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Demolition Permit in Burlington, Colorado

Demolition is one of the enumerated project types on the general Building Permit/Zoning Compliance Application intake. A distinct, separate dangerous-building-abatement process also exists and was fully verified 2026-07-13: the City's own PDF of Ordinance No. 990 (burlingtoncolo.com/DocumentCenter/View/909) was retrieved and read in full (its filename retains the phrase 'proposed...DRAFT' from drafting, but the document's own text shows it was PASSED, ADOPTED and ORDERED PUBLISHED by the City Council on July 8, 2024, signed by Mayor Greg Swiatkowski, attested by City Clerk Georgia Gilley, with a Clerk's Certificate and a Certificate of Publication confirming publication in The Burlington Record on July 11, 2024 — i.e., it is the enacted, currently-effective ordinance despite the filename, not an unadopted draft). Ordinance No. 990 governs INVOLUNTARY code-enforcement demolition/abatement of buildings the City declares 'dangerous' (structural failure, fire/collapse hazard, uninhabitable, abandoned 6+ months, public nuisance, etc. — Section 2, items A-P) and is legally and procedurally distinct from a standard VOLUNTARY demolition permit processed on the combined Building Permit/Zoning Compliance Application.

Verified 2026-07-13 · Source

When you need this permit

  • Complete the combined Building Permit/Zoning Compliance Application, describing the demolition scope under Part A
  • Coordinate utility disconnection and the Building Permit Locate Form (811/800-922-1987) before demolition begins, consistent with the general new-construction requirements
  • Where a structure is instead the subject of a City-initiated dangerous-building declaration under Ordinance No. 990 (verified full text 2026-07-13), a distinct abatement process applies rather than a standard voluntary demolition permit: the City Administrator may declare a building 'dangerous' per the 16 criteria in Section 2 (structural failure/collapse risk, fire hazard, uninhabitability, 6+ months abandonment, public nuisance, etc.); the owner is served written notice (personal service or, if the owner cannot be located, posting plus certified mail to the address on the Kit Carson County tax rolls) with a default 90-day period to voluntarily abate (Section 7.C); if not voluntarily abated, the City may seek a judicial determination and abate the building itself, recovering costs from the owner as a property lien (Section 8) collected the same way as real estate taxes, plus a 5% inspection/incidental-cost assessment and a 10% collection-cost assessment on top of the abatement's actual cost; imminently dangerous buildings may be summarily (immediately) abated by the City Administrator without the notice-and-90-day process (Section 7.A-B)

Required documents

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Fee schedule

Building Permit Fee (same valuation-based schedule)No separate demolition-specific fee is published
$25 minimum, scaling per the tiered valuation schedule

Review timeline

Plan review
Not published — contact the department

How long did your Demolition Permit permit actually take in Burlington?

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

Inspection process

  1. 1

    Final/Field Inspection

    No itemized inspection sequence for a standard voluntary demolition permit is published

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

Tips

  • If the structure to be demolished is the subject of a City dangerous-building declaration rather than a project you initiated, Ordinance No. 990's abatement process applies instead of (or alongside) a standard voluntary demolition permit — verified in full text 2026-07-13 via the City's own PDF (burlingtoncolo.com/DocumentCenter/View/909). Key practical point: if the City abates the building itself after you fail to voluntarily comply within the notice period (default 90 days), the full cost is assessed against you as a property lien plus a 5% inspection surcharge and a 10% collection surcharge, collected the same way as real estate taxes — voluntary abatement or a standard demolition permit is materially cheaper than letting the City's process run.
  • Ordinance No. 990 was passed, adopted, and ordered published on July 8, 2024 (published in The Burlington Record on July 11, 2024) — it is a Home Rule ordinance enacted under the authority of C.R.S. 31-15-601, and is the currently-effective version despite the source PDF's filename retaining the words 'proposed' and 'DRAFT' from its drafting stage.

Frequently asked questions

Burlington requires a demolition permit for: Complete the combined Building Permit/Zoning Compliance Application, describing the demolition scope under Part A; Coordinate utility disconnection and the Building Permit Locate Form (811/800-922-1987) before demolition begins, consistent with the general new-construction requirements; Where a structure is instead the subject of a City-initiated dangerous-building declaration under Ordinance No. 990 (verified full text 2026-07-13), a distinct abatement process applies rather than a standard voluntary demolition permit: the City Administrator may declare a building 'dangerous' per the 16 criteria in Section 2 (structural failure/collapse risk, fire hazard, uninhabitability, 6+ months abandonment, public nuisance, etc.); the owner is served written notice (personal service or, if the owner cannot be located, posting plus certified mail to the address on the Kit Carson County tax rolls) with a default 90-day period to voluntarily abate (Section 7.C); if not voluntarily abated, the City may seek a judicial determination and abate the building itself, recovering costs from the owner as a property lien (Section 8) collected the same way as real estate taxes, plus a 5% inspection/incidental-cost assessment and a 10% collection-cost assessment on top of the abatement's actual cost; imminently dangerous buildings may be summarily (immediately) abated by the City Administrator without the notice-and-90-day process (Section 7.A-B). If your project isn't listed, confirm with City of Burlington, City Hall (Building Permits) at 719-346-8652 before starting work.

In Burlington, the published Building Permit Fee (same valuation-based schedule) is: $25 minimum, scaling per the tiered valuation schedule. These are the jurisdiction's own published figures — see the fee schedule table and source citations on this page.

Burlington does not publish a plan-review timeline for this permit. Contact City of Burlington, City Hall (Building Permits) at 719-346-8652 for current turnaround.

You'll need: Building Permit Application / Zoning Compliance Application (PDF). See the required-documents checklist on this page for details on each.

Burlington requires 1 inspection(s) for a demolition permit, in order: Final/Field Inspection. Schedule each through City of Burlington, City Hall (Building Permits) (719-346-8652).

Apply through City of Burlington, City Hall (Building Permits) at 415 15th Street, Burlington, CO 80807. Phone: 719-346-8652, email: jim.keehne@burlingtoncolo.com. Office hours: Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Fax: 719-346-8397. Building permits are administered directly by City Hall administrative staff (no separate, dedicated Building Division or named Building Official is published) — the Building Permit Application lists Jim Keehne, City Administrator, as the responsible city officer, with a Public Works signoff line also present on the form.. Official information: https://www.burlingtoncolo.com/151/Building-Permits.

Burlington, Colorado has adopted: NONE LOCALLY ADOPTED — verified directly from the City's own Building Permit Application form (DocumentCenter/View/187), which the applicant must sign: 'I hereby agree and understand that City of Burlington has not adopted a building code and it is my responsibility to follow all state guidelines regarding state building codes, local building codes and all inspections the State of Colorado, City of Burlington and the Colorado Department of Local Affairs and Housing may require.'; The City's own Building Codes webpage (burlingtoncolo.com/96/Building-Codes) independently corroborates this: it states the City 'requires all buildings to meet the compliance standards of the State of Colorado's building codes' and links to the Colorado Office of the State Architect (OSA) building-codes page (osa.colorado.gov/state-buildings/building-codes) — but that OSA page was checked directly and its adopted-code list applies ONLY to state-owned/state-lease-purchased construction and specific state-assisted categories (K-12 schools, health facilities), NOT to private construction in municipalities. Burlington's own reference to it therefore does not establish any specific IBC/IRC/IECC/NEC edition as locally adopted or locally enforced for private building permits — it is effectively a pointer to a source that does not govern ordinary residential/commercial permits in Burlington.; Net effect: Burlington has NO locally adopted model code edition (no IBC, IRC, IMC, IPC, IFGC, IECC, IFC, IEBC, or NEC edition/year is specified anywhere in the City's own building-permit materials). Applicants are directed to follow 'state guidelines' generally and Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA)/Division of Housing requirements where applicable, rather than a codified local building code. This is a genuinely verified absence, not an omission — confirmed by the primary-source application form language plus the City's own Building Codes page, and consistent with Burlington's Municode-hosted Code of Ordinances not surfacing any building-code-adoption ordinance in available search results (Municode's Burlington library page is a JavaScript-rendered single-page app that could not be crawled for full-text search during this research; the City's own Ordinances & Resolutions page listing recent ordinance numbers did not show a building-code-adoption ordinance among currently listed items).. Local amendments apply — see the Burlington overview page for the full list.

Yes. Ordinance No. 990 (passed and published July 2024, full text verified 2026-07-13 via the City's own PDF at burlingtoncolo.com/DocumentCenter/View/909) establishes a City-initiated process for buildings the City Administrator declares 'dangerous' under 16 enumerated criteria (structural failure risk, fire hazard, uninhabitability, 6+ months abandonment, public nuisance, etc.). It is separate from, and not something an applicant proactively requests like, a standard voluntary demolition permit: the City serves notice, the owner has a default 90 days to voluntarily abate (repair, vacate, or demolish), and if the owner does not comply the City may obtain a judicial determination and abate the building itself, recovering the full cost as a property-tax-style lien plus a 5% inspection surcharge and a 10% collection surcharge.

Sources & verification

Verified against official sources. Last reviewed 2026-07-13.

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