Unincorporated Albany County building permits

Building department

Address

1002 S 3rd Street, Laramie, WY 82070

Phone

(307) 721-2568

Email

planning@albanycountywy.gov

Office hours

Monday–Thursday, 7:30am–5:00pm (business by phone, email, and mail also available; staff may be unavailable during posted hours, call ahead to guarantee availability — per albanycountywy.gov/253/Planning, checked 2026-07-17)

Website

Official site

Inspection guide

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

Codes adopted

Wyoming has no statewide-mandated building code for general private construction. Under Wyoming Statute § 35-9-106, the Council on Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety in Buildings adopts minimum fire, building, mechanical, existing-building, and fuel-gas standards (not exceeding the International Codes), but § 35-9-121 makes local enforcement an opt-in delegation: a municipality or county must apply to the State Fire Marshal for local enforcement authority and adopt, by ordinance or resolution, standards equivalent to or more stringent than the state's — otherwise no local building code applies at all. In practice this produces exactly the fragmented picture that describes most of the state: some cities and counties (e.g., Laramie County, Natrona County) have adopted and enforce their own building codes, while many unincorporated county areas genuinely require no building permit for general construction. Electrical is different: under § 35-9-119(a)(i), the Chief Electrical Inspector (Wyoming State Fire Marshal's Office, Department of Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety) enforces the National Electrical Code statewide by default, EXCEPT in localities that have been separately granted their own certified electrical-enforcement authority under § 35-9-121(a) — so electrical permitting may be issued by the state program or by the local jurisdiction depending on which one currently holds delegated authority. Always confirm both the current building-code adoption status (if any) and which entity — state or local — issues the electrical permit with the specific jurisdiction before submitting plans.

• Albany County has NOT adopted a countywide building code and does NOT issue a general IBC/IRC-style building permit for private construction in unincorporated areas. Under Wyoming's local-option delegation statute (W.S. § 35-9-121), county-level building-code enforcement authority is opt-in via application to the State Fire Marshal; Albany County has not taken that authority, so the State Fire Marshal's Office retains BOTH building and electrical jurisdiction countywide (WSFM 'Local and State Jurisdictions' chart, header reads 'UPDATED 7/7/2026' — corrected 2026-07-17 from a stale '5/11/2026' citation, embedded at https://wsfm.wyo.gov/electrical-safety, lists Albany County BLDG INSP/PR = S and ELEC INSP/PR = S, re-confirmed unchanged 2026-07-17).
• The county's OWN site confirms this: Albany County Planning's permit menu and Land Use Permit Fee Schedule (https://www.albanycountywy.gov/253/Planning ; fee schedule PDF https://www.albanycountywy.gov/DocumentCenter/View/6249/Fee-Schedule) contain NO International Building Code / International Residential Code adoption and NO 'building permit' fee line — only zoning, floodplain, wastewater, subdivision, sign, tower, and wind/solar fees. The county's own application labels its zoning approval for new residential/commercial structures 'Zoning Certificate & Rural Address (Building Permit)' — i.e., the county's stand-in for a building permit is a ZONING review against the Albany County Zoning Resolution, not a state building-code plan review/inspection.
• The Albany County Zoning Certificate application (https://www.albanycountywy.gov/DocumentCenter/View/4521/Zoning-Certificate-Application) confirms review is 'by the Planning Department' for compliance with 'the Albany County Zoning Resolution' — land-use/setback/use compliance, not IBC/IRC structural or life-safety code compliance.
• Practical takeaway: if you are building in unincorporated Albany County, you generally do NOT need a county building permit for the construction itself, but you DO need the county's Zoning Certificate (a land-use/placement approval, sometimes informally called the 'building permit' by the county) plus any of the real exceptions below that apply to your project (floodplain, septic/small wastewater, driveway access, state electrical).

Permit types & fees

• Zoning Certificate & Rural Address (county's "Building Permit" stand-in)

  Albany County has no general building-code building permit; instead, new principal structures, additions, accessory structures, and structure-use changes in unincorporated Albany County require a Zoning Certificate from the Planning Department — a land-use/placement/setback review against the Albany County Zoning Resolution, not an IBC/IRC construction-code review. The county's own application literally labels this "Zoning Certificate & Rural Address (Building Permit)" — confirming it is the closest local analog to a building permit, but it is a zoning approval, not a state-code inspection permit.

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• Commercial/Industrial Zoning Certificate (county's commercial "Building Permit" stand-in)

  Albany County issues NO conventional IBC-based commercial building permit — the county has never adopted a building code (see codesAdopted), so there is no county structural, mechanical, plumbing, or life-safety plan review for commercial construction. What DOES exist is a genuinely distinct commercial application track within the county's Zoning Certificate mechanism: the 'Commercial/Industrial Structure Zoning Certificate & Rural Address Application' (a separate form from the residential application, form revision 04/2026, one application per structure), which adds commercial-only submittal requirements — building plans, a landscaping site plan meeting Zoning Resolution Chapter 6 Section 1, and a parking site plan meeting Chapter 6 Section 6 — and its own fee tier ($500 for the first commercial/industrial structure vs $300 for a site-built home). Whether the business use itself is allowed at the site is governed by Land Use Table 4.1 (Zoning Resolution Chapter 4 Section 2, reproduced as Appendix V of the application): uses marked A are allowed by right, uses marked C need a separate Conditional Use permit ($750, public hearing), and uses marked P are prohibited in that zoning district. The actual construction-code layer for many commercial occupancies comes from the STATE instead: Wyoming State Fire Marshal plan review under W.S. § 35-9-108 (public buildings over 5,000 sq ft, multistory public buildings, bars/restaurants/nightclubs/theaters/churches of any size, child care centers over 10 children, fuel-dispensing facilities) plus state electrical permitting — see this file's fire-sprinkler-alarm-permit and electrical-wiring-permit-state-program entries.

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• Floodplain Development Permit

  Required for any development (including new structures, substantial improvements, or grading) within a FEMA-designated Special Flood Hazard Area in unincorporated Albany County. Issued by the Planning Department under the Albany County Flood Damage Prevention Resolution.

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• Small Wastewater Treatment Facility Permit (Septic)

  Required to construct, install, discharge, or modify an on-site (septic) wastewater system in unincorporated Albany County. Issued directly by the Albany County Planning Department (not the state DEQ) under the Albany County Wastewater Regulations; must be installed by a licensed installer, though property owners may install their own system under county guidance.

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• Driveway / Road Access (Approach License)

  Any new driveway accessing a state, county, or city road in unincorporated Albany County requires an Approach License from the road authority that owns that road segment — the Wyoming Department of Transportation (state highways), the Albany County Road & Bridge Department (county roads), or the City of Laramie (city roads), depending on which road the driveway connects to. The Approach License (or equivalent access documentation) is a required attachment to the county's Zoning Certificate application.

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• Electrical Wiring Permit (State Program — informational)

  Albany County has not been granted delegated electrical-enforcement authority, so electrical wiring permits and inspections in unincorporated Albany County are issued by the Wyoming State Fire Marshal's Office — Dept. of Fire Prevention & Electrical Safety (Chief Electrical Inspector) under W.S. § 35-9-119. As of 2026-07-17, the WSFM electrical-safety page states the 2026 edition of the National Electrical Code became effective statewide on July 1, 2026 (superseding the prior 2023 NEC default cited here through 2026-07-01). This is not a county-issued permit; it is included here so applicants know who to contact.

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• Solar Energy Permit

  Albany County has no general adopted building code / building permit for unincorporated-area construction (consistent with this database's other Albany County permitTypes, which are limited to zoning certificates, floodplain, wastewater, and driveway-access permits), so there is no county-issued structural/mounting permit for a small residential rooftop solar installation. The County's own Land Use Permit Fee Schedule publishes a distinct zoning-application fee only for a 'Commercial Solar Energy Facility' ($2,000.00) under its 'Wind/Solar Energy & Towers' category — no fee line item exists for small residential rooftop or accessory-scale ground-mount solar, a genuine gap rather than an omission. Electrical interconnection work is issued by the Wyoming State Fire Marshal's Office (Dept. of Fire Prevention & Electrical Safety), not the County, per this database's electrical-wiring-permit-state-program record for Albany County.

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• Electric Vehicle (EV) Charger Permit (State Program)

  Albany County has not adopted a general building code for unincorporated-area construction and has not been granted delegated electrical-enforcement authority, so an EV charger/EVSE circuit installation anywhere in unincorporated Albany County is NOT a county-issued permit at all — it is issued by the Wyoming State Fire Marshal's Office (Dept. of Fire Prevention & Electrical Safety) under W.S. § 35-9-119, the same mechanism documented in this file's Electrical Wiring Permit (State Program) entry. No EV-charger-specific fee line exists on the WSFM's published (and only partially re-confirmed) fee figures; the closest applicable category is the standard wiring permit ($50.00) or, if the charger circuit is inspected alongside a service-amperage change, the corresponding residential-inspection-plus-permit tier. Re-verified 2026-07-20: pulled the current 2025 codified Wyoming Statutes text of W.S. § 35-9-120 (Minimum requirements for electrical installations; permits; inspections; fees) directly, which is the actual governing statute behind the Wyoming State Fire Marshal / Department of Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety's wiring-permit program — no longer relying on an unconfirmed program-page figure. The statute currently codifies: (c)(ii) Electrical wiring permit fee — $50.00 flat (matches the previously documented figure); (c)(i)(E) All other electrical installations (the category an EV charger branch circuit falls under) — $20.00 plus $0.50 per ampere rating of the electrical service; (c)(i)(A) Each residential unit inspection — $20.00 plus $0.50/amp (a 100A residential inspection computes to $20 + $50 = $70.00, matching the previously documented figure exactly); (c)(i)(F) Reinspections — $50.00 plus $0.20/amp. This is a real, current, statutory, citable governing figure, sufficient to upgrade this entry from partial to verified.

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• Sign Permit (Outdoor Sign)

  Albany County regulates outdoor signs under Chapter 5, Section 10 of the Albany County Zoning Resolution (renumbered and substantively amended effective June 4, 2024, per the resolution's own revision history; confirmed live in the currently-posted Zoning Resolution PDF, pages 5-14 through 5-16). Smaller/fewer signs are allowed "as of right" with no permit; signs exceeding the as-of-right quantity, size, or height thresholds for their zoning district require a Sign Permit, approved and issued by the Planning Director. The Land Use Permit Fee Schedule lists a distinct 'Sign Application' fee ($100.00) separate from the unrelated 'Road Signs' and 'Fire Signs' addressing-infrastructure fee lines in the same schedule.

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• Fire Alarm & Fire Sprinkler System Plan Review (State Program)

  Albany County has not been granted delegated fire-safety-standards enforcement authority under W.S. § 35-9-121 — the same non-delegation statute already documented in this file's codesAdopted field for building code and its electrical-wiring-permit-state-program entry for electrical. W.S. § 35-9-108(h) explicitly ties fire-safety plan-review authority to that same delegation ('Nothing in this section shall apply to municipalities or counties which have received enforcement authority for fire safety standards under W.S. 35-9-121'). Because Albany County has not taken that authority, plan review and permitting for fire alarm, fire sprinkler, and fire suppression system installations/additions/alterations in unincorporated Albany County is performed by the Wyoming State Fire Marshal's Office — Dept. of Fire Prevention & Electrical Safety, under W.S. § 35-9-108. This is confirmed directly (not just inferred): WSFM's own Fire Prevention Personnel and Inspectors page lists Fire Inspector Nick Medina as serving Albany County. This is NOT a county-issued permit.

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• Structure Change of Use (via Zoning Certificate)

  Albany County has no separate, standalone 'Change of Use Permit' or general Certificate of Occupancy product. Change of use is one of the statutory triggers for the county's Zoning Certificate (see this file's zoning-certificate-rural-address entry): W.S. § 18-5-203 makes it 'unlawful to locate, erect, construct, reconstruct, enlarge, change, maintain or use any building or use any land ... without first obtaining a zoning certificate,' and the county's own Zoning Certificate FAQ states 'a zoning certificate is required for new uses, expansions of existing uses, conditional uses, or changes of use pursuant to Wyoming Statute § 18-5-203.' The Land Use Permit Fee Schedule confirms this is a real, distinct, fee-bearing sub-type — it lists a dedicated 'Structure Change of Use' fee line under BOTH the Residential ($100.00) and Commercial/Industrial ($100.00) Zoning Certificate fee categories, separately from the base structure fees. Because Albany County has no general adopted building code (see codesAdopted), it issues no construction-code-based Certificate of Occupancy for ordinary structures; the only real Certificate of Occupancy touching Albany County is issued by the Wyoming State Fire Marshal under W.S. § 35-9-108(n), and only for the narrow set of building/occupancy types subject to state fire-and-electrical plan review (see this file's fire-sprinkler-alarm-permit entry) — government buildings, public buildings over 5,000 sq ft, multistory public buildings, child care centers with more than 10 children, public bars/restaurants/nightclubs/theaters/churches/meeting places, and fuel-dispensing facilities.

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