Solar Photovoltaic (PV) System Permit in Garden City, Colorado

Garden City requires a solar photovoltaic (pv) system permit for: Permit application completely filled out with contact person, phone number, and total valuation of the PV system (material, labor, and profit); Two (2) sets of complete drawings; a plan review is required for each property/address; Reviewed against 2020 NEC, 2018 IRC, and 2018 IBC — the same code editions Garden City has locally adopted (Ordinance 02-2020); Design criteria for engineering: 115 mph Vult wind speed, Exposure C, 30 psf roof snow load, Seismic Design Category B — identical to Garden City's own adopted climatic/geographic design criteria; Roof-mounted systems require structural engineering proving the roof system supports the new load (wind uplift, roof snow load, and dead load of the system); Ground-mounted systems require a plot/site plan showing PV array location and distances to property lines and existing structures; Electrical plans must include a four-line diagram (module count/wattage, conductor sizes, wire lengths, insulation types, conduit sizes, fuses, circuit breaker ratings, inverter ratings, AC & DC disconnect rating, grounding and ground fault protection), PV module nameplate short-circuit current/open-circuit voltage, wire/fuse sizing calculations (including NEC Table 690.31(A)(a) temperature derating, worst-case ambient 56-60°C for roof-mounted systems), voltage-vs-inverter-rating calculations, and NEC 690.43/690.45 grounding calculations; Manufacturer's cut sheets and listing information for PV equipment, plus a sheet showing all required placards/labels with verbiage and colors; Zoning requirements are set by the Town and must be separately verified — applicant should contact the Town directly to confirm zoning compliance. If your project isn't listed, confirm with Town of Garden City Town Hall (building permitting administered under contract by ProCode Inc., now branded SAFEbuilt) at 970-351-0041 before starting work.

Garden City does not publish a plan-review timeline for this permit. Contact Town of Garden City Town Hall (building permitting administered under contract by ProCode Inc., now branded SAFEbuilt) at 970-351-0041 for current turnaround.

You'll need: Building/Electrical Permit Application (Photovoltaic System); Two (2) Sets of Complete Drawings; Structural Engineering Report (roof-mounted systems); Manufacturer Cut Sheets and Listing Information. See the required-documents checklist on this page for details on each.

Garden City requires 2 inspection(s) for a solar photovoltaic (pv) system permit, in order: Rough Electrical, Final — Structural / Electrical. Schedule each through Town of Garden City Town Hall (building permitting administered under contract by ProCode Inc., now branded SAFEbuilt) (970-351-0041).

Apply through Town of Garden City Town Hall (building permitting administered under contract by ProCode Inc., now branded SAFEbuilt) at 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.. Official information: https://www.townofgardencity.com/building-permits.

Garden City, Colorado has adopted: 2024 International Building Code (IBC), as adopted by reference with local amendments — UPDATED 2026-07-23: superseded the 2018 edition via Ordinance No. 11-2025; 2024 International Residential Code (IRC), as adopted by reference with local amendments — UPDATED 2026-07-23: superseded the 2018 edition via Ordinance No. 11-2025; 2024 International Mechanical Code (IMC), as adopted by reference with local amendments — UPDATED 2026-07-23: superseded the 2018 edition via Ordinance No. 11-2025; 2024 International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC), as adopted by reference with local amendments — UPDATED 2026-07-23: superseded the 2018 edition via Ordinance No. 11-2025; 2024 International Plumbing Code (IPC), as adopted by reference with local amendments — UPDATED 2026-07-23: superseded the 2018 edition via Ordinance No. 11-2025; 2024 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) — UPDATED 2026-07-23: 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 prior file version's '7 air changes per hour' IRC R303.4 mechanical-ventilation amendment was searched for in the full text of Ordinance 11-2025 and NOT found — it does not appear to carry forward into the current adopted energy code; treated as superseded rather than re-asserted.; 2024 International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC), as adopted by reference with local amendments — UPDATED 2026-07-23: superseded 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 — UPDATED 2026-07-23: superseded the 2018 edition via Ordinance No. 11-2025; 2024 International Swimming and Spa Code (ISPSC), adopted by reference — UPDATED 2026-07-23: superseded 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, CORRECTED 2026-07-23: Garden City DOES maintain 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. This CORRECTS the prior version of this file, which incorrectly stated Garden City 'has not adopted its own local NEC edition' based solely on the IPMC 604.2 cross-reference to 'Electrical Code adopted by the State of Colorado' — that IPMC phrase 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 in this file. 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 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.. Local amendments apply — see the Garden City overview page for the full list.

There is no Garden City-specific solar ordinance, but the Town's contracted building department, SAFEbuilt (formerly ProCode Inc.), applies its own standardized 'COLORADO Photovoltaic System Submittal Requirements' checklist across the jurisdictions it serves, including Garden City — reviewed against 2020 NEC / 2018 IRC / 2018 IBC using the same design criteria (115 mph wind, 30 psf snow load, Seismic Category B) Garden City has already locally adopted for general construction.

No published fee schedule exists — the Town publishes no numeric building-permit fee table for any permit type, including solar. Contact Town Hall (970-351-0041) or the CommunityCore portal directly for a project-specific quote.