Unincorporated Kane County building permits
VerifiedDepartment contacts, adopted codes, permit types, fees, and gotchas for Unincorporated Kane County, Utah.
Last verified 2026-07-08 · Source · Embed this page’s badge · Version history
Building department
- Address
- 76 North Main Street, Kanab, UT 84741
- Phone
- (435) 644-4985
- bldins@kane.utah.gov
- Office hours
- Mon–Thu 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Fri 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM
- Website
- Official site
- Permit portal
- Apply online at Unincorporated Kane County's portal
Inspection guide
See how inspections work in Unincorporated Kane 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.
- 2024 International Building Code (IBC), including Appendices C and J — Utah Code § 15A-2-103(1)(a); statewide effective 7/1/2026
- 2021 International Residential Code (IRC), including Appendix AQ — Utah Code § 15A-2-103(1)(b)-(c)
- 2024 International Plumbing Code (IPC) — Utah Code § 15A-2-103(1)(d); statewide effective 7/1/2026
- 2024 International Mechanical Code (IMC) — Utah Code § 15A-2-103(1)(e); statewide effective 7/1/2026
- 2024 International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC) — Utah Code § 15A-2-103(1)(f); statewide effective 7/1/2026
- 2023 National Electrical Code (NEC) — Utah Code § 15A-2-103(1)(g); statewide in force. NOTE: the Kane County Building Department webpage (last seen 2026-07-07) still lists '2020 NEC' and '2021 IBC/IPC/IMC' — that page has not been updated to reflect the current statewide codes; the versions listed here are the legally in-force editions per the Utah Legislature's current-version code text.
- 2024 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) — Utah Code § 15A-2-103(1)(h); statewide effective 7/1/2026
- 2024 International Existing Building Code (IEBC) — Utah Code § 15A-2-103(1)(i); statewide effective 7/1/2026
- International Wildland-Urban Interface Code (IWUIC) — adopted per Utah Code § 15A-2-103; Kane County actively enforces this with a WUI-specific permit fee, Fire Hazard Severity Form, and Wildfire Mitigation Plan requirement given the county's extensive wildland-adjacent terrain near Zion National Park and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
Permit types & fees
Residential Building Permit
Required for new single-family dwelling construction, additions, and structural alterations in unincorporated Kane County — the area of the county outside Kanab, Orderville, Glendale, Alton, and Big Water, all of which are separately incorporated. The Kane County Building Department issues and reviews all unincorporated-county building permits online via the Utah CityInspect portal (paper applications are no longer accepted).
Commercial Building Permit
Required for new commercial construction in unincorporated Kane County, regulated by the statewide-adopted 2024 IBC (Utah Code § 15A-2-103(1)(a), effective July 1, 2026). Kane County Building Department requires engineered, PE-stamped plans for ALL commercial projects (per the county's own engineering-requirement FAQ) — a stricter standard than the state minimum applied to residential work. The county does not publish a separate commercial valuation table distinct from the general Building Permit Fee formula used for residential permits.
Commercial Tenant Improvement / Tenant Finish Permit
Required for tenant improvement and tenant finish work in existing commercial buildings in unincorporated Kane County. Kane County's Building Department engineering-requirement FAQ lists 'Remodels' as a category requiring PE-stamped engineering (alongside 'All Commercial projects'), but the county does not publish a distinct tenant-improvement application, checklist, or fee tier separate from its general commercial building permit process.
Sign Permit
Required for signs in unincorporated Kane County under Kane County Land Use Ordinance (KCLUO) Chapter 9-16 (Signs). Re-chased 2026-07-20: the full text of KCLUO 9-16-1 through 9-16-7 was located and read via the county's amlegal.com code library (a prior pass could not get past the JS-rendered shell). Per KCLUO 9-16-7(B)-(C), ALL sign permit applications — on-premises or off-premises — are filed on the county's standard building permit form and charged the standard valuation-based Building Permit Fee; off-premises signs (billboards) in Commercial and Manufacturing zones additionally require a Conditional Use Permit ($500 commercial application fee) before the building permit is issued, confirmed both by the ordinance text and by an actual approved billboard case (August 2023).
Change of Use (Business License)
Kane County does not issue a standalone 'change of use permit' or a standalone certificate-of-occupancy-reissuance process. Instead, when an existing business's use or occupancy classification changes without new construction (e.g., a retail space becoming a restaurant), the applicant files the county's standard Business License Application and checks the 'Change of Use' status box — one of the application's four status options (New / New Location / New Owner / Change of Use). Per Kane County Code § 3-1-2(D), the County Clerk forwards every business license application to the Building Department and the Land Use Authority (Zoning) for compliance review, and the application form itself requires separate sign-off from both the Zoning Administrator and the Building Inspector before approval — a genuine, distinct two-department review path, even though it runs through the general $100 business-license fee rather than its own itemized fee.
EV Charger / EVSE Permit
Kane County does not publish a distinct EV charger, EVSE, or electric vehicle charging station permit or fee. The Kane County Building Department FAQ (kane.utah.gov) confirms electrical work such as meter base installation and electrical panel replacement requires a permit and engineering review, and the county has no standalone Electrical Permit type separate from the general Building Permit — meaning a new dedicated EV charger circuit is processed and fee-assessed under the same valuation-based Building Permit (based on ICC Current Valuation Data plus a 25% plan check fee and 1% state education fee). The county's 2026 Schedule of Fees resolution (R 2026-1) is a scanned document without a machine-readable text layer, so a distinct EV-specific fee line, if one exists, could not be confirmed.
Solar PV / Solar Panel Installation Permit
Kane County does not publish a distinct solar, solar-PV, or photovoltaic installation permit or fee for rooftop/ground-mount residential or commercial systems. The Kane County Building Department FAQ (kane.utah.gov/faq.aspx?TID=17) explicitly lists 'Solar panel install' — alongside water heater replacement, meter base installation, electrical panel replacement, and furnace install/replacement — among the projects requiring a permit, with no separate solar-specific application or fee line described. The county has no standalone Electrical Permit type distinct from the general Building Permit, so a solar-PV installation is processed and fee-assessed under the same valuation-based Building Permit (ICC Current Valuation Data plus a 25% plan check fee and 1% state education fee) documented on this file's other permit entries. This is a distinct process from Kane County Land Use Ordinance (KCLUO) Chapter 24 'Solar Power Plants,' which regulates only utility-scale commercial solar-generation facilities built for wholesale/retail electricity sales (subject to a Conditional Use Permit, siting, setback, and decommissioning-bond requirements) and does not apply to an individual property's rooftop or ground-mount PV system.
Fire Sprinkler / Fire Alarm System Permit
Kane County itself has no structural-fire authority and therefore no county-level fire sprinkler or fire alarm plan-review process. Per the Kane County Commission's own Vermillion Cliffs Special Service District FAQ: 'Kane County provides wildland fire protection services to all areas of Kane County through the County Sheriff and with cooperative agreements with the State of Utah. The County does not provide structural fire protection services but instead directs individuals who wish to have this service to live within the boundaries of a municipality.' Some unincorporated pockets have since organized their own local fire protection via a Special Service District (SSD) — e.g., the Cedar Mountain Fire Protection District and the Church Wells SSD — and those districts, not the county, would hold plan-review authority within their own boundaries under Utah Code § 53-7-104(3)(a) (which excludes 'fire protection districts, and other special districts or special service districts organized for fire protection purposes' from state fire marshal jurisdiction). For the balance of unincorporated Kane County outside any such SSD, § 53-7-104(3)(a) makes the Utah State Fire Marshal's Office (SFM) the enforcing authority, and the SFM's own Automatic Fire Sprinkler Plan Submittal Form and Fire Alarm Plan Review Submittal Form (both routed to planreviews@utah.gov) are the real, live statewide fallback process — confirmed directly from the SFM's own submittal forms. Because plan-review jurisdiction genuinely varies by which SSD (if any) a given parcel falls within, and no Kane County Building Department publication itself cross-references the SFM process, this entry is documented as partial rather than verified.
New residential construction activity
New privately-owned residential construction onlyHousing units authorized by building permits for new privately-owned residential construction — this is not total permit volume (no commercial permits or remodels).
- Latest month (2026-05)
- 6units
6 buildings · $3.6M valuation
- Trailing 12 months
- 151units
12 of 12 months reported · #40 in Utah coverage by units
- Year to date (2026 YTD through 2026-05)
- 43units
41 buildings · $18.9M valuation
- Full year 2025
- 146units
127 buildings · $50.6M valuation
County-wide figures: BPS reports county-wide totals; jurisdiction is the unincorporated remainder — county totals include incorporated cities (Kanab, Orderville, Glendale, Alton, Big Water). Kanab City operates its own Building Department and issues its own permits (kanab.utah.gov/2152/Building-Department); it is NOT covered by this unincorporated-county file. However, per Utah Code Title 15A's fifth-class-jurisdiction requirement, Kanab has designated the Kane County Building Department as its statutorily-required third-party/backup inspection firm, contacted only if Kanab cannot provide an inspection within 3 business days of request (verified via Kanab's own FAQ, kanab.utah.gov/m/faq?cat=51#question-182).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey (BPS), 2026-05 vintage. Census survey data — separate from the permit-requirements verification above. All Utah building activity
Tips & gotchas
- Unincorporated Kane County land is outside Kanab, Orderville, Glendale, Alton, and Big Water — those towns are separately incorporated. Kanab City in particular runs its own full Building Department (kanab.utah.gov/2152/Building-Department, (435) 644-2534) and issues its own permits; Kane County Building Department is Kanab's statutorily required backup/third-party inspection firm only, engaged when Kanab can't inspect within 3 business days (verified: Kanab FAQ, kanab.utah.gov/m/faq?cat=51#question-182). Do not treat this unincorporated-county file as covering Kanab's own permitting process.
- All Kane County Building Department applications and inspection requests are submitted online only via the Utah CityInspect portal — paper applications are no longer accepted.
- Kane County's own Building Department webpage still lists 2021 IBC/IRC/IPC/IMC and 2020 NEC (as seen 2026-07-07), but the statewide in-force editions are 2024 IBC/IPC/IMC/IFGC/IECC/IEBC and 2023 NEC per Utah Code § 15A-2-103's current version — county web content lags the statutory update.
- Structural design reference data (Kane County Building Department, Snowloads/Frost Depths/Risk Categories document): frost depth 18" in Kanab, 24" in Orderville/Deer Springs, up to 42" in Bryce Woodlands/Navajo Lakes; IRC wind speed 90 mph; IBC wind speed by risk category 105-120 mph; Seismic Zone D-0; Exposure C.
- Kane County spans extensive wildland-urban interface terrain near Zion National Park and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The county enforces the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code with a dedicated WUI permit fee ($500 original permit, $300 per additional unit — Kane County Resolution No. R 2026-1), a Fire Hazard Severity Form (Appendix C), and a Sample Wildfire Mitigation Plan for qualifying projects.
- New single-family homes require a $1,500 refundable construction bond, returned only after final occupancy is issued.
- Kane County requires PE-stamped engineered plans for a broad set of conditions beyond the statewide minimum: all trusses, 70+ psf snow-load or non-prescriptive residences, all commercial projects, garages, swimming pools, fences over 7 feet, retaining walls over 4 feet, demolition, signs, remodels, and plumbing/electrical/bearing-wall-removal work — call (435) 644-4985 to confirm applicability before applying.
- Building permits are valid 180 days from issuance; a one-time $15 extension (granting another 180 days) is available if construction has begun and at least one inspection occurred; full reinstatement after expiration costs $100; permits may be extended/renewed for a maximum of 6 consecutive years from original issuance (Kane County Code § 8-1-3, Ord. O-2023-18).
- No dedicated ADU or short-term-rental permit category was found in Kane County's public building-permit materials as of this verification — accessory structures up to 200 sq ft (non-habitable, without electrical or plumbing) associated with a primary residence are called out separately in the county's permit-requirement FAQ but do not constitute a distinct ADU program. Confirm current zoning eligibility for ADUs or vacation-rental structures directly with the Kane County Building Department before assuming a specific permit path.