Legal Definitions - subpermittee

A subpermittee is an individual or entity that has been granted permission by a primary permit holder to conduct specific activities that fall within the scope of an existing permit. Essentially, they operate under the authority and conditions of the original permit, but their direct authorization comes from the permittee rather than the issuing agency itself.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Imagine a large construction company (the primary permittee) obtains a comprehensive building permit from the city to construct a new office complex. This permit covers all aspects of the construction. The construction company then hires a specialized plumbing contractor to install all the water and sewage systems. This plumbing contractor would act as a subpermittee, performing their work under the umbrella of the main building permit held by the general contractor.

  This illustrates the term because the plumbing contractor does not need to apply for a separate building permit for their specific work; their activities are authorized by and conducted under the existing permit held by the general construction company.

• Consider a university research team (the primary permittee) that secures a permit from a wildlife agency to study a protected bird species within a designated national park. This permit allows them to access certain areas and handle the birds for research purposes. The lead researcher then authorizes a graduate student to assist with data collection and bird tagging in the permitted area, under their direct supervision. The graduate student would be a subpermittee.

  This example shows that the graduate student is allowed to perform activities that would otherwise require a permit, because they are operating with the permission and under the authority of the primary permit holder (the research team/lead researcher).

• A local municipality grants a permit to an event management company (the primary permittee) to host a large outdoor music festival in a public park. This permit covers aspects like noise levels, crowd control, and temporary structures. The event management company then contracts with several independent food truck operators to sell food and beverages at the festival. These food truck operators would be considered subpermittees.

  Here, the food truck operators are permitted to conduct commercial activities in the park during the festival because they have been authorized by the event management company, which holds the overarching permit for the entire event. They are operating under the terms and conditions of that main festival permit.