Bear Lake County - Building Department

Bear Lake County, Idaho

county

30 North Main Street, PO Box 190, Paris, ID 83261

Required

THE COUNTY OFFICE IS OFTEN THE COUNTER FOR A CITY JOB TOO. The Bear Lake County Building Department page publishes four permit applications side by side - a Bear Lake County Building Permit Application and separate applications for Montpelier, Paris and St Charles - plus an Agricultural Exempt Building Permit. Ask which application applies before filling one in. WHAT THE COUNTY REQUIRES, FROM ITS OWN PERMIT PROCEDURE SHEET, WHICH IT SAYS MUST ACCOMPANY EVERY APPLICATION. Construction must begin within one year of approval. The applicant must stake the property boundaries and the structure before inspection, and a survey may be needed if ownership lines are questionable. The applicant provides a copy of plans or drawings for review, and "Applicant will provide a secure surface for attachment of building permit prior to inspection." Separate permits are required for electrical, plumbing and mechanical, and the County notes that mechanical permits are handled through its own office. "Construction begun prior to obtaining a permit constitutes a violation and may be subject to fines." Approval from the health department for the septic system, or from the appropriate sewer district, is required, and a project accessing a state highway needs approval from the Idaho Transportation Department. Permits cannot be issued on lots that are illegally subdivided. INSPECTIONS, AND WHAT IS NOT ON THE LIST. The County's procedure sheet states: "Inspections will be performed by the county building inspector on; footings, foundations, framing, insulation, sheetrock, and final. The builder/ homeowner will call for inspections at least 24 hours before inspections are needed. A final inspection must be completed and a Certificate of Occupancy given BEFORE THE BUILDING CAN BE OCCUPIED." There is no sheathing or roof inspection on that list, so if a job will involve replacing decking, agree with the inspector in advance when it will be looked at rather than assuming an inspection is built into the sequence. ONE MORE THING ON THE FORM. The application form itself carries a wetlands question: "Is this property considered "wetlands"? ... If yes, a Corps of Engineers permit must be presented with the application for plan check." Its work description tick-boxes are New, Addition, Replacement, Commercial and Mechanical. Setbacks published by the County are 30 feet from a public right-of-way at the front, 5 feet at the sides and rear, a maximum structure height of 35 feet, 25 feet from the waterline of the lake at an elevation of 5923.65 feet, 20 feet from a river, stream or creek and 15 feet from an irrigation ditch or canal.

THE COUNTY STATES THAT IT HAS ADOPTED THE INTERNATIONAL BUILDING CODE BUT NAMES NO EDITION. The Bear Lake County Building Department page says, in the County's own words: "The Bear Lake County Commissioners adopted the International Building Code and has retained a building inspector in 2008 in order to protect its citizens and enact formal guidelines concerning the construction of residential and commercial buildings." The same page adds a caution of its own: "This web page includes information that may be helpful, but should not be construed as having all applicable information necessary to be compliant. For full information, please contact the building inspector below before beginning any building project." The County's Land Use Ordinance, adopted 2024 and read in full, refers to structures "meeting Bear Lake County Building Code requirements" and requires manufactured homes to "conform to the International Building Code (IBC) to satisfy the provisions of the uniform building code (UBC) and other mandated related codes by state" - but it sets out no edition and no roofing provision. No adopting resolution is published on the County's site. THE STATE FRAMEWORK IS WHERE THE RESIDENTIAL EDITION ACTUALLY COMES FROM. Idaho's residential code is set by the Idaho Building Code Board rather than by a county. IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03 adopts the "International Residential Code, 2018 Edition ... Parts I, II, III, and IX of the 2018 Edition for one (1)- and two (2)-family dwellings", with a list of state amendments, effective July 1, 2024. Idaho Code 39-4116(2) requires a local government that issues building permits and enforces the code to adopt the Idaho residential code parts I through III and IX by ordinance while barring it from adopting a later IRC edition the Board has not adopted; 39-4116(6) provides that "Permits shall be governed by the laws in effect at the time the permit application is received." Roofing sits in Part III of the residential code and is included. NOTE WHICH CODE THE COUNTY NAMES. The County names the International BUILDING Code, which is the commercial code, in a sentence that goes on to speak of both residential and commercial buildings. A one- and two-family dwelling in Idaho is governed by the residential code. This record does not resolve that mismatch; ring the building official on 208-766-3613 and ask which code and which edition a house will be plan-checked to before relying on either.

6.0% - the Idaho state rate, with no local add-on in Bear Lake County. Idaho Code 63-3619 imposes the state sales tax "at the rate of six percent (6%)". Idaho has only two kinds of local sales tax and neither reaches roofing work here. The first is the resort-city local-option tax under Idaho Code Title 50, Chapter 10; the Idaho State Tax Commission publishes the list of cities that levy one, and no Bear Lake County city appears on it - not Montpelier, not Paris, not St Charles, not Fish Haven. The second is an auditorium-district tax, which the Tax Commission states can be charged only on short-term lodging of thirty days or less and so never reaches roofing work. Idaho counties levy no sales tax at all. HOW A ROOF IS TAXED IN IDAHO, WHICH MATTERS MORE THAN THE RATE. The Tax Commission's contractor guidance states that "Idaho sales tax law says contractors are the consumers (end users) of all the goods they use. As a result, they must pay sales tax on all purchases", and it names roofers among the contractors it covers. The roofer pays the 6% on materials at the supply house; the homeowner's invoice carries no sales tax line at all, on materials or on labour, because a contractor does not charge sales tax to the customer. The Commission adds that if sales tax is charged on the bill, the customer can refuse to pay it. Bear Lake County borders both Utah and Wyoming, and a supply house on either side of those lines charges its own state's tax rather than Idaho's, which is a question for the roofer's accountant rather than for the building counter.