Mercer Island building permits

Requirements

• MICC 17.02.010 adopts “The 2021 Edition of the International Residential Code (IRC), as adopted and amended by the State Building Code Council in WAC Chapter 51-51, as published by the International Code Council”.
• named-plus-rolling, with every code in its own chapter and each pointing at the State Building Code Council's WAC adoption. MICC 17.01.010 takes “The 2021 Edition of the International Building Code (IBC), including the adoption of ICC/ANSI A117.1-2017, Requirements for Accessible and Useable Buildings and Facilities”; 17.02.010 takes “The 2021 Edition of the International Residential Code (IRC), as adopted and amended by the State Building Code Council in WAC Chapter 51-51, as published by the International Code Council”. ACCESSIBILITY IS PINNED TO A DATED STANDARD, ICC/ANSI A117.1-2017, named in the adopting sentence rather than left to move — the same pinning Tumwater uses.
• MERCER ISLAND REPRODUCES A WHOLE CONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATIVE CODE INLINE RATHER THAN AMENDING THE MODEL CODES' ADMINISTRATIVE CHAPTERS. MICC Chapter 17.14 has just two sections — 17.14.010 Adoption and 17.14.020 Appeals — and the adoption section carries the full administrative code beginning “SECTION 101 GENERAL 101.1 Title. These regulations shall be known as the Construction Administrative Code of the city of Mercer Island”. Permit expiry, application limits, fees, plan review and consultant reimbursement all live there rather than in the individual code chapters.
• >>> A FLAT TWO-YEAR PERMIT LIFE WITH NO COMMENCE TRIGGER AND NO ABANDONMENT TRIGGER, WHICH IS STRUCTURALLY UNLIKE EVERY OTHER CITY IN THIS SET. Construction Administrative Code Section 105.5 as adopted: “Every permit issued shall expire two years from the date of issuance.” Most cities here void a permit if work does not start within 180 days or is abandoned for 180 days; Tumwater adds a third trigger on approved inspections; SeaTac keys the life to what is being built. Mercer Island publishes ONE clock and it runs from issuance regardless of what happens on site. TWO EXTENSIONS EXIST AND ONE OF THEM IS UNIQUE HERE. For nonresidential or mixed-use construction the building official “may approve a request for an extended expiration date where a construction schedule is provided by the applicant and approved PRIOR TO PERMIT ISSUANCE” — so that extension has to be arranged before the permit exists, not when it is running out. And “During or after a declared emergency covered under RCW Chapter 38.52, the building official may authorize one 6-month” extension. No other city in this set publishes an emergency-linked extension.
• The application carries its own eighteen-month clock. Construction Administrative Code Section 105.3.2: “Applications for which no permit is issued within 18 months following the date of application shall expire by limitation and plans and other data submitted for review may thereafter be returned to the applicant or destroyed”.
• >>> THE FIRST CITY IN THIS SET TO PUT AN EDITION YEAR ON THE WASHINGTON CITIES ELECTRICAL CODE, AND IT ADOPTS ONLY PART OF IT. MICC 17.13.020: “The 2023 Edition of the Washington Cities Electrical Code (WCEC) Part 1 and Part 3, excluding Part 2, Administration, is adopted by reference, together with the following amendments, additions and exceptions.” SeaTac and Des Moines both adopt the WCEC and neither names a year; Des Moines names a publisher and SeaTac names none. Mercer Island names a year AND carves out the administration part, so the administrative provisions come from the city's own Construction Administrative Code instead. MICC 17.13.010 gives the chapter its own short title: “the electrical code of the city of Mercer Island”. 2023 IS THE LATEST EDITION YEAR ANY CITY IN THIS WASHINGTON SET NAMES FOR ANY CODE.

Required documents

• RequiredBuilding permit applicationFiled under the Construction Administrative Code adopted at MICC 17.14.010. Two clocks matter: the application expires 18 months after filing if no permit issues (Section 105.3.2), and plan review fees are due at submittal rather than at issuance (Section 109.3). A permit is not valid until the fees are paid (Section 109.1).
• OptionalApproved construction schedule (nonresidential or mixed-use only)Required BEFORE the permit issues if you want an extended expiration date. Construction Administrative Code Section 105.5(1) lets the building official approve an extended expiration for nonresidential or mixed-use construction only “where a construction schedule is provided by the applicant and approved prior to permit issuance”. Arranging it later is not available.

Fee schedule

Requirements

• MICC 17.01.010 adopts “The 2021 Edition of the International Building Code (IBC), including the adoption of ICC/ANSI A117.1-2017, Requirements for Accessible and Useable Buildings and Facilities”.
• Title 17 gives each code its own chapter: 17.01 IBC, 17.02 IRC, 17.03 IMC, 17.04 National Fuel Gas Code, 17.05 Liquefied Petroleum Gas Code, 17.06 IFGC, 17.07 IFC, 17.08 UPC, 17.09 Washington State Energy Code, 17.11 Uniform Code for the Abatement of Dangerous Buildings, 17.12 Uniform Housing Code, 17.13 Washington Cities Electrical Code, 17.14 Construction Administrative Code, 17.17 IEBC, 17.18 ISPSC and 17.19 International Wildland-Urban Interface Code. Only the chapters cited in this entry were opened; no edition year is asserted for the others.
• named-plus-rolling, with every code in its own chapter and each pointing at the State Building Code Council's WAC adoption. MICC 17.01.010 takes “The 2021 Edition of the International Building Code (IBC), including the adoption of ICC/ANSI A117.1-2017, Requirements for Accessible and Useable Buildings and Facilities”; 17.02.010 takes “The 2021 Edition of the International Residential Code (IRC), as adopted and amended by the State Building Code Council in WAC Chapter 51-51, as published by the International Code Council”. ACCESSIBILITY IS PINNED TO A DATED STANDARD, ICC/ANSI A117.1-2017, named in the adopting sentence rather than left to move — the same pinning Tumwater uses.
• MERCER ISLAND REPRODUCES A WHOLE CONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATIVE CODE INLINE RATHER THAN AMENDING THE MODEL CODES' ADMINISTRATIVE CHAPTERS. MICC Chapter 17.14 has just two sections — 17.14.010 Adoption and 17.14.020 Appeals — and the adoption section carries the full administrative code beginning “SECTION 101 GENERAL 101.1 Title. These regulations shall be known as the Construction Administrative Code of the city of Mercer Island”. Permit expiry, application limits, fees, plan review and consultant reimbursement all live there rather than in the individual code chapters.
• >>> A FLAT TWO-YEAR PERMIT LIFE WITH NO COMMENCE TRIGGER AND NO ABANDONMENT TRIGGER, WHICH IS STRUCTURALLY UNLIKE EVERY OTHER CITY IN THIS SET. Construction Administrative Code Section 105.5 as adopted: “Every permit issued shall expire two years from the date of issuance.” Most cities here void a permit if work does not start within 180 days or is abandoned for 180 days; Tumwater adds a third trigger on approved inspections; SeaTac keys the life to what is being built. Mercer Island publishes ONE clock and it runs from issuance regardless of what happens on site. TWO EXTENSIONS EXIST AND ONE OF THEM IS UNIQUE HERE. For nonresidential or mixed-use construction the building official “may approve a request for an extended expiration date where a construction schedule is provided by the applicant and approved PRIOR TO PERMIT ISSUANCE” — so that extension has to be arranged before the permit exists, not when it is running out. And “During or after a declared emergency covered under RCW Chapter 38.52, the building official may authorize one 6-month” extension. No other city in this set publishes an emergency-linked extension.
• The application carries its own eighteen-month clock. Construction Administrative Code Section 105.3.2: “Applications for which no permit is issued within 18 months following the date of application shall expire by limitation and plans and other data submitted for review may thereafter be returned to the applicant or destroyed”.
• AN OPEN-ENDED COST THE CODE DOES NOT CAP, AND IT IS NOT A FEE. Construction Administrative Code Section 107.3.1 as adopted: where an application “requires retention by the jurisdiction for professional consulting services, the applicant shall reimburse to the jurisdiction the cost of such professional consulting services. This fee shall be in addition to the normal plan review and building permit fees. The jurisdiction may require the applicant to deposit an amount with the jurisdiction estimated in the discretion of the building official to be sufficient to cover anticipated costs.” The deposit is security against an actual-cost reimbursement, so the code publishes neither an amount nor a ceiling — only who estimates it.

Required documents

• RequiredBuilding permit applicationFiled under the Construction Administrative Code adopted at MICC 17.14.010. Two clocks matter: the application expires 18 months after filing if no permit issues (Section 105.3.2), and plan review fees are due at submittal rather than at issuance (Section 109.3). A permit is not valid until the fees are paid (Section 109.1).
• OptionalApproved construction schedule (nonresidential or mixed-use only)Required BEFORE the permit issues if you want an extended expiration date. Construction Administrative Code Section 105.5(1) lets the building official approve an extended expiration for nonresidential or mixed-use construction only “where a construction schedule is provided by the applicant and approved prior to permit issuance”. Arranging it later is not available.

Fee schedule

Requirements

• MICC Chapter 17.03 adopts the International Mechanical Code. The chapter's adopting sentence was not opened for this entry and NO EDITION YEAR IS ASSERTED for the IMC here.
• Fuel gas is handled in three separate chapters rather than inside the mechanical adoption — 17.04 National Fuel Gas Code, 17.05 Liquefied Petroleum Gas Code and 17.06 International Fuel Gas Code.
• MERCER ISLAND REPRODUCES A WHOLE CONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATIVE CODE INLINE RATHER THAN AMENDING THE MODEL CODES' ADMINISTRATIVE CHAPTERS. MICC Chapter 17.14 has just two sections — 17.14.010 Adoption and 17.14.020 Appeals — and the adoption section carries the full administrative code beginning “SECTION 101 GENERAL 101.1 Title. These regulations shall be known as the Construction Administrative Code of the city of Mercer Island”. Permit expiry, application limits, fees, plan review and consultant reimbursement all live there rather than in the individual code chapters.
• >>> A FLAT TWO-YEAR PERMIT LIFE WITH NO COMMENCE TRIGGER AND NO ABANDONMENT TRIGGER, WHICH IS STRUCTURALLY UNLIKE EVERY OTHER CITY IN THIS SET. Construction Administrative Code Section 105.5 as adopted: “Every permit issued shall expire two years from the date of issuance.” Most cities here void a permit if work does not start within 180 days or is abandoned for 180 days; Tumwater adds a third trigger on approved inspections; SeaTac keys the life to what is being built. Mercer Island publishes ONE clock and it runs from issuance regardless of what happens on site. TWO EXTENSIONS EXIST AND ONE OF THEM IS UNIQUE HERE. For nonresidential or mixed-use construction the building official “may approve a request for an extended expiration date where a construction schedule is provided by the applicant and approved PRIOR TO PERMIT ISSUANCE” — so that extension has to be arranged before the permit exists, not when it is running out. And “During or after a declared emergency covered under RCW Chapter 38.52, the building official may authorize one 6-month” extension. No other city in this set publishes an emergency-linked extension.
• The application carries its own eighteen-month clock. Construction Administrative Code Section 105.3.2: “Applications for which no permit is issued within 18 months following the date of application shall expire by limitation and plans and other data submitted for review may thereafter be returned to the applicant or destroyed”.

Required documents

• RequiredBuilding permit applicationFiled under the Construction Administrative Code adopted at MICC 17.14.010. Two clocks matter: the application expires 18 months after filing if no permit issues (Section 105.3.2), and plan review fees are due at submittal rather than at issuance (Section 109.3). A permit is not valid until the fees are paid (Section 109.1).

Fee schedule

Requirements

• MICC Chapter 17.08 adopts the Uniform Plumbing Code. The chapter's adopting sentence was not opened for this entry and NO EDITION YEAR IS ASSERTED.
• MERCER ISLAND REPRODUCES A WHOLE CONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATIVE CODE INLINE RATHER THAN AMENDING THE MODEL CODES' ADMINISTRATIVE CHAPTERS. MICC Chapter 17.14 has just two sections — 17.14.010 Adoption and 17.14.020 Appeals — and the adoption section carries the full administrative code beginning “SECTION 101 GENERAL 101.1 Title. These regulations shall be known as the Construction Administrative Code of the city of Mercer Island”. Permit expiry, application limits, fees, plan review and consultant reimbursement all live there rather than in the individual code chapters.
• >>> A FLAT TWO-YEAR PERMIT LIFE WITH NO COMMENCE TRIGGER AND NO ABANDONMENT TRIGGER, WHICH IS STRUCTURALLY UNLIKE EVERY OTHER CITY IN THIS SET. Construction Administrative Code Section 105.5 as adopted: “Every permit issued shall expire two years from the date of issuance.” Most cities here void a permit if work does not start within 180 days or is abandoned for 180 days; Tumwater adds a third trigger on approved inspections; SeaTac keys the life to what is being built. Mercer Island publishes ONE clock and it runs from issuance regardless of what happens on site. TWO EXTENSIONS EXIST AND ONE OF THEM IS UNIQUE HERE. For nonresidential or mixed-use construction the building official “may approve a request for an extended expiration date where a construction schedule is provided by the applicant and approved PRIOR TO PERMIT ISSUANCE” — so that extension has to be arranged before the permit exists, not when it is running out. And “During or after a declared emergency covered under RCW Chapter 38.52, the building official may authorize one 6-month” extension. No other city in this set publishes an emergency-linked extension.
• The application carries its own eighteen-month clock. Construction Administrative Code Section 105.3.2: “Applications for which no permit is issued within 18 months following the date of application shall expire by limitation and plans and other data submitted for review may thereafter be returned to the applicant or destroyed”.

Required documents

• RequiredBuilding permit applicationFiled under the Construction Administrative Code adopted at MICC 17.14.010. Two clocks matter: the application expires 18 months after filing if no permit issues (Section 105.3.2), and plan review fees are due at submittal rather than at issuance (Section 109.3). A permit is not valid until the fees are paid (Section 109.1).

Fee schedule

Requirements

• >>> THE FIRST CITY IN THIS SET TO PUT AN EDITION YEAR ON THE WASHINGTON CITIES ELECTRICAL CODE, AND IT ADOPTS ONLY PART OF IT. MICC 17.13.020: “The 2023 Edition of the Washington Cities Electrical Code (WCEC) Part 1 and Part 3, excluding Part 2, Administration, is adopted by reference, together with the following amendments, additions and exceptions.” SeaTac and Des Moines both adopt the WCEC and neither names a year; Des Moines names a publisher and SeaTac names none. Mercer Island names a year AND carves out the administration part, so the administrative provisions come from the city's own Construction Administrative Code instead. MICC 17.13.010 gives the chapter its own short title: “the electrical code of the city of Mercer Island”. 2023 IS THE LATEST EDITION YEAR ANY CITY IN THIS WASHINGTON SET NAMES FOR ANY CODE.
• MICC 17.13.010 states the short title: “This chapter shall be known as the electrical code of the city of Mercer Island”. The adoption at 17.13.020 comes “together with the following amendments, additions and exceptions”, which were not read for this entry.
• BECAUSE PART 2, ADMINISTRATION, IS EXCLUDED, the administrative provisions for electrical work come from the city's Construction Administrative Code at MICC 17.14 rather than from the WCEC itself. WHO PERFORMS ELECTRICAL INSPECTIONS IS NOT ASSERTED HERE — no such provision was read.
• MERCER ISLAND REPRODUCES A WHOLE CONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATIVE CODE INLINE RATHER THAN AMENDING THE MODEL CODES' ADMINISTRATIVE CHAPTERS. MICC Chapter 17.14 has just two sections — 17.14.010 Adoption and 17.14.020 Appeals — and the adoption section carries the full administrative code beginning “SECTION 101 GENERAL 101.1 Title. These regulations shall be known as the Construction Administrative Code of the city of Mercer Island”. Permit expiry, application limits, fees, plan review and consultant reimbursement all live there rather than in the individual code chapters.
• >>> A FLAT TWO-YEAR PERMIT LIFE WITH NO COMMENCE TRIGGER AND NO ABANDONMENT TRIGGER, WHICH IS STRUCTURALLY UNLIKE EVERY OTHER CITY IN THIS SET. Construction Administrative Code Section 105.5 as adopted: “Every permit issued shall expire two years from the date of issuance.” Most cities here void a permit if work does not start within 180 days or is abandoned for 180 days; Tumwater adds a third trigger on approved inspections; SeaTac keys the life to what is being built. Mercer Island publishes ONE clock and it runs from issuance regardless of what happens on site. TWO EXTENSIONS EXIST AND ONE OF THEM IS UNIQUE HERE. For nonresidential or mixed-use construction the building official “may approve a request for an extended expiration date where a construction schedule is provided by the applicant and approved PRIOR TO PERMIT ISSUANCE” — so that extension has to be arranged before the permit exists, not when it is running out. And “During or after a declared emergency covered under RCW Chapter 38.52, the building official may authorize one 6-month” extension. No other city in this set publishes an emergency-linked extension.

Required documents

• RequiredBuilding permit applicationFiled under the Construction Administrative Code adopted at MICC 17.14.010. Two clocks matter: the application expires 18 months after filing if no permit issues (Section 105.3.2), and plan review fees are due at submittal rather than at issuance (Section 109.3). A permit is not valid until the fees are paid (Section 109.1).

Fee schedule

Requirements

• >>> MERCER ISLAND GIVES EACH GAS CODE ITS OWN CHAPTER AND THE TWO NFPA STANDARDS CARRY DIFFERENT YEARS. MICC 17.04.010: “The 2021 Edition of the National Fuel Gas Code (ANSI Z223.1/NFPA 54), as adopted by the State Building Code Council in WAC Chapter 51-52, as published by NFPA”. MICC 17.05.010: “The 2020 Edition of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Code (NFPA 58), as adopted by the State Building Code Council in WAC Chapter 51-52”. Adjacent chapters, one year apart. THIS IS THE SECOND CITY TO SHOW THAT SPLIT AND IT CONFIRMS A FALSIFICATION RATHER THAN A PATTERN. An earlier hypothesis in this project held that edition years sort by PUBLISHER — ICC documents on one vintage, NFPA documents on another — because Walla Walla and Maple Valley both put their NFPA standards at 2020 against ICC at 2021. Tumwater killed it by naming NFPA 54 at 2021 and NFPA 58 at 2020 in one sentence, and Mercer Island reproduces the same divergence in separate chapters. NFPA DOCUMENTS DO NOT MOVE AS A BLOCK. NFPA 58 now stands at seven cities in this set, six naming 2020 and University Place naming 2021. NFPA 54 stands at three, Walla Walla at 2020 against Tumwater and Mercer Island at 2021. A MAJORITY IS NOT AN ADJUDICATION in either case.
• >>> THE ATTRIBUTION THESE CITIES MAKE CANNOT BE CHECKED AT THE FREE STATE SOURCE, AND THE REASON IS STRUCTURAL RATHER THAN AN OVERSIGHT. Mercer Island and Maple Valley both attribute NFPA 58's 2020 edition to the State Building Code Council's adoption in WAC Chapter 51-52. Read at app.leg.wa.gov on 2026-09-16: WAC 51-52-003 adopts only “The 2021 edition of the International Mechanical Code” and contains no NFPA reference, and WAC 51-52-1500, the chapter's referenced-standards section, opens “The following referenced standards are ADDED to Chapter 15” and lists AHAM, ANCE, ASHRAE, ASTM and UL/CSA entries — no NFPA 54 or NFPA 58. THE WAC AMENDS THE MODEL CODE'S REFERENCED-STANDARDS TABLE RATHER THAN RESTATING IT, so the edition a city is pointing at lives in the 2021 IMC's own Chapter 15, which is ICC copyrighted text the WAC does not reproduce. The cities' 2020 is therefore NEITHER CONFIRMED NOR REFUTED here, and it is not confirmable from this source at all. Recorded so the next reader does not repeat the lookup.
• MICC 17.06 adopts the International Fuel Gas Code in its own chapter; that chapter's adopting sentence was not opened and no edition year is asserted for the IFGC here.
• MERCER ISLAND REPRODUCES A WHOLE CONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATIVE CODE INLINE RATHER THAN AMENDING THE MODEL CODES' ADMINISTRATIVE CHAPTERS. MICC Chapter 17.14 has just two sections — 17.14.010 Adoption and 17.14.020 Appeals — and the adoption section carries the full administrative code beginning “SECTION 101 GENERAL 101.1 Title. These regulations shall be known as the Construction Administrative Code of the city of Mercer Island”. Permit expiry, application limits, fees, plan review and consultant reimbursement all live there rather than in the individual code chapters.
• >>> A FLAT TWO-YEAR PERMIT LIFE WITH NO COMMENCE TRIGGER AND NO ABANDONMENT TRIGGER, WHICH IS STRUCTURALLY UNLIKE EVERY OTHER CITY IN THIS SET. Construction Administrative Code Section 105.5 as adopted: “Every permit issued shall expire two years from the date of issuance.” Most cities here void a permit if work does not start within 180 days or is abandoned for 180 days; Tumwater adds a third trigger on approved inspections; SeaTac keys the life to what is being built. Mercer Island publishes ONE clock and it runs from issuance regardless of what happens on site. TWO EXTENSIONS EXIST AND ONE OF THEM IS UNIQUE HERE. For nonresidential or mixed-use construction the building official “may approve a request for an extended expiration date where a construction schedule is provided by the applicant and approved PRIOR TO PERMIT ISSUANCE” — so that extension has to be arranged before the permit exists, not when it is running out. And “During or after a declared emergency covered under RCW Chapter 38.52, the building official may authorize one 6-month” extension. No other city in this set publishes an emergency-linked extension.

Required documents

• RequiredBuilding permit applicationFiled under the Construction Administrative Code adopted at MICC 17.14.010. Two clocks matter: the application expires 18 months after filing if no permit issues (Section 105.3.2), and plan review fees are due at submittal rather than at issuance (Section 109.3). A permit is not valid until the fees are paid (Section 109.1).

Fee schedule