Springfield building permits
VerifiedDepartment contacts, adopted codes, permit types, fees, and gotchas for Springfield, Colorado.
Last verified 2026-07-06 · Source · Embed this page’s badge · Version history
Building department
- Address
- 748 Main Street, PO Box 4, Springfield, CO 81073
- Phone
- 719-523-4528
- Office hours
- Town Hall main line (719) 523-4528; fax (719) 523-6956 (also seen as 523-6945 on a separate form). Springfield is a statutory town (not home-rule) and does not maintain a standalone 'Building Department' — building permit intake, zoning review, and issuance are handled directly by Town Hall staff (Town Clerk / Town Manager) with Board of Trustees oversight, per Springfield Municipal Code Chapter 16 (Zoning) and the Town's Master Fee Schedule.
- Website
- Official site
Inspection guide
See how inspections work in Springfield — sequence, scheduling & re-inspection fees.
Codes adopted
Colorado has no statewide-mandated building code edition. Under the Colorado Constitution's home-rule provisions (art. XX, home rule for municipalities since 1902; home rule for counties since 1970), building codes and zoning are an enumerated home-rule charter power, so cities and counties adopt and amend their own construction codes independently — predominantly the I-Codes, with editions and local amendments varying by jurisdiction. The one statewide floor is for energy: HB22-1362 (2022) created the Energy Code Board (jointly appointed by the Colorado Energy Office and the Department of Local Affairs) and requires that, on or after July 1, 2023 and before July 1, 2026, any municipality or county that adopts or updates a building code must adopt and enforce an energy code achieving performance equivalent to or better than the 2021 IECC together with the board's Model Electric Ready and Solar Ready Code (which includes electric-ready, EV-ready, and solar-ready provisions); from July 1, 2026 onward the floor shifts to the board's Model Low Energy and Carbon Code or an equivalent. Electrical and plumbing permitting defaults to the Colorado State Electrical Board and State Plumbing Board (within DORA's Division of Professions and Occupations) — the state issues permits and inspects statewide except in counties/jurisdictions that operate their own certified Electrical or Plumbing Inspection Program, in which case the local program has authority instead. Always confirm the currently adopted code edition, local amendments, and inspection authority (state board vs. local program) with the specific jurisdiction before submitting plans.
NONE CURRENTLY ADOPTED — verified by ordinance history, not assumed. Show full textShow less
NONE CURRENTLY ADOPTED — verified by ordinance history, not assumed. The Town of Springfield originally adopted the International Building Code, 2006 edition, on July 10, 2008. Ordinance No. 355 (introduced Feb. 9, 2023; passed second reading March 9, 2023) repealed and re-adopted Sec. 18-1 of the Municipal Code, re-confirming the 2006 IBC with Town-specific geographic limits (Sec. 18-3). HOWEVER, Ordinance No. 356 (introduced June 8, 2023; passed and published July 13, 2023) subsequently REPEALED Chapter 18, Article I, Sec. 18-1 through 18-3 IN THEIR ENTIRETY, including the 2006 IBC adoption itself and all the geographic-limits provisions (frost depth, wind load, snow load, seismic category, etc.). No later ordinance (reviewed the Town's full ordinance archive through Ordinance No. 365, current as of the last verification) re-adopts any building code edition. As of 2026-07-06, Springfield therefore has NO adopted building code (no IBC/IRC/IMC/IPC/IECC edition) on its books.
Despite the repealed building code, the Town continues to operate an active Building Permit process governed by Springfield Municipal Code Chapter 16 (Zoning) rather than Chapter 18 (Building Code) — the current Building… Show full textShow less
Despite the repealed building code, the Town continues to operate an active Building Permit process governed by Springfield Municipal Code Chapter 16 (Zoning) rather than Chapter 18 (Building Code) — the current Building Permit Application form (dated 03.25.2025) explicitly states the applicant 'agrees to comply with Springfield Municipal Code, Chapter 16 by which this permit is granted' and cites 'MUNICODE CHAPTER 16-ZONING' as the governing authority for the permit's underlying agreement. This is a zoning/land-use permit and property/setback review, not a code-compliance plan review against a specific model code edition.
Electrical and plumbing work is NOT reviewed or inspected by the Town at all — Ordinance No. Show full textShow less
Electrical and plumbing work is NOT reviewed or inspected by the Town at all — Ordinance No. 355 (Sec. 13-158, as re-adopted, still in force) defines the 'electrical inspector' as 'the Colorado State Electrical Inspector assigned by the State of Colorado to perform electrical inspections for the Town of Springfield,' and the same ordinance's Sec. 18-3(10) (since repealed along with the rest of Sec. 18-3, but consistent with current practice) stated that electrical and plumbing issues are governed by 'the electrical and plumbing codes required by the State of Colorado.' The current Building Permit Application form itself lists only 'State electrical' and 'State plumbing' under its Inspections checklist — confirming Springfield defers both trades entirely to Colorado DORA/state inspection programs rather than running its own trade-permit or trade-inspection process.
Permit types & fees
Building Permit
Required for construction of houses, additions, remodels, accessory structures (porches, carports, decks, sheds, storage, garages, fences), and placement of tiny homes, modular homes, or manufactured/mobile homes within Springfield town limits. Issued directly by Town Hall (Town Clerk/Town Manager) under Springfield Municipal Code Chapter 16 (Zoning) — the Town's building code (originally the 2006 IBC) was repealed in its entirety by Ordinance No. 356 (July 2023) and has not been re-adopted, so this permit functions as a zoning/setback/land-use review rather than a model-code plan review. There is no distinct commercial/TI permit: this single Building Permit Application form (03.25.2025) IS the Town's commercial building permit — its 'CLASSIFICATION OF CONSTRUCTION' checkbox row on page 1 lists 'Commercial C-1, C-2' and 'Industrial M-1, M-2' as options alongside SFR/R-1/R-2/Other, using the identical application, review, and fee structure as a residential permit. The Town's Master Fee Schedule (Resolution No. 25-07) contains exactly one 'Building Permits' line item ($50.00 flat + $1.00/$1,000 building cost, capped at $2,000.00) with no commercial-tier surcharge and no separate tenant-improvement (TI) fee anywhere in the schedule. Neither the full 3-page Building Permit Application PDF nor the full 8-page Master Fee Schedule PDF contains a standalone commercial-building-permit or TI-permit application, ordinance provision, or fee line. The only commercial-specific requirement anywhere on the form is a landscaping note: 'Commercial Property: Needs to be 5% to 8% Landscaped or Xeriscape with weed barrier.'
From$50.00Building Permit (Commercial New Construction, Additions, Remodels, Tenant Improvements, Repairs)
Springfield has no distinct commercial or tenant-improvement permit: commercial and industrial construction is filed on the same Building Permit Application (Town of Springfield form, 03.25.2025) used for residential work, checking 'Commercial C-1, C-2' or 'Industrial M-1, M-2' on the form's Classification of Construction row, and billed on the same Master Fee Schedule line (Resolution No. 25-07) with no commercial-tier surcharge. The Town's building code was repealed in its entirety by Ordinance No. 356 (passed July 13, 2023) — after briefly re-confirming the 2006 International Building Code via Ordinance No. 355 months earlier — and no later ordinance (through Ordinance No. 365) has re-adopted any edition of the IBC, IEBC, IMC, or IPC, so a commercial applicant here is not reviewed against a model building code; the permit instead runs as a zoning/setback review under Municipal Code Chapter 16. Two model-code articles were not touched by the repeal and remain on the books: Chapter 18, Article II (the 2006 International Fire Code, Sec. 18-25 through 18-27) and Article IV (the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code, Sec. 18-138 through 18-140) — but the Fire Code's own 'Changes' section (Sec. 18-26) records no local amendments, and neither the Master Fee Schedule nor the Springfield Volunteer Fire Department's own page publishes a fire plan-review fee or process for commercial construction. The application's one commercial-specific requirement is a landscaping standard: 'Commercial Property: Needs to be 5% to 8% Landscaped or Xeriscape with weed barrier.'
From$50.00Electrical Permit (State-Administered)
Electrical work within Springfield town limits is not permitted or inspected by the Town itself. Per Ordinance No. 355 (Sec. 13-158, currently in force), the 'electrical inspector' for the Town of Springfield is defined as the Colorado State Electrical Inspector assigned by the State of Colorado. The Town's own Building Permit Application lists 'State electrical' as an inspection to be conducted, confirming the Town defers electrical inspection entirely to the Colorado Division of DORA/State Electrical Board rather than running its own trade-permit program. No separate Town electrical permit fee exists in the Master Fee Schedule.
$50.00Plumbing Permit (State-Administered)
Plumbing work within Springfield town limits is inspected by Colorado state plumbing inspectors rather than the Town itself. The Town's Building Permit Application lists 'State plumbing' as an inspection to be conducted, and the Town's now-repealed Sec. 18-3(10) (Ordinance No. 355) explicitly stated that plumbing issues are governed by 'the electrical and plumbing codes required by the State of Colorado' with 'Colorado State Electrical and Plumbing inspectors' used for those inspections — a policy the Town's current permit form confirms is still followed in practice even though that specific code section was later repealed along with the rest of Chapter 18.
$50.00Demolition (via Building Permit)
The Town of Springfield does not publish a standalone demolition permit application or fee separate from its general Building Permit process. No distinct 'demolition permit' document, fee line, or ordinance provision appears in the Town's Master Fee Schedule, its ordinance archive, or the Building Permit Application.
Fee not publishedSolar Photovoltaic (PV) Permit
Required for installing a rooftop or ground-mount photovoltaic system within Town of Springfield limits. No dedicated solar/PV permit or fee line exists — a solar installation is permitted through the Town's existing general Building Permit (structural/roof-mount, flat + valuation-based Town fee) plus a separate State of Colorado electrical inspection, since the Town's own Ordinance No. 355 (Sec. 13-158) defines the 'electrical inspector' for Springfield as the Colorado State Electrical Inspector assigned by the State, not a Town employee.
From$50.00Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Station Permit
Installing an EV charging station (EVSE) within Town of Springfield limits follows the same two-track pattern documented for solar in this record: a Town Building Permit for any structural component plus a separate State of Colorado electrical inspection, since Ordinance No. 355 (Sec. 13-158) defines the Town's 'electrical inspector' as the Colorado State Electrical Inspector, not a Town employee. No dedicated EV-charger permit, fee line, or process is published by the Town. Colorado's HB24-1173 (EV charging system permitting model code / streamlined-review mandate) does NOT apply here — that law only binds counties with population 20,000+ and municipalities with population 10,000+; Springfield (population ~1,300) is well under both thresholds, so the Town is not required to adopt the state's model EV-permitting code or a specific review procedure. The State's own Electrical Permit Application/Fee Schedule (DORA, State Electrical Board, effective 5/15/2019 — the most recent version located, with no update found in the Board's most recent 1/28/2026 rule revisions) bills a standalone EV charger circuit under Table B ('Commercial and other fees,' installations not based on square footage) at a $90.00 base fee for job valuation of $2,000 or less, plus $8.00 per additional $1,000 of valuation (rounded up), payable to the State of Colorado.
From$50.00Sign Permit
Springfield's Municipal Code (Chapter 16, Zoning) defines 'sign' and regulates signs as permissive or special-exception uses embedded within each zoning district's use list, rather than through a standalone sign-permit chapter, application, or fee. A-1 (Agricultural/Low-Density Residential) allows signs under 3 sq ft as a permissive (as-of-right) use, or up to 40 sq ft on lots over 2 acres with 150+ ft frontage advertising the sale of the premises or a home-raised product; commercial zones (e.g., C-1) permit on-site advertising/identification/directional signs up to 40 sq ft freestanding or projecting no more than 4½ feet if wall-mounted, provided the sign is on private property and does not reflect into any A-1/R-1/R-2 zone; M-1 (Light Manufacturing/Industrial) permits signs/billboards under 300 sq ft. Signs exceeding a zone's permissive standards require Board of Adjustment special-exception approval. No standalone sign-permit application, fee, or issuing process was located anywhere in Chapter 16, the Town's Building Permit Application, or the Master Fee Schedule.
See fee scheduleFire Sprinkler / Fire Alarm System Permit
Springfield's own 2006 International Fire Code (Municipal Code Chapter 18, Article II, §§18-25-18-27) remains adopted and in force, and it was not among the building-code provisions repealed by Ordinance No. 356, which repealed only §§18-1-18-3, the general building-code adoption. Sec. 18-25 adopts the 2006 IFC 'providing for the issuance of permits and collection of fees therefor,' but Sec. 18-26 ('Changes') states 'Additions, insertions, deletions and changes: None' — the Town made no local amendments, including no separate town fee schedule for fire-code permits. Fire protection in Springfield is provided by the Springfield Volunteer Fire Department, a Town department rather than an independent fire protection district, led by Fire Chief Kasey Johnson (firechief@springfieldco.gov, (719) 523-3164). Its webpage covers volunteer recruitment and open-burning/burn-permit information only (burning is currently prohibited town-wide) and publishes no construction-related fire sprinkler/alarm permit application, fee, or plan-review process.
See fee scheduleChange of Use Permit
Springfield has no standalone 'change of use permit' application, fee, or ordinance provision. Municipal Code Chapter 16 (Zoning) — Article I (definitions), Article II (all zoning districts' permissive-use and special-exception lists), Article III (Zoning Requirements, §§16-59-16-65), and Article IV (Administration: rezoning-amendment procedure, Board of Adjustment special exceptions/variances, enforcement, interpretation) — creates no such track. A use not listed as permissive for a given zoning district instead requires Board of Adjustment approval as a 'special exception' (Sec. 16-4: 'a specified use which must first be approved by the board of adjustment').
$35.00
Springfield's permit history isn't searchable here yet
This page covers what the permit requires. What we don't have for Springfield yet is the record of permits actually issued — the history you'd search by street address. That is a gap in our coverage, not a statement about any particular property.
Your email, and the place — never an address. We only use it to tell you when Springfield lands. Privacy.
Tips & gotchas
- Springfield is the county seat and largest town in Baca County, and — unlike Baca County itself (which has no county building department and appears on the Colorado Division of Housing's 'Jurisdictions Without Building Departments' list) — DOES run its own distinct, citable Building Permit process, verified via a live 3-page Building Permit Application form (dated 03.25.2025) and a current Master Fee Schedule (Resolution No. 25-07, adopted 8-14-2025).
- Springfield's building code was repealed in its ENTIRETY by Ordinance No. 356 (passed July 13, 2023), after having briefly re-confirmed the 2006 IBC via Ordinance No. 355 just months earlier (Feb/Mar 2023). No later ordinance (checked through Ordinance No. 365) re-adopts any building code. The Town's permit process now runs under Municipal Code Chapter 16 (Zoning) rather than a model building code — treat this as a zoning/setback/land-use permit, not a code-compliance plan review, when advising clients.
- Electrical and plumbing inspections in Springfield are performed entirely by Colorado state inspectors (State Electrical Inspector, state plumbing inspectors), not Town staff — per Ordinance No. 355 Sec. 13-158 and the Building Permit Application's own Inspections checklist. There is no standalone Town electrical or plumbing permit fee.
- HB22-1362 (Colorado's Model Electric Ready and Solar Ready Code) does not exempt Springfield via any population threshold — its trigger mechanism is tied to a jurisdiction updating/adopting a building code. Since Springfield has no adopted building code at all as of the last verification, the HB22-1362 trigger has simply never been activated here; this is a byproduct of Springfield's 2023 building-code repeal, not a statutory population carve-out (no such flat carve-out exists in HB22-1362 — that premise, sometimes conflated with the never-enacted SB25-141, was independently verified to be false and is not used anywhere in this record).
- No numeric plan-review or permit-issuance turnaround is published anywhere by the Town (Master Fee Schedule, Building Permit Application, ordinances, or resolutions) — every permitType in this record carries reviewTimelineDays: null / reviewTimelineVerified: false rather than an invented figure.
- A separate Right-of-Way Construction/Obstruction Permit ($250.00 flat per the Master Fee Schedule's 'Street Right of Way Permitting' line) governs utility/underground installations and crossroad cuts within Town right-of-way — this is distinct from the Building Permit and is not modeled as one of the permitTypes.
- The Town publishes no standalone demolition permit process, fee, or ordinance provision — not in its documents, its ordinances through No. 365, or its 2023-2025 resolutions. No demolition figure is recorded in the demolition-permit entry as a result.
- Springfield has no distinct commercial-building-permit or tenant-improvement (TI) permit. The Building Permit Application's 'Classification of Construction' row lets an applicant check 'Commercial C-1, C-2' or 'Industrial M-1, M-2' on the exact same form, review, and fee structure used for residential (SFR/R-1/R-2) work. The Master Fee Schedule (Resolution No. 25-07) has a single 'Building Permits' line ($50 flat + $1/$1,000 building cost, capped $2,000) with no commercial-tier surcharge and no TI fee anywhere in the schedule. The only commercial-specific requirement is a 5%-8% landscaping/xeriscape standard printed directly on the application form. Commercial work is accordingly documented as an annotation on the residential-building-permit entry rather than as a separate commercial entry.
- The Town's website (springfieldco.gov) keeps its permit forms, ordinances, and fee schedules as linked documents hosted off-site rather than as page content. Open the site in an ordinary web browser and follow the document links; if a link will not open, ask Town Hall to email you the current form or fee schedule.
- Baca County's other incorporated towns differ sharply. Walsh, the county's second-largest town, publishes a genuine but much thinner process on its own townofwalsh.colorado.gov site: its 'Permits' page states any structure — buildings, carports, fences and the like — requires Board of Trustees approval at a regularly scheduled monthly meeting, a completed application submitted to the Town Clerk or Town Superintendent, and a flat $15.00 filing fee, with no code apparatus, zoning department, or plan-review process beyond Board approval. Campo, Pritchett, Two Buttes, and Vilas have no independent web presence, permit form, or fee schedule beyond a Baca County directory listing carrying only an address and phone number — treat those four as having nothing published at the building-permit level, and contact them directly.
- Springfield has no distinct commercial-building-permit or tenant-improvement-permit process, and no hidden site-plan-review or conditional-use gate specific to commercial construction. The Town's official codified ordinances on Municode (library.municode.com/co/springfield — Supplement 3, online content updated May 19, 2025, codified through Ordinance No. 357) bear this out throughout. Chapter 16 (Zoning) — Article I (definitions), Article II (all eight zoning districts, including the full text of C-1 §16-31, C-2 §16-32, and M-1 §16-33), Article III (Zoning Requirements, §§16-59—16-65: unloading/parking/nonconforming/drainage/chicken-license/construction-trailer/tiny-home), and Article IV (Administration: §16-108 rezoning-amendment procedure, §16-109 Board of Adjustment special-exceptions/variances, §16-110 enforcement, §16-111 information, §16-112 interpretation) — contains no site-plan or commercial-specific permit section. The C-1/C-2/M-1/M-2 sections are pure use-list and dimensional standards (permitted uses, special exceptions requiring Board of Adjustment approval, height/area/setback/parking), not a separate commercial permitting track, and Board of Adjustment special-exception review is the same mechanism captured on the Building Permit Application's 'Special Use Permit' checkbox — not a hidden additional gate. In Chapter 18 (Building Regulations), Ord. No. 356 (7-13-2023) repealed only §§18-1—18-3 (the general building-code adoption); Article II (Fire Code, §§18-25—18-27, 2006 IFC) and Article IV (Energy Conservation Code, §§18-138—18-140, 2006 IECC) were NOT repealed and remain technically on the books — a townwide code-adoption nuance not reflected in the blanket 'NONE CURRENTLY ADOPTED' status shown in the adopted-codes section, though it is not a commercial-specific permit. Chapter 6 (Business Licenses and Regulations) covers the sales-tax/peddler license, liquor, fireworks, yard sales, and the marijuana prohibition, with no certificate-of-occupancy-before-business-license gate or commercial-construction trigger. Baca County's own zoning/land-use page (bacacountyco.gov) has its substantive content 'under maintenance' and shows no indication the County performs any permitting role inside town limits. The Town's sitemap lists only a generic 'springfield-business-directory' page (a listing, not a permit), and the Planning & Zoning Commission's only posted document (a March 13, 2025 special-meeting agenda) concerns townhome SUBDIVISION review regulations (proposed new Sec. 17-63), not commercial building/TI permitting.