Unincorporated Emery County building permits

Building department

Address

75 East Main St, Room 106, PO Box 417, Castle Dale, UT 84513

Phone

(435) 381-3555

Email

building@emery.utah.gov

Office hours

Mon–Fri 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM, except county holidays

Website

Official site

Inspection guide

See how inspections work in Unincorporated Emery County — sequence, scheduling & re-inspection fees.

Codes adopted

Utah adopts construction codes statewide under Utah Code Title 15A (State Construction and Fire Codes Act), enforced by every jurisdiction. Chapter 4 of Title 15A codifies Legislature-enacted amendments for specific named jurisdictions (e.g., Park City, Salt Lake City, Sandy City) as part of the state construction code. Through June 30, 2026, the editions in force under Utah Code § 15A-2-103 are the 2021 IBC (with Appendices C and J), 2021 IRC, 2021 IPC, 2021 IMC, 2021 IFGC, 2021 IECC, 2021 IEBC, and 2021 ISPSC (residential provisions), together with the 2023 NEC. Effective July 1, 2026, § 15A-2-103 adopts the 2024 editions of the IBC, IPC, IMC, IFGC, IECC, IEBC, and ISPSC; the IRC remains the 2021 edition and the NEC remains the 2023 edition. Note: residential energy requirements are modified by statewide amendments, and several Utah jurisdictions document their residential energy provisions at the 2015 IECC level rather than the adopted IECC year — confirm the applicable residential energy code with your local jurisdiction. Always confirm the edition in force with your local jurisdiction.

• 2021 International Residential Code (IRC), plus Appendix AQ of the 2021 IRC — Emery County Building & Zoning, with State of Utah Amendments — Utah Code § 15A-2-103(1)(b)/(c); unchanged by the July 1, 2026 revision — still the current edition
• 2024 International Building Code (IBC), including Appendices C and J — Emery County Building & Zoning, with State of Utah Amendments — Utah Code § 15A-2-103(1)(a); current edition as of July 1, 2026 (2021 edition governed through June 30, 2026)
• 2024 International Plumbing Code (IPC) — Emery County Building & Zoning, with State of Utah Amendments — Utah Code § 15A-2-103(1)(d); current edition as of July 1, 2026 (2021 edition governed through June 30, 2026)
• 2024 International Mechanical Code (IMC) — Emery County Building & Zoning, with State of Utah Amendments — Utah Code § 15A-2-103(1)(e); current edition as of July 1, 2026 (2021 edition governed through June 30, 2026)
• 2020 National Electrical Code (NEC), as listed on the Emery County Building Permit Requirements page — NOTE: Utah Code § 15A-2-103(1)(g) sets the 2023 NEC as the statewide in-force edition, unchanged by the July 1, 2026 revision; the county page has not been updated to reflect the statewide 2023 adoption (same discrepancy documented in the Cache County file for this corpus).
• 2024 International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC) — Emery County Building & Zoning, with State of Utah Amendments — Utah Code § 15A-2-103(1)(f); current edition as of July 1, 2026 (2021 edition governed through June 30, 2026)
• 2024 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) — Emery County Building & Zoning, with State of Utah Amendments — Utah Code § 15A-2-103(1)(h); current edition as of July 1, 2026 (2021 edition governed through June 30, 2026); statute has no residential/commercial split — one edition applies to both
• 2024 International Existing Building Code (IEBC) — Emery County Building & Zoning, with State of Utah Amendments — Utah Code § 15A-2-103(1)(i); current edition as of July 1, 2026 (2021 edition governed through June 30, 2026)
• 2024 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code (ISPSC), residential provisions — Utah Code § 15A-2-103(1)(n). ADDED 2026-07-16: this code is not listed on Emery County's own building-code pages, but it is adopted statewide by statute, so it applies here regardless of the county page's omission.
• Utah Wildland Urban Interface Code — Emery County Building & Zoning
• COUNTY-PAGE LAG (live-checked 2026-07-16): the Emery County Building Permit Requirements page (emery.utah.gov/home/department-directory/bz/building-permit/) still lists '2021' for IBC, IPC, IMC, IFGC, IECC, and IEBC (plus '2020' for NEC, noted above) — the page has not been updated for the July 1, 2026 statewide flip to 2024 editions. The 2024 editions and 2023 NEC listed in this array are the legally in-force editions per Utah Code § 15A-2-103, not the county page.
• NOTE (verified 2026-07-16 against the live Utah Code § 15A-2-103 text, version headed 'Effective 7/1/2026 / Superseded 1/1/2027'): the 2024 editions of IBC, IPC, IMC, IFGC, IECC, and IEBC listed above took effect July 1, 2026, replacing the 2021 editions; IRC (2021) and NEC (2023, per statute — see county-page discrepancy note above) did not change. The 1/1/2027 version of the statute carries identical editions, so no further flip is expected then. This file previously forecast this change but still led with the 2021 editions as current — corrected on this date.

Permit types & fees

• Residential Building Permit

  Required for new residential construction, additions, alterations, and most structural work on unincorporated land in Emery County. The Emery County Building & Zoning Office (Castle Dale) issues and inspects permits for land outside the eight incorporated cities/towns. Outside-city-limits applicants must first satisfy the county's 10-acre (or qualifying minor-subdivision) lot-size threshold and complete the Building Permit Point System worksheet (1000 points required) before a permit is processed.

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• Commercial Building Permit

  Required for new commercial construction on unincorporated land in Emery County. The Building Type & Fee Calculation table on the county's own Building Permit Application lists 'Commercial Building' as its own line item, valued the same per-square-foot valuation mechanism as residential building types (no separate commercial multiplier), with the same 65% Plan Check Fee and 80%-of-1% State Surcharge applied uniformly. Commercial plans must be drawn by a certified architect and/or engineer, per the county's Permit Process page.

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• Commercial Tenant Improvement / Tenant Finish Permit

  Required for interior tenant-improvement and tenant-finish work within existing commercial space on unincorporated land in Emery County. The county's Building Type & Fee Calculation table lists 'Remodel' as its own line, valued the same per-square-foot mechanism as new construction — Emery County does not publish a distinct TI percentage or flat fee.

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• EV Charger / EVSE Permit

  Emery County publishes no distinct EV charger / EVSE permit or fee. The county's Outside City Limits Building Permit process prices all work purely by construction valuation per square foot (ICBO 1997 UBC schedule) with a published $50 minimum permit fee — an EV charger circuit installation would be processed under this general Building Permit and, being a minor scope, would most plausibly be assessed at or near the $50 minimum, though the county does not name EV chargers specifically.

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• Solar PV Installation Permit

  Emery County publishes no distinct solar/solar-PV permit or fee line. The county's Building Permit Requirements page lists 'Electrical work' among the categories requiring a permit on unincorporated land, and a rooftop or ground-mounted solar PV installation is processed under this same general Outside City Limits Building Permit — priced by the county's standard valuation-based fee schedule (ICBO 1997 UBC valuation/fee schedule) with a published $50 minimum, rather than a separate solar-specific charge.

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• Sign Permit

  Emery County has a distinct sign permit process codified at Section 6-17 of the Emery County Zoning Ordinance (current version dated October 2025), administered by the Zoning Administrator. A sign permit is required for most signage in unincorporated Emery County, subject to exemptions for certain name/address plates, temporary event signage, and government/civic direction signs (Section 6-17-8). Separate building and electrical permits are required in addition to the sign permit if the sign's construction or wiring requires them.

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• Fire Sprinkler & Fire Alarm Plan Review Permit

  Emery County has no local fire-plan-review process: the Emery County Fire Protection District page lists only contact numbers for the county's eight local volunteer fire departments (Castle Dale, Cleveland, Elmo, Emery City, Ferron, Green River, Huntington, Orangeville) with no plan-review function described, and neither the Emery County Building & Zoning permit-process page nor the Building Permit Requirements page mentions fire sprinkler or fire alarm plan review at all. Statewide, the Utah State Fire Marshal's Office (SFM) operates a mandatory plan-review program for automatic fire sprinkler systems (all types, including NFPA 13/13R/13D) and fire alarm systems, requiring direct submittal to the SFM's Sandy office regardless of local review. Whether SFM's statewide program is the operative process specifically for unincorporated Emery County (versus some other/no review path) is not stated in writing on any Emery County or SFM source reviewed, so this is documented as the best-available real fallback rather than a locally confirmed requirement.

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• Change of Use / Certificate of Occupancy

  Emery County publishes no standalone 'change of use permit' application distinct from its Building Permit and Certificate of Occupancy process. Instead, the Emery County Zoning Ordinance (current version, October 2025) ties a change of use directly to Certificate of Occupancy requirements: under the Ordinance's nonconformity provisions, a change in use to a more intensive use is one of the specific triggers that requires a new certificate of occupancy (Section 5-11-7(c)(ii)). A Certificate of Occupancy itself is issued through the county's standard Building Permit process, at the Final inspection stage described in the Residential and Commercial Building Permit entries in this file — occupancy is prohibited until after that final inspection and CO issuance. Article X of the Ordinance separately and explicitly distinguishes building/occupancy permits from Conditional Use Permits: 'Building permits and occupancy permits are not conditional use permits and cannot be issued by the Planning Commission, the Board of Adjustment, or the County Commission' (Section 10-1-1) — confirming occupancy permitting runs through the Building Official/Building Permit channel, not the zoning/CUP channel.

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