in force while work actively continues. Sixty days with no substantial work counts as abandonment unless the Superintendent extends it. No permit runs past one year from issue without an extension. The Superintendent may grant up to two extensions of up to three months each, for a fee, and anything beyond that goes to the Board of Trustees.
Inspections, work hours and fines
Keep the permit where people can see it. The village’s inspection sheet says every building permit must be displayed at all times until the work is approved. Inspections need at least 24 hours’ notice and the permit number. Residential inspections are booked at 516-678-9247 between 8 and 9:30 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. and 12:45 p.m., and happen in a morning slot from 9 to 11:30 or an afternoon slot from 2 to 4.
The same sheet prints Section 84-7 of the village code, added in 1995: no construction activity or equipment between 7 p.m. and 7:30 a.m., or at any time on Sunday. A Sunday tear-off is out.
Skipping the permit costs by the day. The penalty table in Section 1-2 of the code lists a maximum fine of $750 for each day of an alteration without a permit, $1,000 a day for violating a stop-work order, and $1,500 a day for violating the building code chapter or the state Uniform Code.
Design review, flood rules and the license line
We found no historic district law in the village code. The permit instructions do send two kinds of projects to Exterior Design Review: those costing more than $300,000 and those adding 1,000 square feet or more. A reroof alone is unlikely to hit either. One folded into a big renovation could.
The village adopted a flood damage prevention law, Chapter 188, on August 10, 2009, and its permit application has boxes for flood zone and base flood elevation. If the house sits in a mapped flood zone, ask whether the flood rules would count the roof as part of a bigger project.
The application has a line for the contractor’s Nassau County license number. Check that number with the county before you sign anything, using our Nassau license guide. For homes outside village lines, see the Town of Hempstead guide.
