Gypsum building permits

Tips & gotchas

• Gypsum is an incorporated statutory town with its OWN Community Development Department, Building Department (50 Lundgren Blvd) — Eagle County's Building Division explicitly excludes all incorporated towns within the county, including Gypsum, from its unincorporated permitting program. This is a fully independent authority model, the same pattern found in neighboring Vail (also independent), though authority models vary among Eagle County mountain towns.
• Gypsum's published design criteria (40 psf ground snow load, 90 mph wind design, 42-inch frost depth, Seismic Design Category C) are notably lighter than Vail's (145 psf, 115 mph, 48-inch frost, Category B) — Gypsum sits at lower valley elevation along I-70. Do not reuse a peer Eagle County mountain jurisdiction's structural design assumptions for a Gypsum project.
• Electrical, Plumbing, and Mechanical each require their OWN standalone permit in Gypsum, separate from the general Building Permit — the Town's Building Permit Application form states it directly: 'separate permits are required for Electrical, Plumbing, Mechanical'.
• The Town's own 2025 Annual Fee Schedule PDF is explicitly labeled 'partial' by the Town itself and does NOT contain a valuation-based building/trade permit fee table — that table lives in Title 15 of the Municipal Code, hosted on Municode. Call the Building Department (970-524-1731) directly for a project-specific fee quote.
• The Town publishes NO numeric plan-review turnaround (days or weeks) for any standard building-permit category anywhere on its site — not on the Build in Gypsum page, the Building Permit Application, the Plan Requirements page, the Inspections page, the Forms/Permits/Applications page, or the 2025 Annual Fee Schedule. Colorado is home-rule with no statewide clock.
• All contractors need a Town of Gypsum Contractor's License ($90/year in 2026, $80/year in 2025) in addition to any Colorado state trade license — renewal is due by April 1st annually or a late fee applies (except contractors not engaged in Town work until mid-year).
• Smaller projects that don't require a full plan set — a new roof, electrical panel upgrades, or plumbing fixture replacement are the Town's own named examples — can use a simpler one-time permit application rather than the full Building Permit & Plan Submittal portal process.
• DRB or HOA approval is required before Town submittal for any parcel outside the Eagle River Estate or Bertroch developments; the Town's four core districts (The Front Door, The River, The Yard, The Market) carry additional Master Plan DRB requirements. Contact Town staff (stephanie@townofgypsum.com) to confirm which DRB/HOA governs a specific parcel — no master list is published on the site.
• ADUs are capped at 800 sq ft or 50% of the primary dwelling (whichever is smaller), limited to one per lot, require owner-occupancy of the primary residence, and carry their own fee schedule ($250 new construction, $500 for an existing non-approved unit, $50 transfer re-inspection, $43 deed restriction recording) distinct from the general building-permit fee gap.
• Base permit fee includes only four inspections; every inspection beyond that (including re-inspections) costs $60 and requires 24-hour advance notice — plan your inspection sequence accordingly.
• Gypsum's website runs on a CivicPlus-family platform; the Build in Gypsum page is at townofgypsum.com/build-in-gypsum.