Change of Use / Certificate of Occupancy — Unincorporated Emery County, Utah · Requirements sheet
Reviewed 2026-07-22 · Source: https://emery.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Zoning-Ordinance-TOC-2025.pdf
PermitBase is an independent reference and is not affiliated with any government agency. Requirements change and vary by project — confirm current details with the building department before you submit.
Change of Use / Certificate of Occupancy in Unincorporated Emery County, Utah
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.
Reviewed 2026-07-22 · Source
When you need this permit
- A change in use of an existing building or structure to a MORE INTENSIVE use requires a new certificate of occupancy — Emery County Zoning Ordinance Section 5-11-7(c)(ii) (this is listed as one of two triggers, alongside a 30%+ floor-area or 50%+ value increase, that bring an 'other nonconformity' into conformance)
- Building permits and occupancy permits are issued through the Building Official/Building Permit process, NOT through the Planning Commission, Board of Adjustment, or County Commission's conditional-use-permit process — Zoning Ordinance Section 10-1-1
- Zoning Clearance (Zoning Ordinance Section 7-5) is a prerequisite for a building permit for construction, remodeling, or moving of any structure — an application for a zoning clearance for a project that appears to require a conditional use permit is instead treated and processed as a conditional use permit application
- A nonconforming use of a vacant structure may only be resumed if reoccupied by a use for which the structure was designed within one (1) year after the use became nonconforming — Section 5-11-4(a)
- No process specific to 'change of use' alone (without accompanying construction) — e.g., a tenant simply changing the type of business in an existing, unaltered space — is separately documented anywhere in Emery County's Zoning Ordinance or Building & Zoning web materials; this is a genuine gap, not an inferred figure
Required documents
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Fee schedule
Review timeline
Inspection process
- 1
Final Building Inspection (triggers Certificate of Occupancy)
Same Final inspection documented in this file's Residential and Commercial Building Permit entries (Building, Electrical, Mechanical, Plumbing, Grading, as applicable) — occupancy is prohibited until after this inspection and CO issuance. Emery County does not publish a separate inspection step specific to a change of use alone.
See the full Unincorporated Emery County inspection guide — scheduling & re-inspection fees →
Tips
- Emery County has no standalone 'change of use permit' — a change in use to a MORE INTENSIVE use is treated as a nonconformity-triggering event that requires obtaining a new Certificate of Occupancy (Zoning Ordinance Section 5-11-7(c)(ii)), issued through the standard Building Permit/final-inspection process, not through a distinct application.
- A pure change of business/tenant use inside an existing, unaltered building — with no more-intensive use, no construction, and no CO trigger — does not appear to have any documented Emery County process at all; confirm directly with the Zoning Administrator ((435) 381-3555) whether any zoning clearance or notification is expected in that scenario, since the county's published materials do not address it.
- If a change of use requires a Conditional Use Permit (because the new use is a conditional rather than permitted use in its zone), Article X governs that separate process — see the Emery County Zoning Ordinance, Article X (Conditional Use Permits) and its fee schedule (Appendix 3), which is distinct from and unrelated to Certificate of Occupancy issuance.
Frequently asked questions
Sources & verification
Key facts verified against official sources. Last reviewed 2026-07-22.
Fees, timelines, and adopted codes are researched from each jurisdiction's published records — see how we verify. Requirements change and vary by project, so always confirm the current details with the Unincorporated Emery County building department before you submit. PermitBase is an independent reference and is not affiliated with any government agency.
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