Commercial / Industrial Building Permit (New Construction) in Windsor, Colorado

When you need this permit

• A Town of Windsor Approved Site Plan (all pages — title page, site plan, utility drawings, drainage plans, elevations, landscape plans) must be submitted electronically along with the building permit application, per the Town's 'New Commercial Plan Submittal Procedure' checklist
• Application must give description of project and square footage, total project valuation and electrical valuation, type of construction, and occupancy group
• Architectural Plans, Project Specifications, Structural Plans, Electrical Plans, and Mechanical/Plumbing Plans must each be stamped by a Colorado-licensed architect or engineer (per C.R.S. requiring an original seal unless exempted by section 12-4-112 C.R.S.); Fire Protection Plans stamped by a Colorado-licensed engineer are required if a fire protection system is part of the design
• Electrical plans must include load calculations, one-line diagrams, and fault current analysis; EV-ready, Solar-ready, and Electric-ready provisions are now required to be shown on plans
• A soils report (stamped by a Colorado-licensed soils engineer), structural calculations (stamped by a Colorado-licensed structural engineer), a list of special inspections required by the Building Code, and detailed drawings for fire-rated floor/ceiling, roof/ceiling, and wall assemblies must be submitted
• The cover sheet must include a building code summary and assumptions regarding occupancy, construction type, total allowable building area, exiting and occupant load, wind speed design, snow load, frost depth, and other pertinent information
• Restaurants and commercial kitchens have additional requirements: a grease interceptor sized per the adopted Plumbing Code (or engineer-designed) for grease-producing operations; an approved fire sprinkler system for liquor-serving restaurants over 5,000 square feet; the restaurant operator (not the Town) is responsible for obtaining all liquor licenses/inspections; Type I hoods for grease/smoke-producing equipment and Type II hoods for heat/steam-only equipment; two exits (not passing through a kitchen/storage area) for an occupant load of 50 or more, with panic hardware required at 100+ occupant load in an A Occupancy; Weld County or Larimer County health department approval (letter/email/fax) is required on-site before final inspection and is a condition of the Certificate of Occupancy; a seating plan is required for indoor or outdoor dining areas, and fenced patio gates must meet applicable door requirements
• Reviewed under the 2024 I-Codes (effective January 1, 2026); no separate Town of Windsor contractor license is required, but the licensed design professionals and installing trade contractors must hold current Colorado (DORA) credentials where applicable Contractor
• The approved job-site plan set must remain on site throughout construction (including final inspections) and must be identical to the Town-approved site plan; any change to the approved site plan requires Town approval before implementation
• A Certificate of Occupancy (CO) requires: all utility inspections passed (including water meter installation), SAFEbuilt's final construction inspection passed, Windsor-Severance Fire Rescue (WSFR) inspections passed, and closeout procedures completed (walkthrough/punch list, site grade certification, detention pond certification if applicable, and any development agreement items)
• A Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (TCO) is available at the Town's sole discretion for commercial and industrial projects only (NOT for multifamily); all health/safety/welfare items (egress, fire protection, potable water, sanitary sewer, open excavations) must be complete, while non-critical items like landscaping may be deferred against a security (escrow check, performance bond, or letter of credit)
• Permits expire if work does not begin within 180 days of issuance, or is halted for 180 days, per the Town's general permit-expiration rule
• Windsor-Severance Fire Rescue (WSFR) impact fees, for permits received on or after June 26, 2026, are collected directly by WSFR and due within 30 days of permit issuance
• WSFR separately charges its own valuation-tiered Building Permit and Fire Protection Systems Permit plan review/inspection fee for any fire alarm, fire sprinkler, or other fire protection system scope — confirmed to exist in WSFR's own 2025 Consolidated Schedule of Rates, Charges, and Fees, but the specific tiered dollar figures could not be reliably extracted from that PDF's table layout in this review and are not reproduced here; contact WSFR directly (970-686-7511 area / wsfr.us) for a project-specific fire-system plan review fee