Skip to main content
PermitBase

Commercial Building Permit in Tusayan, Arizona

Required for new commercial construction, additions, and alterations within Tusayan town limits — in practice dominated by hotel/lodging (IBC Group R-1) and tourist-commercial projects, since Tusayan exists almost entirely as the gateway town to Grand Canyon National Park's South Rim. Reviewed against the 2018 IBC and the Coconino County Building Code Amendments and Standards (June 18, 2019) as adopted by the Town via Ordinance 2021-03. Tusayan has no in-house commercial plan-review staff: applicants first obtain the Town's Pre-Application Checklist endorsement, then Coconino County Community Development (Building and Safety Division) performs plan review and inspections under the Town-County intergovernmental agreement using its own published commercial procedures, and the Town of Tusayan issues the final signed building permit. No construction may begin until that final Town-signed permit is issued.

Verified 2026-08-01 · Source

When you need this permit

  • Town of Tusayan Pre-Application Checklist must be submitted to and endorsed by the Town before applying for civil or building permit review; the Town strongly encourages a pre-application meeting with the Town Manager because multiple agencies are typically involved
  • A pre-construction meeting with Coconino County Building Division staff is required prior to application, per the County's 'Building Permit Procedures and Minimum Plan Requirements for Commercial Projects' information sheet (the document that governs County-side commercial processing)
  • Plans must comply with the 2018 IBC (plus 2018 IMC/IFGC/IPC/IECC/IEBC and 2017 NEC as applicable) and the Coconino County Building Code Amendments and Standards (June 18, 2019), all adopted by reference by the Town via Ordinance 2021-03
  • New construction, additions, and alterations for buildings of 3,000 square feet or more require plans designed and stamped by an architect or engineer registered with the Arizona Board of Technical Registration (single-family dwellings excepted)
  • Submitted via Coconino County's Online Permit Applications portal (co-coconino-az.smartgovcommunity.com); only PDF format is accepted for plan review, PDFs must scale and be unlocked, and all required documents must be submitted within ten working days or the permit application is canceled
  • The applicant must provide an estimated permit valuation covering the total value of work (materials and labor, including electrical, gas, mechanical, plumbing equipment and permanent systems) per IBC 109.3, certified as complete and accurate; bid value is used for any commercial project valuation in excess of $5,000.00
  • The plan cover sheet must state proposed use, occupancy classifications, total area by use, mixed occupancies, type of construction and sprinkled/non-sprinkled status, allowable area and number of stories, fire-resistive construction, seismic design category, site class, soil reports and bearing capacity, wind speed/exposure, and all live/wind/snow/dead loads
  • During County review, approvals may also be needed from the Planning and Zoning Division, Environmental Quality Division, Environmental Health Division, Engineering Division, Building Division, ADEQ (for schools, water systems, or demolitions), and the Fire Marshal (public buildings, sprinklers, elevators, fuel, tanks, hazardous materials)
  • Concurrent Tusayan-area agencies apply as applicable: Coconino County Flood Control District, Tusayan Sanitary District (wastewater), Tusayan Fire District, Arizona State Fire Marshal, and Grand Canyon Unified School District
  • No construction may begin until the Town of Tusayan has issued its final signed building permit, even after County plan review/approval is complete

Required documents

Check off what you have — your progress is saved on this device.

Not ready yet — 0 of 4 required documents checked.

This checker covers one permit. A full project usually triggers several — our paid checklist will assemble all of them, from $29 →

Fee schedule

Plan Review Deposit — New Commercial (by size)Coconino County Building Permitting Fees schedule (effective 09/01/2021), Table I — collected at plan submittal and deducted from the total fee due at permit issuance; deposits are non-refundable per County Substantive Policy 2025-01
Up to 1,000 sq ft: $300.00; 1,000-3,000 sq ft: $600.00; 3,000-10,000 sq ft: $900.00; 10,000-20,000 sq ft: $1,500.00; over 20,000 sq ft: $2,500.00
Building Permit Fee — Valuation-BasedCoconino County Building Permitting Fees schedule (effective 09/01/2021), Part I(B)-(C), Tables II and III, re-extracted cleanly from the live PDF 2026-08-01; bid value is used for any commercial project valuation in excess of $5,000.00 (bolded rule on the schedule); minimum fee for any single permit is $50.00
Table II: building gross area x ICC Square Foot Construction Cost (Feb 2019 data, by occupancy group and construction type per the 2018 IBC) x 0.010 permit fee multiplier — e.g., R-1 Residential hotels ranges $143.96 (Type VB) to $199.70 (Type IA) per sq ft of valuation basis, B Business $134.99-$197.81, M Mercantile $95.77-$142.95, A-2 restaurants/bars $143.33-$190.96; shell-only buildings deduct 20%. Alternatively Table III valuation bands (e.g., $1,991.17 for the first $100,000 plus $11.20 per additional $1,000 up to $500,000; $10,787.59 plus $6.03 per additional $1,000 above $1,000,000)
Plan Review FeeCoconino County Building Permitting Fees schedule, Part I, Section D — separate from and in addition to the building permit fee when the permit fee is based on ICC valuation (Table II) or construction valuation (Table III); additional plan review for incomplete/changed plans and all reviews beyond the first recheck billed at $55.00 per hour (one-hour minimum)
65% of the building permit fee
Commercial Fire Safety PermitsCoconino County Building Permitting Fees schedule (effective 09/01/2021), Table IV, Commercial Fire Safety section — directly relevant to Tusayan's hotel/lodging and restaurant stock; Fire Marshal approval is separately flagged in the County's commercial procedures for public buildings, sprinklers, elevators, fuel, tanks, and hazardous materials
$50.00 fee to issue, plus $150.00 each fire protection system (sprinklers/alarm etc.), $100.00 each commercial hood (Type I & II), $100.00 each commercial miscellaneous (spray booths/ovens etc.)
Commercial Electrical (within Table IV unit fees)Coconino County Building Permitting Fees schedule (effective 09/01/2021), Table IV, Electrical section
$50.00 fee to issue electrical permit; commercial buildings wiring at $0.03 per sq ft; service equipment $45.00 (up to 400A single-phase) / $60.00 (600V+ or over 400A)
Temporary Certificate of Occupancy — CommercialCoconino County Building Permitting Fees schedule (effective 09/01/2021), Table IV, Other Inspections section; re-inspection fee for incomplete/not-ready work is $120.00; inspections outside normal business hours $50.00/hour (two-hour minimum)
$300.00
Town of Tusayan Engineering — Civil Review Fees (Town-side, separate from County building fees)Town of Tusayan Resolution No. 2023-04 (adopted June 27, 2023), Engineering - Civil Review Fees — these Town-side civil review fees apply in addition to Coconino County's building permit fees for commercial projects that require civil review
Drainage report, geotechnical report, traffic studies and related reports/plans: $2,500.00; paving/grading/sewer/water plans: $800.00 per sheet; Town review prior to County recording (plats, minor land division, easement dedication, ROW dedication): $200.00 + $50.00 per parcel; third submittal/review or items not listed: $200.00 per hour

Review timeline

Plan reviewTusayan’s published plan-review target
21–77 business days

How long did your Commercial Building Permit permit actually take in Tusayan?

Anonymous — one question, no email. Answers are combined and only shown once at least 5 people have reported.

Inspection process

  1. 1

    Foundation/Footing

    Before concrete pour; performed by Coconino County Building Inspectors under the Town-County IGA

  2. 2

    Framing

    Structural framing, connections, and fire-resistive construction per the 2018 IBC and Coconino County Building Code Amendments and Standards; special inspections listed on the approved cover sheet are performed per the County's Special Inspection Process

  3. 3

    Final

    All work complete per approved plans, including Fire Marshal/fire-district items where applicable; final inspection required before certificate of occupancy and before the Town of Tusayan issues its final signed building permit authorization for occupancy

See the full Tusayan inspection guide — scheduling & re-inspection fees →

Tips

  • Tusayan's economy is hotels and tourist-commercial almost exclusively, but the Town publishes NO hospitality-specific or large-building-specific permit track — a hotel is simply a commercial building permit reviewed by Coconino County under the IGA, priced under the R-1 Residential hotels row of the County's ICC valuation table ($143.96-$199.70/sq ft valuation basis by construction type) with Commercial Fire Safety permit line items ($150 per fire protection system) layered on. Fire-sprinkler and fire-alarm scope goes through the Fire Marshal review flagged in the County's commercial procedures, and the Tusayan Fire District and Arizona State Fire Marshal are named concurrent agencies on the Town's own Engineering & Development page.
  • The County's 77-day commercial timeframe (21 business days intake + 56 days substantive) is per review cycle, not per permit — the policy says so explicitly — and after three reviews/redlines staff will ask whether you want to cancel or begin paying by the page or hour. A clean, complete first submittal is worth real money and months on a Tusayan commercial job.
  • Budget for THREE layers of process, not one: (1) the Town's Pre-Application Checklist endorsement and pre-application meeting (not time-boxed), (2) Coconino County's commercial plan review and inspections (77 days per review cycle), and (3) the Town's final signed building permit, without which no construction may begin. Town-side civil review fees under Resolution 2023-04 ($2,500 per drainage/geotech/traffic report, $800 per plan sheet) are additional to all County building fees.
  • If a building application remains administratively incomplete for 10 days it is denied as incomplete and all deposits are non-refundable; a permit in RFAI status (returned for additional information) for more than 180 days is cancelled; issued permits expire 180 days after the last completed inspection.
  • Work commenced before permit issuance draws an investigation fee equal to the building permit fee or $100.00, whichever is greater.
  • The County's commercial procedures information sheet states it applies to 'commercial building permits within unincorporated areas of Coconino County'; Tusayan is incorporated but contracts its plan review and inspections to the County under the IGA, and the County's Online Permit Applications portal and commercial procedures are the published pathway the Town itself points applicants to. No Tusayan-specific commercial submittal standard exists — confirm any edge-case applicability question with the Town (928-638-9909) at the pre-application meeting.
  • No commercial-specific inspection-sequence checklist is published by the County or the Town — the inspection list here reflects the standard structural sequence named in this file's residential entries plus the special-inspection and Fire Marshal items the County's commercial cover-sheet requirements call out. Confirm the exact required inspection card for your project at permit issuance (928-679-8850).

Frequently asked questions

Tusayan requires a commercial building permit for: Town of Tusayan Pre-Application Checklist must be submitted to and endorsed by the Town before applying for civil or building permit review; the Town strongly encourages a pre-application meeting with the Town Manager because multiple agencies are typically involved; A pre-construction meeting with Coconino County Building Division staff is required prior to application, per the County's 'Building Permit Procedures and Minimum Plan Requirements for Commercial Projects' information sheet (the document that governs County-side commercial processing); Plans must comply with the 2018 IBC (plus 2018 IMC/IFGC/IPC/IECC/IEBC and 2017 NEC as applicable) and the Coconino County Building Code Amendments and Standards (June 18, 2019), all adopted by reference by the Town via Ordinance 2021-03; New construction, additions, and alterations for buildings of 3,000 square feet or more require plans designed and stamped by an architect or engineer registered with the Arizona Board of Technical Registration (single-family dwellings excepted); Submitted via Coconino County's Online Permit Applications portal (co-coconino-az.smartgovcommunity.com); only PDF format is accepted for plan review, PDFs must scale and be unlocked, and all required documents must be submitted within ten working days or the permit application is canceled; The applicant must provide an estimated permit valuation covering the total value of work (materials and labor, including electrical, gas, mechanical, plumbing equipment and permanent systems) per IBC 109.3, certified as complete and accurate; bid value is used for any commercial project valuation in excess of $5,000.00; The plan cover sheet must state proposed use, occupancy classifications, total area by use, mixed occupancies, type of construction and sprinkled/non-sprinkled status, allowable area and number of stories, fire-resistive construction, seismic design category, site class, soil reports and bearing capacity, wind speed/exposure, and all live/wind/snow/dead loads; During County review, approvals may also be needed from the Planning and Zoning Division, Environmental Quality Division, Environmental Health Division, Engineering Division, Building Division, ADEQ (for schools, water systems, or demolitions), and the Fire Marshal (public buildings, sprinklers, elevators, fuel, tanks, hazardous materials); Concurrent Tusayan-area agencies apply as applicable: Coconino County Flood Control District, Tusayan Sanitary District (wastewater), Tusayan Fire District, Arizona State Fire Marshal, and Grand Canyon Unified School District; No construction may begin until the Town of Tusayan has issued its final signed building permit, even after County plan review/approval is complete. If your project isn't listed, confirm with Town of Tusayan Engineering & Development (permit administration) with plan review and inspections performed by Coconino County Community Development Department, Building and Safety Division, under an intergovernmental agreement at 928-638-9909 (Town of Tusayan); 928-679-8850 (Coconino County Building and Safety) before starting work.

In Tusayan, the published Plan Review Deposit — New Commercial (by size) is: Up to 1,000 sq ft: $300.00; 1,000-3,000 sq ft: $600.00; 3,000-10,000 sq ft: $900.00; 10,000-20,000 sq ft: $1,500.00; over 20,000 sq ft: $2,500.00. Additional published fees: Building Permit Fee — Valuation-Based — Table II: building gross area x ICC Square Foot Construction Cost (Feb 2019 data, by occupancy group and construction type per the 2018 IBC) x 0.010 permit fee multiplier — e.g., R-1 Residential hotels ranges $143.96 (Type VB) to $199.70 (Type IA) per sq ft of valuation basis, B Business $134.99-$197.81, M Mercantile $95.77-$142.95, A-2 restaurants/bars $143.33-$190.96; shell-only buildings deduct 20%. Alternatively Table III valuation bands (e.g., $1,991.17 for the first $100,000 plus $11.20 per additional $1,000 up to $500,000; $10,787.59 plus $6.03 per additional $1,000 above $1,000,000); Plan Review Fee — 65% of the building permit fee; Commercial Fire Safety Permits — $50.00 fee to issue, plus $150.00 each fire protection system (sprinklers/alarm etc.), $100.00 each commercial hood (Type I & II), $100.00 each commercial miscellaneous (spray booths/ovens etc.); Commercial Electrical (within Table IV unit fees) — $50.00 fee to issue electrical permit; commercial buildings wiring at $0.03 per sq ft; service equipment $45.00 (up to 400A single-phase) / $60.00 (600V+ or over 400A); Temporary Certificate of Occupancy — Commercial — $300.00; Town of Tusayan Engineering — Civil Review Fees (Town-side, separate from County building fees) — Drainage report, geotechnical report, traffic studies and related reports/plans: $2,500.00; paving/grading/sewer/water plans: $800.00 per sheet; Town review prior to County recording (plats, minor land division, easement dedication, ROW dedication): $200.00 + $50.00 per parcel; third submittal/review or items not listed: $200.00 per hour. These are the jurisdiction's own published figures — see the fee schedule table and source citations on this page.

Per Coconino County Community Development Substantive Policy 2025-01 (current version signed 7/8/26), Commercial Projects carry a 77-day total timeframe per review cycle: 21 business days of intake (administrative completeness) plus 56 days of substantive technical review. Each redline/resubmittal round can restart that clock, and the Town of Tusayan's own pre-application endorsement and final-signature steps are additional and not time-boxed.

You'll need: Town of Tusayan Pre-Application Checklist; Coconino County Online Commercial Building Permit Application; Full Commercial Plan Set (PDF, 1/4 inch = 1 foot unless otherwise noted); Architect/Engineer Stamped Plans (projects of 3,000 sq ft or more). Depending on your project, Tusayan may also ask for: Soils/Geotechnical Report. See the required-documents checklist on this page for details on each.

Tusayan requires 3 inspection(s) for a commercial building permit, in order: Foundation/Footing, Framing, Final. Schedule each through Town of Tusayan Engineering & Development (permit administration) with plan review and inspections performed by Coconino County Community Development Department, Building and Safety Division, under an intergovernmental agreement (928-638-9909 (Town of Tusayan); 928-679-8850 (Coconino County Building and Safety)).

Apply through Town of Tusayan Engineering & Development (permit administration) with plan review and inspections performed by Coconino County Community Development Department, Building and Safety Division, under an intergovernmental agreement at Town of Tusayan: 845 Mustang Drive / PO Box 709, Tusayan, AZ 86023. Coconino County Building and Safety Division: 2500 N. Fort Valley Road, Building 1, Flagstaff, AZ 86001. Phone: 928-638-9909 (Town of Tusayan); 928-679-8850 (Coconino County Building and Safety), email: tusayantownmanager@tusayan-az.gov (Town of Tusayan, for pre-application meetings); plansubmittals@coconino.az.gov (Coconino County Building and Safety). Office hours: Town of Tusayan Town Hall and Coconino County Building and Safety Division: Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Applicants must first submit a completed Pre-Application Checklist to the Town of Tusayan and are strongly encouraged to schedule a pre-application meeting with the Town Manager before beginning the permit process, because multiple agencies are typically involved. Building/civil plan review and inspections are then conducted by Coconino County via its Online Permit Applications portal (co-coconino-az.smartgovcommunity.com); once County review is complete, the Town of Tusayan issues the final signed building permit. Per the Town's own published guidance: 'No construction may begin until the Town has issued its final signed building permit.'. Official information: https://tusayan-az.gov/engineering-development/.

Coconino County Community Development (Building and Safety Division) performs commercial plan review and inspections under an intergovernmental agreement with the Town of Tusayan, using the County's published 'Building Permit Procedures and Minimum Plan Requirements for Commercial Projects' and its SmartGov online portal. The Town's role is the Pre-Application Checklist endorsement before County review begins, and issuance of the final signed building permit afterward — no construction may begin until that Town-signed permit is issued.

There is no separate hotel permit track. Hotels are Group R-1 occupancies under the 2018 IBC as adopted by Town Ordinance 2021-03, valued for permit fees under the R-1 Residential hotels row of Coconino County's ICC valuation table, with Commercial Fire Safety permit fees ($150 per fire protection system such as sprinklers/alarms, $100 per Type I/II commercial hood) and Fire Marshal review for sprinklers, elevators, fuel, tanks, and hazardous materials. The Tusayan Fire District and Arizona State Fire Marshal are concurrent review agencies named by the Town.

Sources & verification

Verified against official sources. Last reviewed 2026-08-01.

Fees, timelines, and adopted codes are researched from each jurisdiction's published records — see how we verify. Requirements change and vary by project, so always confirm the current details with the Tusayan building department before you submit. PermitBase is an independent reference and is not affiliated with any government agency.

This one’s complicated · Get an expediter

Tell us about your project and we’ll connect you with a permit expediter who works in Tusayan.

PermitBase may receive a referral fee from the expediter. This is a service introduction, not verified permit data or legal advice.

Other permits in Tusayan

Residential Building Permit (New Construction, incl. SFD / ADU / Tiny House)Residential Addition / Remodel / Miscellaneous Residential PermitElectrical PermitPlumbing PermitMechanical / HVAC PermitRe-Roofing PermitResidential Rooftop Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Self-Issue PermitElectric Vehicle (EV) Charger / Charging Station PermitDemolition PermitCommercial Tenant Improvement / Interior Commercial Remodel Permit

Commercial Building Permit in other cities

Ak-Chin Indian Community, ArizonaApache Junction, ArizonaAvondale, ArizonaBenson, ArizonaBisbee, ArizonaBuckeye, ArizonaBullhead City, ArizonaCamp Verde, Arizona

Compare commercial building permit fees across Arizona →

Look up this fee in a different city →

Embed this data card →

Now live

Build your Tusayan project checklist

Describe your project once and get every permit, document, and fee it triggers in Tusayan — in one checklist. Sign up and pay once to generate it, or go unlimited with Pro.

Get started →