You are viewing the permanent link for the record currently in effect, published 2026-07-07.
Saguache building permits
VerifiedSaguache, Colorado — as published 2026-07-07.
Verified 2026-07-23 · Source
Codes adopted
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 this file's independently-verified Town Hall contact exactly — confirming this listing is genuinely about the Town, not Saguache County. NOTE (2026-07-07 liveness re-check): coloradoenergy.org's HTTPS endpoint is currently hanging at the application layer, not blocked at the network layer — DNS resolves, TCP connects, and the TLS handshake completes normally (verified via a verbose curl trace), but the server accepts the HTTP request and then returns zero bytes indefinitely; plain HTTP (port 80) does eventually answer with a slow ~17s 301 redirect to the same broken HTTPS endpoint. This points to a stuck/overloaded backend on their end, not a DNS or network-path problem. Its own Wayback captures for this exact page stop at 2010, too stale to cite as current-state confirmation. The 'No Building Codes' finding is retained on the strength of the independent Town Clerk contact match above, not the ColoradoEnergy.org citation alone. Re-check coloradoenergy.org liveness in a future session.UPDATE (2026-07-07): the Town's Municode Chapter 18 — previously flagged as unreachable (see prior note below) — was successfully read directly via a live browser render (library.municode.com/co/saguache/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=CD_ORD_CH18BURE; the site is a client-rendered SPA that returns an empty shell to plain HTTP fetches/Wayback, which is why earlier non-browser attempts failed). '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 (this corrects an earlier speculative title guess of 'Field Approval,' sourced only from search-engine snippets before this chapter could actually be read); 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 directly 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.PRIOR NOTE (superseded by the UPDATE above, retained for audit trail): The Town's own currently codified Municipal Code (hosted on Municode Library, library.municode.com/co/saguache) does contain a 'CHAPTER 18 - Building Regulations' with at least an 'Article 2 - Field Approval' and an 'Article 3 - Manufactured Homes/Mobile Homes/Home Parks/Vacation Parks' (chapter/article titles confirmed via Municode's own site-indexed page titles across multiple independent search-engine queries). However, the verbatim text of Chapter 18 (including any fee schedule, permit-issuance procedure, or code-edition citation it may contain) could NOT be retrieved after exhausting every available recovery avenue: Municode's MunicodeNEXT platform serves this content exclusively via an authenticated Angular/API backend (library.municode.com/api and mcclibraryfunctions.azurewebsites.us/api both returned 401 Unauthorized to unauthenticated and referer-header requests); the Wayback Machine never captured real chapter content because Municode is a client-rendered SPA that legacy crawlers indexed as an empty shell (CDX lookups for library.municode.com/co/saguache* returned zero snapshots); Firecrawl (which can render JS) was unavailable due to exhausted account credits at time of this review; and Google/Bing search snippets surfaced only page titles, never body text, for this specific chapter.No adopted electrical code (NEC) or plumbing code (IPC) edition was found 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 this file does NOT assert a Town electrical or plumbing permit process given the complete absence of any Town-published fee, form, or procedure for either trade (see localAmendments).
Permit types & fees
Building Permit
VerifiedThe 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.'
Verified 2026-07-23 · Source
Requirements
- Contact the Town Clerk or Deputy Clerk at Saguache Town Hall (504 San Juan Avenue, P.O. Box 417, Saguache, CO 81149; 719-655-2232) to apply — the Town's own page directs applicants there directly rather than to a specific online portal or downloadable form
- No downloadable Building Permit application form, fee schedule, or submittal checklist was found on the Town's website (live or archived) — the Town's 'Forms' page lists only an unrelated 'Community Building Use Application' (a facility-rental form)
- The State of Colorado may require further permits or licenses in addition to the Town's Building Permit, per the Town's own Licenses and Permits page — likely referring to electrical/plumbing trade licensing administered by Colorado DORA state boards, though the Town's page does not itself specify which state permits apply
Required documents
- RequiredApplication for Building Site Permit (found live 2026-07-13)One-page fillable form, part of an 8-page scanned PDF packet titled 'Building Permit' under Documents > Forms on the Town's rebuilt live site (https://www.townofsaguache.org/uploads/building_permit_package.pdf; approved by Board of Trustees 12/14/2015). Covers New Construction, Addition, Bridges/Walkways/Driveways, Roof Replacement, Fence or Deck, Demolition, Mobile Home, Single/Multi Unit Residence, Lot Level Change, and Commercial/Industrial project types on one form. No fee schedule or numeric review-turnaround language appears anywhere in the 8-page packet (pages 3-8 are generic Colorado CDPHE asbestos renovation/demolition handouts, not Town-specific).
Fee schedule
| Fee type | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Town of Saguache Building Permit Fee | $20.00 | CLOSED 2026-07-23: found on a LIVE primary source — the Town's own codified Municipal Code, Appendix 2-F (Consolidated Fee Schedule), read directly via live browser render at library.municode.com (site header shows 'VERSION: FEB 1, 2024 (CURRENT)', i.e. this is the Town's current, live-effective fee table, not an archive). Under the 'BUILDING PERMITS' heading, the table states verbatim: 'Building Permit (valid for 1 year from date of issue) ... $20.00'. Appendix 2-F is adopted by reference in Sec. 4-1-20 of the Code ('A Consolidated Fee Schedule has been established for the various fees charged for the benefit of different services provided by the Town... may be hereafter updated and changed by resolution of the Board of Trustees') and is itself sourced to Ord. No. 2015-4, § 1, 11-16-2015. This resolves the prior genuine gap (no fee found on the Town's website or in Wayback captures) via a new avenue — the Municode fee-schedule appendix — that the prior chase had not reached. |
EV Charger / EVSE Permit (Town Building Permit + State Electrical Permit)
VerifiedThe 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.
Verified 2026-07-23 · Source
Requirements
- Contact the Town Clerk or Deputy Clerk at Saguache Town Hall (504 San Juan Avenue, P.O. Box 417, Saguache, CO 81149; 719-655-2232) — the Town's Application for Building Site Permit form has no dedicated 'EV Charger' or 'EVSE' checkbox among its project-type options (New Construction, Addition, Bridges/Walkways/Driveways, Roof Replacement, Fence or Deck, Demolition, Mobile Home, Single/Multi Unit Residence, Lot Level Change, Commercial); confirm with the Town Clerk which category applies to an EV charger installation
- No adopted model building or electrical code (IBC/IRC/NEC) governs technical plan review, per ColoradoEnergy.org's independently-verified 'No Building Codes' finding for the Town and this file's direct reading of Municipal Code Chapter 18 (which contains no code adoption)
- Electrical-connection work (the core scope of an EV charger install) is NOT administered by the Town — apply directly to the Colorado State Electrical Board (DORA, Division of Professions and Occupations), consistent with the general Colorado pattern of small statutory towns without their own trade-permitting programs
- Colorado HB24-1173 (EV Charging System Permits) requires counties with population 20,000+ and municipalities with population 10,000+ to adopt a streamlined EV-charger permitting process (state model code, local objective standards with a 3-business-day decision window, or a formally-adopted ordinance continuing existing process) by December 31, 2025 — Saguache's population (539) is far below the 10,000-person municipal threshold, so the Town has no obligation under this law and none was found to have been voluntarily adopted
- No SolarAPP+ (gosolarapp.org) participation was found for the Town of Saguache — SolarAPP+ covers solar/storage permitting, not EV chargers specifically, and no evidence of any Saguache-specific automated permitting platform exists
Required documents
- RequiredApplication for Building Site PermitSame general Town of Saguache building permit form used for all project types (townofsaguache.org/uploads/building_permit_package.pdf); no dedicated EV charger checkbox exists, so select the closest applicable project-type box and confirm with the Town Clerk
Fee schedule
| Fee type | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Town of Saguache Building Permit Fee (general scope) | $20.00 | UPDATED 2026-07-23: found on a LIVE primary source — the Town's own codified Municipal Code, Appendix 2-F (Consolidated Fee Schedule), read via live browser render at library.municode.com ('VERSION: FEB 1, 2024 (CURRENT)'). States verbatim under 'BUILDING PERMITS': 'Building Permit (valid for 1 year from date of issue) ... $20.00.' This is the same general Building Permit fee documented in this file's residential-building-permit entry; an EV charger installation using the Town's general Building Permit would be subject to this same $20.00 fee (plus the separate State electrical permit fee below). Supersedes the prior finding that no fee was published — that finding was accurate as of the earlier chase, which had not yet reached the Municode fee-schedule appendix. |
| State of Colorado Electrical Permit -- Residential, up to 1,000 SF (statewide DORA State Electrical Board schedule, C.R.S. 12-23-117) | $200 | Colorado's State Electrical Board sets a single statewide electrical permit fee schedule (assessed annually each July) that automatically governs in any jurisdiction, like Saguache, with no locally-adopted electrical inspection authority -- confirmed by cross-referencing the Town of Hudson, CO's Building Permit Fees handout (a fellow small statutory town with no local electrical program), which reproduces this schedule verbatim and labels it 'Assessed ea. July by State Electrical Board.' This is the governing fee for the core EV-charger electrical-connection scope in Saguache since the Town itself has no trade-permitting program. Saguache-specific confirmation of which square-footage/valuation tier applies to a retrofit EVSE circuit (vs. new construction) was not independently obtained -- confirm the exact tier with DORA (303-894-7800 / dora_electricalboard@state.co.us) before budgeting. |
Solar PV Permit (Town Building Permit, Statewide Fee Cap)
VerifiedThe 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.
Verified 2026-07-23 · Source
Requirements
- Contact the Town Clerk or Deputy Clerk at Saguache Town Hall (504 San Juan Avenue, P.O. Box 417, Saguache, CO 81149; 719-655-2232) — the Town's Application for Building Site Permit form does not list a dedicated 'Solar' checkbox among its project-type options (New Construction, Addition, Bridges/Walkways/Driveways, Roof Replacement, Fence or Deck, Demolition, Mobile Home, Single/Multi Unit Residence, Lot Level Change, Commercial); a solar installation likely falls under 'New Construction,' 'Addition,' or 'Commercial/Industrial' depending on scope — confirm with the Town Clerk which category to select
- No adopted model building code (IBC/IRC) governs technical plan review, per ColoradoEnergy.org's independently-verified 'No Building Codes' finding for the Town and this file's direct reading of Municipal Code Chapter 18 (which contains no code adoption)
- Electrical-connection work is NOT administered by the Town — apply directly to the Colorado State Electrical Board (DORA, Division of Professions and Occupations), consistent with the general Colorado pattern of small statutory towns without their own trade-permitting programs
- Statewide fee cap under C.R.S. § 24-48.5-113 (enacted by HB21-1284): the AGGREGATE of all charges/fees ANY Colorado governmental body — including a small statutory town like Saguache — may impose to install an active solar energy system is capped at $500 for a residential system under 10kW and $1,000 for a commercial system or a residential system 10kW or over; this statute contains no population-based exemption, so it applies to Saguache's Town fee (whatever that fee turns out to be, since none is published) exactly as it would to a larger city
- HB25-1096's automated-permitting mandate (requiring an automated platform such as SolarAPP+) applies only to municipalities with population over 5,000 — Saguache's population (539) is well under that threshold, so the Town is NOT required to offer automated solar permitting under that statute
Required documents
- RequiredApplication for Building Site PermitSame general Town of Saguache building permit form used for all project types (found live 2026-07-13, townofsaguache.org/uploads/building_permit_package.pdf); no dedicated solar checkbox exists, so select the closest applicable project-type box and confirm with the Town Clerk
Fee schedule
| Fee type | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Town of Saguache Building Permit Fee (structural/general scope) | $20.00 | UPDATED 2026-07-23: found on a LIVE primary source — the Town's own codified Municipal Code, Appendix 2-F (Consolidated Fee Schedule), read via live browser render at library.municode.com ('VERSION: FEB 1, 2024 (CURRENT)'). States verbatim under 'BUILDING PERMITS': 'Building Permit (valid for 1 year from date of issue) ... $20.00.' This is the same general Building Permit fee documented in this file's residential-building-permit entry; a solar installation using the Town's general Building Permit would be subject to this same $20.00 fee (plus the separate State electrical-connection fee below), well within the $500/$1,000 statutory cap of C.R.S. § 24-48.5-113 (HB21-1284), which applies to every Colorado local government regardless of population or whether it has adopted a model building code. Supersedes the prior finding that no fee was published — that finding was accurate as of the earlier chase, which had not yet reached the Municode fee-schedule appendix. |
| State of Colorado electrical permit fees (electrical-connection scope) | Statewide valuation-based schedule under C.R.S. § 12-23-117: base fee ~$100-$120 for job valuation up to $2,000, plus roughly $10-$11.50 per $1,000 of valuation above that — capped in aggregate (with the Town's building-permit fee) at $500 residential/$1,000 commercial by C.R.S. § 24-48.5-113 | Confirmed 2026-07-20 against the DORA State Electrical Board's own live fee-schedule document (hosted by the Town of Larkspur, CO, at townoflarkspur.org/media/2901, printed with DORA's own Denver address/phone: 1560 Broadway Suite 1350, Denver, 303.894.2300), Section B "Commercial and other fees." Larimer County's current equivalent (Table 1-E, larimer.org/sites/default/files/2020_electrical_fee_table.pdf) explicitly confirms solar falls under this same valuation-based bracket and cites the identical $500/$1,000 statutory cap. Since Saguache has no local electrical inspection program (electrical is a matter of statewide concern per C.R.S. § 12-23-117, and no local government may charge more than 1.15x this state schedule), this state schedule governs the electrical scope of a Saguache solar installation directly. |
Sources & verification
Verified against official sources. Last reviewed 2026-07-23.
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 Saguache building department before you submit. PermitBase is an independent reference and is not affiliated with any government agency.