Garden City building permits
Department contacts, adopted codes, permit types, fees, and gotchas for Garden City, Colorado.
Last verified 2026-07-06 · Source · Embed this page’s badge · Version history
Building department
- Address
- 9705 W. 10th Street, Garden City, CO 80631
- Phone
- 970-351-0041
- Office hours
- Town Hall main line 970-351-0041. Garden City has no in-house Building Official or Building Department staff of its own (Town Hall Employees directory lists only a Town Administrator, Deputy Clerk/Municipal Court Clerk, Finance Clerk, and Administrative Assistant); building inspection and plan review services are contracted out to ProCode Inc., which rebranded to SAFEbuilt in 2023-2024 and serves numerous Front Range Colorado municipalities from its Johnstown, CO office (39 S. Parish Avenue, Suite 220, Johnstown, CO 80534; 970-305-3161; COemail@safebuilt.com). Permit applications and inspection scheduling for Garden City route through the CommunityCore online portal, not directly through SAFEbuilt's own site.
- Website
- Official site
- Permit portal
- Apply online at Garden City's portal
Inspection guide
See how inspections work in Garden City — 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.
- 2024 International Building Code (IBC), as adopted by reference with local amendments — supersedes the 2018 edition via Ordinance No. 11-2025
- 2024 International Residential Code (IRC), as adopted by reference with local amendments — supersedes the 2018 edition via Ordinance No. 11-2025
- 2024 International Mechanical Code (IMC), as adopted by reference with local amendments — supersedes the 2018 edition via Ordinance No. 11-2025
- 2024 International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC), as adopted by reference with local amendments — supersedes the 2018 edition via Ordinance No. 11-2025
- 2024 International Plumbing Code (IPC), as adopted by reference with local amendments — supersedes the 2018 edition via Ordinance No. 11-2025
2024 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) — Ordinance No. Show full textShow less
2024 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) — Ordinance No. 11-2025 adopts the FULL 2024 IECC by reference (with local amendments to R402.5.1.3 air-leakage testing — 3 ACH50 detached / 5 ACH50 attached — and R403.3.7 duct-leakage testing), superseding the prior 2020-era ordinance's deletion of IRC Chapter 11 in favor of the 2012 IECC. The full text of Ordinance 11-2025 contains no '7 air changes per hour' IRC R303.4 mechanical-ventilation amendment; that earlier provision does not carry forward into the current adopted energy code.
- 2024 International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC), as adopted by reference with local amendments — supersedes the 2018 edition via Ordinance No. 11-2025; IPMC Section 604.2 still replaces 'NFPA 70' with 'Electrical Code adopted by the State of Colorado' (unchanged from the prior ordinance)
- 2024 International Existing Building Code (IEBC), as adopted by reference with local amendments — supersedes the 2018 edition via Ordinance No. 11-2025
- 2024 International Swimming and Spa Code (ISPSC), adopted by reference — supersedes the 2018 edition via Ordinance No. 11-2025
- Colorado Model Electric and Solar Ready Code, 2023 Edition, adopted by reference via Ordinance No. 11-2025 (NEW 2026-07-23 finding) — this appears to be Garden City's HB22-1362-triggering energy-code update (see localAmendments note on HB22-1362 below)
- Colorado Wildfire Resiliency Code, 2025 Edition, adopted by reference via Ordinance No. 11-2025 (NEW 2026-07-23 finding)
National Electrical Code (NEC), 2017 Edition: Garden City maintains its own locally-codified Electrical Code — Municipal Code Chapter 18, Article 3, Section 18-3-10 — adopted by reference via Ordinance No. Show full textShow less
National Electrical Code (NEC), 2017 Edition: Garden City maintains its own locally-codified Electrical Code — Municipal Code Chapter 18, Article 3, Section 18-3-10 — adopted by reference via Ordinance No. 04-2020 ('AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING BY REFERENCE THE NATIONAL ELECTRIC CODE, 2017 EDITION'), effective October 15, 2020, and re-codified without a base-edition change by Ordinance No. 04-2023 (May 2, 2023). Both ordinances build in an auto-update float: 'The effective edition shall be replaced by subsequent edition(s) of the National Electrical Code adopted by the State of Colorado Electrical Board... and such subsequent editions shall be effective one (1) year after' state adoption. The IPMC 604.2 cross-reference to 'Electrical Code adopted by the State of Colorado' does not negate the Town's own codified Chapter 18 Article 3 NEC adoption. What remains true and unchanged: Garden City has NOT established its own local electrical CONTRACTOR licensing board — contractor licensure still runs through the Colorado State Electrical Board (DORA), consistent with the Contemporaneous Review procedure documented elsewhere for this jurisdiction. Sources: https://www.townofgardencity.com/files/3e62c10e8/ordinance-04-2020-2017-national-electric-code.pdf.pdf and https://www.townofgardencity.com/files/3d5c2fc4d/ordinance-04-2023-ordinance-amending-electrical-code.pdf.pdf
Source: Ordinance No. 11-2025 ('AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING BY REFERENCE THE INTERNATIONAL BUILDING CODE, 2024 EDITION...'), read and introduced November 18, 2025, public hearing December 9, 2025, passed and adopted, signed… Show full textShow less
Source: Ordinance No. 11-2025 ('AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING BY REFERENCE THE INTERNATIONAL BUILDING CODE, 2024 EDITION...'), read and introduced November 18, 2025, public hearing December 9, 2025, passed and adopted, signed and approved December 9, 2025, effective 30 days after publication (i.e., on or about early January 2026) — repeals Ordinance No. 02-2020 and any amendments thereto in their entirety. Confirmed live on the Town's own site (https://www.townofgardencity.com/files/18063c2b6/Ordinance+11-2025+International+Building+Code.pdf) as of 2026-07-23, listed on the Town's Ordinances and Resolutions page. This is now the governing code-adoption ordinance; Ordinance No. 02-2020 (2018-edition cycle) is retained in individual permitType `sources` arrays below only as superseded historical reference where still cited. Local-amendment SUBSTANCE (climatic/geographic design table values, sewer/gas-piping depths, gas test pressure, CO-detector distance, foundation/soils-report requirement, R309 residential fire-sprinkler deletion, deck/retaining-wall/shingle permit-exempt thresholds) was diffed against the new ordinance's full text and found IDENTICAL in substance; only code-section numbers shifted with the 2024 ICC renumbering in a few places (documented inline below where it affects a citation). HB22-1362's statewide model energy/low-carbon code requirement now DOES appear to have been triggered and satisfied — see the Colorado Model Electric and Solar Ready Code, 2023 Edition entry above and the dated HB22-1362 note in localAmendments.
Permit types & fees
Residential Building Permit (New Construction / Additions / Structures Over 120 sq ft)
Required for new residential construction, additions, garages, carports, and any structure exceeding 120 square feet of floor area in Garden City. Reviewed and inspected under contract by ProCode Inc. (SAFEbuilt) against the Town's 2024 IBC/IRC as locally amended (Ordinance 11-2025 superseded the 2018 edition; design criteria values below unchanged), including the Town's specific climatic and geographic design criteria (30 psf ground snow load, 115 mph wind design speed, 30-inch frost line).
Fee not publishedResidential Addition / Remodel / Demolition Permit
Required for additions, remodels, basement finishes, retaining walls over 4 feet in height, and demolition in Garden City. Reviewed under contract by ProCode Inc. (SAFEbuilt) against the Town's 2024 IRC as locally amended (Ordinance 11-2025 superseded the 2018 edition).
Fee not publishedElectrical Permit
Required for electrical work in Garden City. Garden City DOES maintain its own locally-codified Electrical Code — the National Electrical Code (NEC), 2017 Edition, adopted by reference at Municipal Code Chapter 18, Article 3, Section 18-3-10 (Ordinance 04-2020, re-codified by Ordinance 04-2023) — with a built-in float provision that auto-updates the Town's effective NEC edition to whatever edition the Colorado State Electrical Board (DORA) adopts, one year after the state's own adoption. What the Town does NOT have is its own electrical-CONTRACTOR-licensing board: contractor licensure remains governed by Colorado's State Electrical Board (DORA), and the Town's contracted building department (ProCode/SAFEbuilt) performs the state-mandated contemporaneous review of that licensure at inspection. (The IPMC Section 604.2 cross-reference to 'Electrical Code adopted by the State of Colorado' is a maintenance-code cross-reference and does not negate the Town's own Chapter 18 Article 3 NEC adoption.)
Fee not publishedPlumbing Permit
Required for plumbing addition or extension work in Garden City. Governed by the 2024 International Plumbing Code (IPC) as locally amended (Ordinance 11-2025 superseded the 2018 edition; depth figures below unchanged). Plumbing contractors must hold Colorado State Plumbing Board (DORA) licensure, verified contemporaneously at inspection by the Town's contracted building department.
Fee not publishedMechanical / HVAC Permit
Required for central air conditioners (new and replacement), furnaces, wood-burning stoves/fireplaces/gas logs, and jetted/hot tubs in Garden City. Governed by the 2024 International Mechanical Code (IMC) and 2024 International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC) as locally amended (Ordinance 11-2025 superseded the 2018 edition; depth/pressure figures below unchanged).
Fee not publishedRe-Roof Permit
Required for re-roofing in Garden City, with a narrow permit-exempt carve-out for very small shingle repairs. Governed by the 2024 IBC/IRC as locally amended (Ordinance 11-2025 superseded the 2018 edition and added a NEW substantive requirement: Class 4 impact-resistant asphalt shingles).
Fee not publishedDemolition Permit
Required for demolition work in Garden City, explicitly listed in the Town's published permit-requirement chart alongside remodel.
Fee not publishedEV Charger / EVSE Permit
Required for installation of a residential or commercial electric vehicle charging station (EVSE) in Garden City. As with all electrical work in this jurisdiction, the Town has no in-house Building Department — permitting is administered under contract by ProCode Inc. (rebranded SAFEbuilt in 2023-2024). Garden City DOES maintain its own locally-codified Electrical Code (NEC 2017 Edition, Municipal Code Ch. 18 Art. 3, per Ordinance 04-2020/04-2023, auto-updating to track the State Electrical Board's own adoptions one year later); what remains true is that electrical-CONTRACTOR licensing itself is a State of Colorado (DORA) function, with no separate Garden City licensing board. No fee schedule for any permit type — including electrical — is published anywhere on the Town's site; this gap applies across every permit type in this jurisdiction, not specifically to EV chargers — no such schedule is published in any public source as of 2026-07-23 (see top-level notes).
Fee not publishedDeck / Patio Cover / Retaining Wall Permit
Required for patio covers and retaining walls over 4 feet in height in Garden City; decks less than 30 inches above grade and not attached to an existing structure are exempt, per the Town's own published permit-exempt list.
Fee not publishedSolar Photovoltaic (PV) System Permit
Required for installation or replacement of rooftop or ground-mounted solar photovoltaic systems in Garden City. As with all building permits in the Town, plan review and inspection is performed under contract by SAFEbuilt (formerly ProCode Inc.), which applies its own standardized 'COLORADO Photovoltaic System Submittal Requirements' checklist (updated 11/13/2019) across its Colorado-contracted jurisdictions — its design criteria (115 mph Vult wind, Exposure C, 30 psf roof snow load, Seismic Design Category B) match Garden City's own adopted design criteria exactly (Ordinance 02-2020), confirming this document governs Garden City installations. No Garden City-specific or SAFEbuilt-published flat solar fee exists; the same unpublished valuation-based process documented for the Town's general Building and Electrical permits applies.
Fee not publishedWater Heater and Boiler Replacement Permit
Required for water heater and boiler replacements in Garden City, explicitly and separately listed in the Town's published permit-requirement chart distinct from general mechanical/HVAC work.
Fee not publishedCommercial Building Permit (New Construction / Alterations / Tenant Build-Outs)
Required for commercial new construction, alterations, remodels, and tenant build-outs in Garden City — a town whose economy is genuinely commercial (bars, nightclubs, liquor- and marijuana-licensed establishments along the 8th Avenue corridor) despite its ~200-260 population. Garden City has NO separate commercial permit track: all commercial work goes through the same single Building Permit application (CommunityCore online portal) as residential work, with plan review and inspection performed under contract by ProCode Inc. (SAFEbuilt) against the 2024 IBC and 2024 IEBC as adopted with local amendments by Ordinance No. 11-2025 (effective ~January 2026). The Town's Building Permits page, its Municipal Code Building Permits FAQ page, its Business page and its standalone Building Permit Application form all present one undifferentiated building-permit process, with no commercial-specific application, checklist, fee schedule, or tenant-improvement permit.
Fee not publishedSign Permit
Garden City requires a sign permit for permanent signs, per the Town's own Business/Building Permits page, which directs applicants to review the Sign Code (Municipal Code Chapter 16, Land Use Development, Article 6 — Sign Code) before planning a sign, whether permanent or temporary, and to apply via the CommunityCore online portal. The Town's sign regulations separately restrict sign placement near fire hydrants and in locations that would imperil public safety or interfere with Fire Department operations.
See fee scheduleFire Sprinkler / Fire Alarm System Permit
Garden City is a small (roughly 0.1 sq mi) town entirely enclosed within Greeley, Colorado. Fire protection for Garden City is provided by the Greeley Fire Department, which serves 64 square miles across Weld County including the Garden City area, per fire-service directories. No Garden City-specific fire-district sprinkler/alarm permit page or fee schedule distinct from Greeley Fire Department's own process is published. Contact Greeley Fire Department directly to confirm current plan-review and permitting procedures for fire sprinkler and fire alarm systems within Garden City.
See fee scheduleChange of Use / Change of Occupancy
Garden City does not publish a standalone 'Change of Use' or 'Change of Occupancy' permit application separate from its general building permit process — the Town's Business/Building Permits page lists only general Building Permits and Sign Permits, both processed through the CommunityCore online portal. A use/occupancy change is presumed to be processed through the same general Building Permit Application used for other Garden City permit types; contact Town Hall to confirm code-analysis requirements for a specific project, since the Town publishes no Garden City-specific IEBC or change-of-occupancy citation.
See fee schedule
Garden City's permit history isn't searchable here yet
This page covers what the permit requires. What we don't have for Garden City yet is the record of permits actually issued — the history you'd search by street address. That is a gap in our coverage, not a statement about any particular property.
Your email, and the place — never an address. We only use it to tell you when Garden City lands. Privacy.
New residential construction activity
New privately-owned residential construction onlyHousing units authorized by building permits for new privately-owned residential construction — this is not total permit volume (no commercial permits or remodels).
- Latest month (2026-07)
- No data reported
- Trailing 12 months
- No data reported
- Year to date (2026 YTD)
- No data reported
- Full year 2025
- 0units
0 buildings · $0 valuation
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey (BPS), 2026-07 vintage. Census survey data — separate from the permit-requirements verification above. All Colorado building activity
Tips & gotchas
- Garden City is a tiny home-rule enclave town (population roughly 200-260) entirely surrounded by the City of Greeley, with no in-house Building Department — ALL building inspection and plan review is contracted out to ProCode Inc., which rebranded to SAFEbuilt in 2023-2024 and serves numerous Front Range Colorado municipalities from its Johnstown, CO office. Do not expect a Town staff Building Official; direct code-specific questions through the CommunityCore portal or Town Hall (970-351-0041), which will route to the contracted inspector.
- Garden City's code base changed materially: Ordinance No. 11-2025 (passed/signed December 9, 2025, effective ~early January 2026) repealed Ordinance 02-2020 and adopted the 2024 editions of the IBC/IRC/IMC/IFGC/IPC/IECC/IPMC/IEBC/ISPSC, plus the Colorado Model Electric and Solar Ready Code (2023) and Colorado Wildfire Resiliency Code (2025) by reference. This satisfies the HB22-1362 requirement — Garden City has now adopted the state's own model electric/solar-ready code by name. A NEW substantive requirement also appeared with this ordinance: re-roofing now requires Class 4 impact-resistant asphalt shingles (IRC R905.2.4, tested to UL 2218), with narrow exceptions where matching Class-4 shingles aren't available in a comparable color/style, or for repairs/additions to existing non-Class-4 roofing. See the reroof-permit entry below.
- No published numeric building-permit fee schedule exists on the Town's own website. Garden City's 2025 Fee Schedule PDF covers only business licenses, land-use/zoning fees, court fees, and police fees — it has zero building/electrical/plumbing/mechanical permit fee line items, a pattern that extends back through at least the 2019 and 2023 editions of the same document via Wayback Machine. The Town states fees are 'based upon the estimated cost of your project,' consistent with the contracted building department applying its own valuation-based schedule. A distinct 'Electrical Permit Fee Schedule maintained by the town administrator and building official' is specifically referenced in Ordinance 04-2020 but is not available on the live site, in the Wayback Machine's archive of the domain, or via the (login-walled) CommunityCore public portal — no jurisdiction-specific fee table is publicly available. This is the reason the jurisdiction's TOP-LEVEL confidence remains 'partial' even though every individual permitType below is 'verified.'
- Electrical and plumbing CONTRACTOR LICENSING in Garden City defaults to Colorado's State Electrical Board and State Plumbing Board (DORA/DPO) framework, not a local certified licensing program — confirmed by the statewide-mandated Contemporaneous Review procedure (which every CO inspecting entity, in-house or contracted, must follow) and by the absence of any Garden City-specific electrical/plumbing licensing ordinance. This is separate from CODE adoption — Garden City DOES have its own codified Electrical Code (NEC 2017 Edition, Municipal Code Chapter 18 Article 3, per Ordinance 04-2020 as re-codified by Ordinance 04-2023, with an auto-update float tied to the State Electrical Board's own edition adoptions). Don't conflate 'no local licensing board' (true) with 'no local NEC adoption' (false).
- Garden City's local amendments delete the IRC's automatic residential fire-sprinkler requirement in its entirety — residential fire sprinklers are NOT locally mandated, unlike some peer mountain-resort jurisdictions. Under the current governing ordinance (11-2025, 2024 IRC) this is a single 'IRC Section R309 (Fire sprinklers)' deletion; the two separate 2018-edition sections (R309.5 and R313.1) are superseded numbering from the repealed ordinance.
- The permit-exempt list has narrow, easy-to-miss conditions: decks are only exempt if BOTH under 30 inches above grade AND not attached to an existing structure (both conditions must hold); retaining walls are only exempt under 4 feet; shingle repair is only exempt up to 100 sq ft (one roofing square) per building. Larger or attached versions of these items require a full permit.
- If a project requires Atmos Energy to shut off gas service, the Building Inspector must perform an on-site pressure test after project completion — Atmos will not restore gas service without this inspection having passed. Budget this into project timelines for any gas-adjacent work (furnace, water heater/boiler replacement, gas log installs).
- Applying for a permit before starting work matters financially: the Town's locally-amended code allows the Building Inspector to charge an investigation fee (up to the normal permit fee amount) for work commenced without a permit, in addition to the permit fee itself, whether or not a permit is ultimately issued.
- Sign permits (for permanent signs) are a distinct process from building-code trade permits, administered under Chapter 16, Article 6 of the Municipal Code with a 5-business-day Town Administrator review clock; they are referenced in the localAmendments notes above but not listed as a separate permitType since they are a land-use/sign-code permit rather than a building-code trade permit.