Saguache building permits

Building department

Address

504 San Juan Avenue, P.O. Box 417, Saguache, CO 81149

Phone

719-655-2232

Email

townclerk@townofsaguache.org

Office hours

Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., per the Town Hall page as preserved by the Wayback Machine (townofsaguache.org/town-hall-546.htm, captured 2025-12-10). NOTE: the Town's website has been migrated/rebuilt on Netlify and no longer publishes this page or most of its prior content (see sources note below); hours/contact are carried forward from the last-known-good archived capture, cross-verified independently against ColoradoEnergy.org's own listed Town Clerk contact (matches exactly: 504 San Juan Ave, Saguache, CO 81149, 719-655-2232).

Website

Official site

Inspection guide

See how inspections work in Saguache — 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 — ColoradoEnergy.org, a statewide Colorado building/energy code-adoption tracking directory maintained independently of any single jurisdiction, lists the Town of Saguache's Building Code status explicitly as 'No… Show full textShow less

  NONE — ColoradoEnergy.org, a statewide Colorado building/energy code-adoption tracking directory maintained independently of any single jurisdiction, lists the Town of Saguache's Building Code status explicitly as 'No Building Codes' (coloradoenergy.org/codes/codes.aspx?City=Saguache), with a Town Clerk contact (504 San Juan Ave, Saguache, CO 81149, 719-655-2232) matching the Town Hall contact exactly — confirming this listing is genuinely about the Town, not Saguache County. NOTE: coloradoenergy.org's HTTPS endpoint has been intermittently unresponsive, and its own Wayback captures for this exact page stop at 2010; the 'No Building Codes' finding rests on the independent Town Clerk contact match above, not the ColoradoEnergy.org citation alone — and it is corroborated by the Town's own Municipal Code (see the next note).

• The Town's Municode Chapter 18 (library.municode.com/co/saguache/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=CD_ORD_CH18BURE), 'CHAPTER 18 - Building Regulations,' is codified through Ordinance No. Show full textShow less

  The Town's Municode Chapter 18 (library.municode.com/co/saguache/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=CD_ORD_CH18BURE), 'CHAPTER 18 - Building Regulations,' is codified through Ordinance No. 2023-2 (enacted March 13, 2023) and contains exactly three articles, none of which adopt a model construction code: Article 1 (Sec. 18-1-10 through 18-1-90), Dangerous Buildings — an unsafe-structure abatement/demolition procedure whose text references 'the adopted building code' only as hypothetical boilerplate (comparing a damaged structure's remaining strength to what a new building would need), never naming or adopting the IBC/IRC/any specific code; Article 2 (Sec. 18-2-10 through 18-2-80), Flood Damage Prevention — a FEMA/NFIP floodplain-management ordinance adopted under Title 29 C.R.S. authority, unrelated to general construction permitting; Article 3 (Sec. 18-3-10 through 18-3-50), Manufactured Homes, Mobile Homes, Mobile Home Parks and RV Parks — zoning/prohibition rules, not a construction code adoption. This confirms, from the Town's own primary source rather than the third-party ColoradoEnergy.org directory alone, that the Town has NOT adopted the IBC/IRC or any other model building code.

• Chapter 18's verbatim text is published only through Municode's client-rendered viewer (library.municode.com/co/saguache); the chapter contains no fee schedule, permit-issuance procedure, or code-edition citation beyond the three articles described above.
• No adopted electrical code (NEC) or plumbing code (IPC) edition is attributable to the Town specifically; per Colorado's standard structure for small statutory towns without their own trade-permitting programs,… Show full textShow less

  No adopted electrical code (NEC) or plumbing code (IPC) edition is attributable to the Town specifically; per Colorado's standard structure for small statutory towns without their own trade-permitting programs, electrical and plumbing work is presumed to fall to Colorado DORA state board licensing/permitting rather than a Town-run trade-permit program, but no Town electrical or plumbing permit process is asserted here given the complete absence of any Town-published fee, form, or procedure for either trade (see localAmendments).

Permit types & fees

• Building Permit

  The Town of Saguache requires a Building Permit for construction activity within town limits, per the Town's own official 'Licenses and Permits' page. Applications are handled directly by the Town Clerk or Deputy Clerk at Town Hall — there is no dedicated Building Department, Building Official, or Zoning Administrator role documented for the Town, and no confirmed adopted model building code (IBC/IRC) governs plan review; ColoradoEnergy.org's independent statewide code-tracking directory lists the Town's Building Code status as 'No Building Codes.'

  $20.00→

• Commercial Building Permit

  The Town of Saguache has no separate commercial building permit, plan-review track, or fee tier — a commercial project or tenant improvement uses the same $20.00 Building Permit as residential work, administered by the Town Clerk or Deputy Clerk at Town Hall. Three primary sources establish this: the Application for Building Site Permit lists 'Commercial' as one of ten project-type checkboxes on the single shared form; the Town's codified Municipal Code, Appendix 2-F (Consolidated Fee Schedule), carries exactly one Building Permit line item with no commercial or valuation-tiered fee; and Chapter 15 (Land Use Regulations) sets no formal zoning districts and no commercial-specific review procedure. No adopted model building code (IBC or otherwise) governs plan review, for commercial work or any other — ColoradoEnergy.org's statewide code-tracking directory lists the Town's status as 'No Building Codes,' and the Town's own Chapter 18 (Building Regulations) contains no code adoption. No dedicated Building Department, Building Official, or third-party plan-review authority is documented; Saguache County's Land Use Department is a separate issuing authority that administers permits only for unincorporated county land, not in-town parcels.

  From$20.00→

• EV Charger / EVSE Permit (Town Building Permit + State Electrical Permit)

  The Town of Saguache has no dedicated EV charger/EVSE permit type, no adopted model building or electrical code, and no dedicated Building Department — a residential or commercial EV charging station installation within Town limits is still subject to the Town's general Building Permit requirement (per the Town's own 'Licenses and Permits' page and the downloadable 'Application for Building Site Permit'), administered by the Town Clerk/Deputy Clerk, with the electrical-connection scope handled entirely by the State of Colorado (DORA State Electrical Board), not the Town. Colorado's HB24-1173 (EV Charging System Permits, effective for permitting requirements by 12/31/2025) applies only to counties with population 20,000+ and municipalities with population 10,000+ — Saguache (population 539) is well under both thresholds and is not subject to that law's streamlined-permitting/model-code/3-business-day-decision requirements.

  From$20.00→

• Solar PV Permit (Town Building Permit, Statewide Fee Cap)

  The Town of Saguache has no dedicated solar/photovoltaic permit type, no adopted model building code, and no dedicated Building Department — but a solar installation within Town limits is still subject to the Town's general Building Permit requirement (per the Town's own 'Licenses and Permits' page and the downloadable 'Application for Building Site Permit'), administered by the Town Clerk/Deputy Clerk. Regardless of the Town's minimal local process, Colorado state law caps what ANY local government (including a small statutory town like Saguache) may charge in aggregate fees for a solar installation, and the electrical-connection scope is handled entirely by the State of Colorado, not the Town.

  From$20.00→

• Historic Preservation Alteration Certificate (Historic District / Landmark, IN ADDITION to Building Permit)

  This is NOT a commercial-specific permit -- it applies identically regardless of a building's residential or commercial use -- but it is a genuine, distinct, currently-effective permit-like requirement layered on top of the Town's generic Building Permit. Under the Town's Historic Preservation ordinance (Ord. 2010-4, adopted 2010-02-16; repealed and re-enacted with largely the same substance as Ord. 2025-1, adopted 2025-05-12, currently in force -- both available in full via the Town's Documents page), a Historic Preservation Commission reviews and the Town Board decides on a mandatory 'Alteration Certificate' required before any new construction, alteration, removal, or demolition of a building (including vacant land) within a designated historic district, or on a designated historic landmark or contributing structure -- obtained IN ADDITION TO, not instead of, the Town's regular Building Permit. This is directly relevant to commercial construction in Saguache because the Saguache Downtown Historic District (NRHP-listed 2014) is independently documented (Wikipedia, History Colorado) as locally significant specifically as the Town's historic commercial center since 1874, consisting substantially of historic commercial buildings.

  $25.00→

• Sign Regulations (No General Sign Permit; Historic District/Landmark Signs Require Commission and Board Approval)

  The Town of Saguache has no standalone, general-purpose sign permit application, fee, or approval process — nothing in the Town's entire codified Municipal Code establishes a sign-permit process, and the Town's own 'Application for Building Site Permit' has ten project-type checkboxes that do not include a 'Sign' option. Two narrow, real regulations exist instead: (1) Sec. 15-2-80 (Sidewalk Displays), Chapter 15 Land Use Regulations, sets townwide size/placement rules for sandwich-board signs and banners/pennants used in sidewalk commercial displays, with no associated permit or fee; and (2) within a Town-designated historic landmark, contributing structure, or historic district, Section VII (Signage) of the Town's currently-effective Historic Preservation ordinance (Ord. 2025-1, adopted 2025-05-12) requires any exterior sign (or exterior-visible interior sign, plus exterior lighting) to be reviewed by the Historic Preservation Commission and approved by the Town Board of Trustees — folded into the same historic-district process documented in the historic-district-landmark-alteration-certificate entry.

  See fee schedule→

• Fire Sprinkler / Fire Alarm Permit (Northern Saguache County Fire Protection District)

  Fire protection system permitting for properties within the Town of Saguache is not administered by the Town itself — the Town has no dedicated Building Department, adopted building code, or fire-code adoption of its own, per the residential-building-permit entry. If any such process exists, it would fall to the Northern Saguache County Fire Protection District (NSCFPD), a volunteer fire protection district formed in 1978 that serves Saguache, Moffat, Crestone, Villa Grove, and Bonanza. NSCFPD's official website (northernsaguachefire.org) — which displays a 'Currently under construction' banner — publishes no fire sprinkler/alarm permit application, fee schedule, adopted fire code, or plan-review process of any kind.

  See fee schedule→

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