Shelley building permits

Tips & gotchas

• No separate commercial-building-permit or tenant-improvement (TI) permit exists in Shelley: commercial new construction and commercial TI/remodel work both use the same general Building Permit documented under residential-building-permit. (1) The Building & Safety Department webpage (https://cityofshelley.org/city-departments/building-safety-department/) states the department's purpose is inspecting and monitoring 'all new and existing structures, both residential and commercial,' and separately that 'building permits are required for roofing, fences, demolition, signs, sheds, decks, and solar panels, as well as any other structural projects' with no distinct commercial category listed; (2) City Code 7-1-4 (from the City's own Title 7-1 PDF) applies its new-construction requirements to 'residential homes (including manufactured homes), businesses, schools, churches, apartment buildings' — Section 7-1-3 by contrast reaches only residential construction, holding it to the manufactured-home standards of Section 10-17-2; (3) the City of Shelley Building Permit Fee Schedule and Building Permit Valuation Schedule (docx, last modified 2025-03-06) publish ONE generic valuation-based fee table for all building types — no commercial-specific fee bracket, plan-check fee, or line item exists anywhere in the document — and its 'Permit Fee Per Project Valuation' category explicitly lists 'Remodel' alongside Accessory Building, Deck, Finish Basement, and Solar, which is the bucket a commercial tenant-improvement/remodel project would be billed under; (4) the department's currently-adopted codes are 2018 IRC (residential) AND 2018 IBC (commercial) per the same webpage, so commercial plan review uses the IBC track within this same Building Permit rather than a separate permit type. The only confirmed commercial-specific difference is procedural: Idaho Code 39-4117 (https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/title39/t39ch41/sect39-4117/) gives a local government 20 business days to determine a commercial building permit application is complete, versus 10 business days for residential — this is a statewide completeness-review clock, not a distinct city permit product or a guarantee of full plan approval within that window.
• Shelley does NOT issue its own electrical, plumbing, or HVAC/mechanical trade permits — those are handled directly by the State of Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses (DOPL) / Division of Building Safety at 208-334-3233 or dbs.idaho.gov/permits. The City's own Building Permit Fee Schedule has no separate electrical/plumbing/mechanical line items, confirming these trades are state-permitted, not city-permitted.
• Idaho Code 39-4117 (effective 2025) sets a statutory 10-business-day (residential) / 20-business-day (commercial) window for the City to determine whether a submitted building permit application is complete — this is a completeness-review clock, not a guarantee of full plan approval within that window. Shelley has not published its own separate full review-to-approval SLA.
• The City's codified Title 7-1 building-code text on file with the Clerk still literally reads 'Uniform Building Code, 1991 Edition,' while the Building & Safety Department's current webpage states the department administers the 2018 IRC/IBC in practice — treat the department's published current-adoption statement as controlling for day-to-day permitting, since Title 7-1-1(A) itself provides for 'such later supplements and additions as may hereafter be published' by the International Conference of Building Officials/ICC to be automatically incorporated.
• Design criteria: Ground Snow Load 42 PSF minimum, Wind Load 90 MPH, Seismic Design Category C or D, Frost Depth 30 inches, Ice Barrier Underlayment required, Winter Design Temp -4°F, Air Freezing Index 2000 — per the City of Shelley Design Loads Table R301.2(1).
• New single-family construction requires a paved driveway (2-inch minimum compacted asphalt/cement) sized to the greater of the garage width or 24 feet, with a minimum 24' x 24' garage (City Code 7-1-6).
• A Certificate of Occupancy from the Building Inspector is required before any building or structure may be used or occupied, or before any occupancy classification change (City Code 7-1-5); temporary certificates require a bond/deposit equal to 125% of the estimated completion cost.
• If work requiring a permit starts before the permit is obtained, the City doubles the applicable permit fee (City Code 7-1-2(B)).
• Basement houses are prohibited citywide (City Code 10-8-5(F)).
• Fences/walls/hedges over 3 feet tall must be set back at least 15 feet from the right-of-way along any public street (2-foot minimum exception for RE Zoning District interior subdivision roads only, per Ordinance 649).
• Building permit applicants must submit proof that the Eastern Idaho Regional Sewer District (EIRSD) regional sewer connection fee has been paid at the time the building permit is purchased, in addition to separate city sewer and water connection fees; a utility account is required and monthly billing begins the month after connection fees are paid, regardless of occupancy.
• Applicants and contractors with unresolved building-code violations on ANY of their properties or projects within the city — not just the one under review — can be denied a new building permit or Certificate of Occupancy until they come into full compliance (City Code 7-1-7).