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Change of Use / Change of Occupancy Permit (South Metro Fire Rescue) in Bow Mar, Colorado

Bow Mar's own Ordinance No. 340 added a new section to the locally-adopted 2021 IFC, Sec. 105.6.25, explicitly requiring anyone who intends to 'change occupancy of a building' to first apply to and obtain a permit from the fire code official — South Metro Fire Rescue. SMFR's own live fee schedule confirms this is a currently-administered permit category by listing a distinct 'Change of Use' line item with its own fee. Separately, and administered by the Town rather than SMFR, Bow Mar Municipal Code Sec. 18-7 requires a Certificate of Occupancy before any building may be occupied. Given Bow Mar's exclusively residential zoning and absence of commercial districts, the realistic scope of a change-of-occupancy scenario here is narrow, and not the commercial-tenant occupancy-classification change this permit type usually addresses.

Verified 2026-08-13 · Source

When you need this permit

  • Ordinance No. 340 adds a new IFC Sec. 105.6.25 ('Buildings and facilities'): 'Any owner or owner's authorized agent who intends to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish or change occupancy of a building, or structure, or facility...shall first make application to the fire code official and obtain the required permit' — the fire code official is South Metro Fire Rescue's Fire Marshal or designee (Sec. 103.1/103.2, also documented in the fire-sprinkler-alarm-permit entry)
  • South Metro Fire Rescue's own published 'Systems and Other Fees' schedule lists a distinct 'Change of Use' line item with its own plan-check and inspection fee — independently confirming this is a real, currently-administered permit category, not merely dormant amendment language with no operative process
  • Separately, and administered by the Town of Bow Mar (not SMFR): Municipal Code Sec. 18-7 requires a Certificate of Occupancy before any building may be occupied — 'Once all the inspections have been satisfactorily completed and the Building Department determines that a new home is ready for occupancy, the Building Department shall issue a certificate of occupancy. No building may be occupied or inhabited until a certificate of occupancy has been issued.' This Section is written in the context of new-home construction and does not separately spell out a change-of-occupancy CO workflow for an existing home distinct from the SMFR fire-code permit above — genuinely unclear from the published text how the two interact for a change-of-occupancy scenario specifically
  • Given Bow Mar's exclusively residential zoning (Sec. 16-3's six districts; Sec. 16-11's town-wide prohibition on professional offices/commercial establishments outside an approved Planned Development), the realistic change-of-occupancy scenarios here are narrow — e.g. converting non-habitable accessory space to a different residential occupancy, or an occupancy change tied to an addition or remodel — not a commercial-tenant occupancy reclassification, since no such use exists anywhere in Town (see the NO COMMERCIAL PERMIT TRACK finding)
  • Confirm with both South Metro Fire Rescue (via the Accela Permit Portal) and the Town of Bow Mar Building Department which permit intake governs a specific proposed change, since this permit sits at the intersection of SMFR's fire-code review and the Town's own Building Permit/Certificate of Occupancy process, and no single published document walks through the combined workflow

Required documents

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Fee schedule

Change of Use (South Metro Fire Rescue)
SMFR 'Systems and Other Fees' schedule, Miscellaneous Fees section. Show full citationSMFR 'Systems and Other Fees' schedule, Miscellaneous Fees section. NOTE: this line item appears on a page of SMFR's own fee-schedule PDF headed 'Effective Date: January 1, 2025,' while other pages of the same document are headed 'Effective Date: January 1, 2026' — a genuine internal dating inconsistency in SMFR's own published document, flagged rather than silently normalized; confirm the currently-effective figure directly with SMFR before budgeting.
$174.24 plan check + $413.75 inspection = $587.99 total
Certificate of Occupancy (Town of Bow Mar)
No Certificate of Occupancy fee separate from the underlying Building Permit fee already paid is published on the Town's Building Permit Fees, Flat Fee Schedule, or Sample List of Cost pages — the CO… Show full citationNo Certificate of Occupancy fee separate from the underlying Building Permit fee already paid is published on the Town's Building Permit Fees, Flat Fee Schedule, or Sample List of Cost pages — the CO appears to be bundled into the Building Permit fee rather than carrying its own additional charge. That matches the residential-building-permit entry's account of Bow Mar's CO process for new construction.
Not published — contact the department

Review timeline

Plan reviewBow Mar’s published plan-review target
1–5 business days

How long did your Change of Use / Change of Occupancy Permit (South Metro Fire Rescue) permit actually take in Bow Mar?

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

Inspection process

  1. 1

    SMFR Occupancy Compliance Review

    South Metro Fire Rescue reviews the proposed change of occupancy against applicable fire-code requirements before permit issuance

  2. 2

    Town of Bow Mar Certificate of Occupancy Inspection

    Final inspection by the Town Building Department confirming the property is ready for occupancy under Sec. 18-7, if a new or updated Certificate of Occupancy is required as part of the change

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

Tips

  • Bow Mar's change-of-use mechanism is genuinely a fire-code permit, issued via South Metro Fire Rescue's Sec. 105.6.25 amendment, rather than a Town Building Department or Zoning permit. That is an unusual structural choice worth knowing: many small Colorado towns have no standalone change-of-use process at all, and Bow Mar created a real one but housed it in the fire code instead of the zoning or building code. Approach South Metro Fire Rescue, not Town Hall.
  • Given the Town's total absence of commercial zoning, don't expect a business/tenant occupancy-reclassification scenario here — the practical Bow Mar use case is closer to a residential occupancy change tied to an addition, an accessory-space conversion, or similar scope.
  • SMFR's own fee schedule prices 'Change of Use' as a distinct line item from its ordinary new-construction/tenant-improvement fire-protection review — confirm with SMFR directly whether a specific project needs this standalone permit or is already covered by the new-construction review documented in the fire-sprinkler-alarm-permit entry.
  • The interaction between SMFR's fire-code change-of-occupancy permit and the Town's own Sec. 18-7 Certificate of Occupancy requirement is not spelled out in a single published document — budget time to coordinate directly with both the Town Building Department and SMFR rather than assuming one permit covers the other.

Frequently asked questions

Bow Mar requires a change of use / change of occupancy permit (south metro fire rescue) for: Ordinance No. 340 adds a new IFC Sec. 105.6.25 ('Buildings and facilities'): 'Any owner or owner's authorized agent who intends to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish or change occupancy of a building, or structure, or facility...shall first make application to the fire code official and obtain the required permit' — the fire code official is South Metro Fire Rescue's Fire Marshal or designee (Sec. 103.1/103.2, also documented in the fire-sprinkler-alarm-permit entry); South Metro Fire Rescue's own published 'Systems and Other Fees' schedule lists a distinct 'Change of Use' line item with its own plan-check and inspection fee — independently confirming this is a real, currently-administered permit category, not merely dormant amendment language with no operative process; Separately, and administered by the Town of Bow Mar (not SMFR): Municipal Code Sec. 18-7 requires a Certificate of Occupancy before any building may be occupied — 'Once all the inspections have been satisfactorily completed and the Building Department determines that a new home is ready for occupancy, the Building Department shall issue a certificate of occupancy. No building may be occupied or inhabited until a certificate of occupancy has been issued.' This Section is written in the context of new-home construction and does not separately spell out a change-of-occupancy CO workflow for an existing home distinct from the SMFR fire-code permit above — genuinely unclear from the published text how the two interact for a change-of-occupancy scenario specifically; Given Bow Mar's exclusively residential zoning (Sec. 16-3's six districts; Sec. 16-11's town-wide prohibition on professional offices/commercial establishments outside an approved Planned Development), the realistic change-of-occupancy scenarios here are narrow — e.g. converting non-habitable accessory space to a different residential occupancy, or an occupancy change tied to an addition or remodel — not a commercial-tenant occupancy reclassification, since no such use exists anywhere in Town (see the NO COMMERCIAL PERMIT TRACK finding); Confirm with both South Metro Fire Rescue (via the Accela Permit Portal) and the Town of Bow Mar Building Department which permit intake governs a specific proposed change, since this permit sits at the intersection of SMFR's fire-code review and the Town's own Building Permit/Certificate of Occupancy process, and no single published document walks through the combined workflow. If your project isn't listed, confirm with Town of Bow Mar Building Department at 303-795-2063 before starting work.

In Bow Mar, the published Change of Use (South Metro Fire Rescue) is: $174.24 plan check + $413.75 inspection = $587.99 total. These are the jurisdiction's own published figures — see the fee schedule table and source citations on this page.

Bow Mar's published plan-review target for a change of use / change of occupancy permit (south metro fire rescue) is 1–5 business days.

You'll need: SMFR Change of Occupancy Application. Depending on your project, Bow Mar may also ask for: Certificate of Occupancy Request (Town of Bow Mar Building Department). See the required-documents checklist on this page for details on each.

Bow Mar requires 2 inspection(s) for a change of use / change of occupancy permit (south metro fire rescue), in order: SMFR Occupancy Compliance Review, Town of Bow Mar Certificate of Occupancy Inspection. Schedule each through Town of Bow Mar Building Department (303-795-2063).

Apply through Town of Bow Mar Building Department at 2 Middlefield Road, Columbine Valley, CO 80123. Phone: 303-795-2063, email: bzapata-diaz@columbinevalley.org. Office hours: 8:00am - 4:00pm, Monday through Friday (Building Department office, per the Town's live Building Permits page; the page notes these hours 'will be shortened due to COVID-19' — an apparently stale caveat still present on the live page as of the last verification). Building Department Coordinator Bonnie Zapata-Diaz. Bow Mar Building Inspector Terry Weis (reviews all plans and conducts all inspections) direct line 303-522-3331.. Official information: https://www.townofbowmar.org/building-permits.

Yes. Bow Mar's Ordinance No. 340 added IFC Sec. 105.6.25, which requires anyone intending to change the occupancy of a building to first obtain a permit from the fire code official, South Metro Fire Rescue. SMFR's published fee schedule carries a distinct 'Change of Use' line item at $587.99 total.

South Metro Fire Rescue (SMFR), the Town's appointed fire code official — not the Town of Bow Mar Building Department directly. Separately, the Town's own Building Department administers the Certificate of Occupancy required under Municipal Code Sec. 18-7 before any building may be occupied; how the two processes combine for a specific change-of-occupancy scenario is not spelled out in a single published document, so confirm directly with both.

Sources & verification

Verified against official sources. Last reviewed 2026-08-13.

Fee schedules

Online permit portal

Codes & ordinances

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 Bow Mar building department before you submit. PermitBase is an independent reference and is not affiliated with any government agency.

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