Castle Rock building permits

Tips & gotchas

• AUTHORITY MODEL: The Town of Castle Rock runs its OWN Building Division/Development Services department — it is NOT served by Douglas County's building department. This is confirmed by the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control's Prequalified Building Departments list, which shows 'Douglas County' and 'Town of Castle Rock' as two separate prequalified entities with different contacts (Douglas County: Korby Lintz; Town of Castle Rock: Joseph Montoya, jmontoya@crgov.com, 720-733-2225). Source: https://dfpc.colorado.gov/sites/dfpc/files/Current%20Prequalified%20Building%20Departments.pdf
• Castle Rock is in Douglas County, Colorado.
• Colorado has no statewide mandatory building code (home-rule state) — the Town of Castle Rock sets and amends its own codes via Town Council ordinance. The most recent comprehensive amendment is Ordinance No. 2026-017 (adopted June 2, 2026, effective June 30, 2026), which moved most I-Codes to the 2024 edition while keeping the 2021 IECC, and separately adopted the 2025 Colorado Wildfire Resiliency Code (effective July 1, 2026) and the 2023 Colorado Model Electric-Ready and Solar-Ready Code.
• Structural design criteria (2024 IRC Table R301.2(1), as locally amended): 115 mph Vult basic wind speed, Seismic Design Category B, 36-inch minimum frost line depth, mandatory ice barrier underlayment, Severe weathering exposure. Ground snow load is elevation-tiered and explicitly non-reducible: 30 psf below 6,000 ft, 35 psf at 6,000-6,499 ft, 40 psf at 6,500-7,000 ft.
• Plan review fee is 65% of the Building Permit Fee (not of project valuation) — a distinctive calculation basis versus jurisdictions that charge plan review as a percentage of valuation directly.
• An Administrative Cost Allocation Recovery Fee ($4,200 for a new single-family primary dwelling) and Development Impact Fees (Parks & Recreation, Municipal Facilities, Fire, Police, Transportation, Stormwater — varying by unit size and drainage basin) apply IN ADDITION to the building permit fee for new residential construction — these are substantial and easy to underestimate if only the base permit fee tiers are budgeted.
• REVIEW TIMELINES (Town's own published table, Development Procedures Manual Chapter X - Permits, currently the active linked chapter per the Development Procedures Manual index): New Construction/Additions 1st review comments within 4 weeks; Master Plans/Custom Homes 1st review comments within 21 days; Tenant Improvements/Remodels/White Box under 8,000 sq ft '10 days total in our hands or it's free'; over 8,000 sq ft 1st review comments within 2 weeks; Basement Finishes, Decks/Patio Covers/Sunrooms/Carports, Detached Garages, and Pools/Spas each '5 days complete'; Residential Additions 1st review comments within 5 days. Days exclude weekends/holidays; the review clock stops when incomplete plans are returned to the applicant. No standalone timeline is published for trade-only (electrical/plumbing/mechanical), re-roof, demolition, or fence/retaining-wall permits — represented honestly as null/unverified in those permit types rather than inferred from the general table.
• A separate Fire & Rescue Department 'Plan Review and Construction Permit Application' states plan review 'takes a minimum of ten working days from the date the plans are submitted' — this applies to Fire Department plan review (fire alarm, sprinkler, kitchen hood, etc.), NOT the Building Division's general building-permit review, and is not conflated with the Building Division timelines above.
• Fences not over 6 feet high are permit-exempt, but swimming pool barriers of ANY height are explicitly NOT exempt — a Castle Rock-specific carve-out that overrides the general fence exemption. Retaining walls over 4 feet (including footing) require a permit.
• One-story detached accessory structures (sheds, playhouses) are permit-exempt only if 120 sq ft or less AND at least 10 feet from the nearest occupiable structure — both conditions must be met.
• Shingle repair/replacement under 100 sq ft (one square) per building is fully permit-exempt.
• No Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) permit type is included here. Castle Rock Municipal Code Chapter 17.61 (Accessory Dwelling Units) appears to exist per Municode's table of contents and third-party real-estate summaries, but the chapter's full text is not publicly accessible on Municode, and no crgov.com-hosted primary-source page publishes the verbatim ADU ordinance text, a fee, or a review timeline. Third-party summaries (real-estate blogs) are not citable as sources, so ADU details are omitted rather than reconstructed from secondary material. A direct crgov.com Planning Division ADU page, if the Town publishes one, would be the authoritative source.
• No Solar PV-specific permit type is documented for Castle Rock. The 2023 Colorado Model Electric-Ready and Solar-Ready Code applies, and the fee schedule carries a Photovoltaic System fire-permit fee line ($171.96 plan check + $175.91 inspection = $347.87), but crgov.com publishes no dedicated Building Division solar PV permit application/checklist with its own requirements list — rather than force a thin/uncertain permit type, solar PV is not published as a full entry here.
• Contact: Development Services Building Counter (Town Hall, 100 N. Wilcox St.) open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, phone 720-733-3527, email buildingcounter@crgov.com. Inspection scheduling line: 303-660-1341. All permit applications and plan submittals are electronic-only via the eTRAKiT Development Portal (etrakitt9.crgov.com).