Sign Permit in Unincorporated Washington County, Colorado

Unincorporated Washington County requires a sign permit for: No dedicated local sign-permit application or fee schedule was found published anywhere on Washington County's website — confirmed directly against both the current Planning & Zoning department page and the Planning and Zoning Forms page, which list every other land-use form the County publishes (Building Permit, Foundation Permit, Mobile/Manufactured Home Permit, USBR and its Amend/Extinguish forms, Subdivision Exemption, Temporary Use, Road Access, Road Cut, Petition for Vacation, Request for Address) with no sign-specific item among them; For an OFF-PREMISE advertising sign (a sign advertising an activity/product/service not conducted on the property where the sign sits) located within CDOT's 'control area' adjacent to the state highway system, a CDOT Outdoor Advertising Permit Application (Form #291) must be filed with CDOT's Outdoor Advertising Program; Part 3 of CDOT Form #291 must be completed, signed, and dated by a representative of Washington County certifying the sign site's current zoning classification (commercial or industrial classification required, or an 'other' classification shown to encompass commercial/industrial use) and certifying compliance with all applicable County ordinances, variances, plans, rules, and other requirements; Permit fee is set by statute per sign face area, per C.R.S. § 43-1-409(1)(b): $10.00 (100 sq ft or less), $20.00 (101-250 sq ft), $40.00 (251-600 sq ft), $75.00 (601 sq ft or more); Permits are issued for a one-year term (July 1-June 30) and must be renewed annually before June 1 with payment of the renewal fee, per C.R.S. § 43-1-409(1)(a)-(b); a late fee applies to renewals submitted after the deadline; ON-PREMISE business signage (a sign advertising the business/activity located on the same property as the sign) is not addressed in any Washington County document found online; whether the County's own (unpublished) Zoning Resolution separately regulates on-premise signs could not be confirmed or ruled out — contact the Land Use Office directly, (970) 345-2701 ext. 234, before erecting an on-premise sign. If your project isn't listed, confirm with Washington County Land Use Office (Planning & Zoning Department) at (970) 345-2701 ext. 234 (fax (970) 514-7710, per the department's live webpage — resolved as current: a 2020 Wayback capture of the same page shows fax 345-2702 with then-Zoning-Official Denise Chavez named, while the live page today shows no named official ('temporary') and the new fax, indicating the webpage was updated since 2020 and the number changed; the Building Permit Application form (Rev. 06-14, unrevised since 2014) still carries the older 345-2702 and is treated as stale on this one field) before starting work.

The fee is set by state statute (C.R.S. § 43-1-409(1)(b)) based on sign face area: $10.00 for 100 sq ft or less, $20.00 for 101-250 sq ft, $40.00 for 251-600 sq ft, and $75.00 for 601 sq ft or more, reassessed at each annual renewal.

Unincorporated Washington County does not publish a plan-review timeline for this permit. Contact Washington County Land Use Office (Planning & Zoning Department) at (970) 345-2701 ext. 234 (fax (970) 514-7710, per the department's live webpage — resolved as current: a 2020 Wayback capture of the same page shows fax 345-2702 with then-Zoning-Official Denise Chavez named, while the live page today shows no named official ('temporary') and the new fax, indicating the webpage was updated since 2020 and the number changed; the Building Permit Application form (Rev. 06-14, unrevised since 2014) still carries the older 345-2702 and is treated as stale on this one field) for current turnaround.

You'll need: CDOT Outdoor Advertising Permit Application (Form #291). See the required-documents checklist on this page for details on each.

Apply through Washington County Land Use Office (Planning & Zoning Department) at Washington County Courthouse, 150 Ash Avenue, 2nd Floor, Akron, CO 80720. Phone: (970) 345-2701 ext. 234 (fax (970) 514-7710, per the department's live webpage — resolved as current: a 2020 Wayback capture of the same page shows fax 345-2702 with then-Zoning-Official Denise Chavez named, while the live page today shows no named official ('temporary') and the new fax, indicating the webpage was updated since 2020 and the number changed; the Building Permit Application form (Rev. 06-14, unrevised since 2014) still carries the older 345-2702 and is treated as stale on this one field), email: planning@co.washington.co.us (per the Foundation Permit and Mobile/Manufactured Home Permit forms; also matches the address shown for then-Zoning-Official Denise Chavez on a 2020 Wayback capture of the department's own webpage — the current live webpage's visible text does not repeat an email address, but nothing found contradicts this one, so it is carried forward as still-current pending direct confirmation). Office hours: Not published as specific hours for this department; the County's website states only that proposed regulations are available for inspection 'during normal business hours' at 150 Ash Avenue. The Planning Commission's regular meeting is the third Monday of each month at 7:00 p.m. in the old courtroom at the Courthouse (date subject to change).. Official information: https://washingtoncounty.colorado.gov/departments/administration/planning-and-zoning.

Unincorporated Washington County, Colorado has adopted: No model building code (IBC/IRC/NEC) found published online — see the FAQ below for what governs instead; Manufactured/mobile homes: Colorado Division of Housing state standards apply, not a county-adopted code; County Zoning Resolution is in force but not published online — full scope on this point unconfirmed; HB22-1362 (2022, Colorado's statewide model energy/low-carbon code law) population-based carve-out analysis: unincorporated Washington County's population is approximately 3,060 (county total 4,817 per 2020 Census, minus Akron's 1,757 — Akron is the only incorporated municipality in the county per this corpus's counties.json), which is ABOVE the law's 2,500-resident exemption threshold, so the population carve-out alone would not exempt the county. HB22-1362's model-code mandate is triggered only when a jurisdiction adopts or updates a building code; within the bound of what this file could actually read online, no building code (energy or otherwise) was found to have been affirmatively adopted, so no adoption/update event was found for the law's mandate to attach to. Given the unpublished-Zoning-Resolution caveat above, this is stated as 'no trigger event found' rather than an affirmative certainty that none exists. Re-check if the County adopts any future code, or if the Zoning Resolution's actual text is obtained and found to reference one — either would trigger the law's Model Low Energy and Carbon Code requirement (binding on any update after July 1, 2026).. Local amendments apply — see the Unincorporated Washington County overview page for the full list.

No dedicated local sign-permit application, ordinance, or fee schedule was found published anywhere on the County's website. The only sourced, applicable sign-permitting mechanism confirmed for the unincorporated county is the Colorado Department of Transportation's statewide Outdoor Advertising Permit, which covers off-premise advertising signs (billboards) near the state highway system and requires the County to certify the site's zoning as part of that state application.