Clark County, Indiana - Planning and Zoning (Building Commissioner)

Clark County, Indiana (unincorporated areas and the Town of Borden)

county

300 Corporate Drive, Room 208, Jeffersonville, IN 47130

Not required

WHERE AND WHO. Clark County Planning and Zoning, Clark County Government Center, 300 Corporate Drive, Room 208, Jeffersonville, IN 47130, on 812-285-6287. The office lists Eric M. Wise, AICP, as Executive Director, Jason Stanley as Building Commissioner and Rob France as Building Inspector. CHECK THE ADDRESS FIRST. The ordinance's jurisdiction clause reads "This UDO shall apply to all land within the jurisdiction of the Clark County Advisory Plan Commission which includes the unincorporated areas of Clark County and the Town of Bordon", spelling Borden that way. Jeffersonville, Clarksville, Charlestown and Sellersburg run their own offices, and the County's page links to each separately. HOW TO FILE. The County states: "We accept Residential Improvement applications and the Contractor trade applications via an online process." The portal runs on Citizenserve; the link on the County's page returned a not-found page on September 11, 2026, so ask the office for the current address. INSPECTIONS. "All inspections require 24 hour notification." Schedule them on 812-285-6287 or by email to the Executive Director. The ordinance requires a final inspection on every ILP before the structure is occupied or used. Under the fee schedule enacted by Ordinance 18-2021, an inspection is $50, and re-inspections are $50 for the first, $100 for the second and $300 for each after that. HOW LONG A PERMIT LASTS. An ILP "shall be valid for a period of one (1) year from the date of issuance", but "significant construction must begin within six (6) months from the date of issuance or the ILP shall become void"; the Administrator may grant up to two further six-month periods on written request. FLOODPLAIN. Many parts of the county lie in the Special Flood Hazard Area, which the office regulates under the Clark County Flood Ordinance, and the Executive Director is also the Floodplain Administrator.

STATE-SET, AND THE COUNTY NAMES THE EDITION IN ITS OWN WORDS. The Planning and Zoning office states on its page: "On December 26, 2019, the state of Indiana adopted and enacted the 2018 IRC (International Residential Code) with the 2020 Indiana amendments." It adds: "It should be noted, any permits obtained after December 26, 2019, must subscribe to the new codes." The County also posts the state rule itself, the final rule adding 675 IAC 14-4.4, whose opening section provides that "That certain document being titled the 2018 International Residential Code for One and Two Family Dwellings, first printing August 2017, published by the International Code Council, 500 New Jersey Avenue NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, D.C. 20001-2070, is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set out in this rule save and except those revisions made in this rule", and that "This rule shall be known as the 2020 Indiana Residential Code." The County writes no building code of its own. Its Unified Development Ordinance, as amended through February 26, 2026, is a zoning and subdivision ordinance that requires construction to meet "the applicable building codes" but names no edition of the residential code and makes no technical amendment to it. Nor could it add a roofing rule: IC 22-13-2-3(c) provides that "A city, town, or county may not adopt an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the commission's rules", and IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) gives those rules precedence over any ordinance of a political subdivision "that covers the same subject matter as the commission's fire safety rules or building rules." One vocabulary warning: the state rule describes itself as applying to construction of "Class 2 structures". In Indiana that is a STRUCTURE class, broadly one and two family dwellings, and has nothing to do with a fire or impact class of roof covering.

Required — REQUIRED ON A SHINGLE ROOF, BY THE STATE CODE RATHER THAN BY THE COUNTY. The Indiana State Building Commissioner's ice and water shield and drip edge guidance of February 25, 2020, published on Indiana Department of Homeland Security letterhead, reproduces the adopted Section R905.2.8.5 in full, opening "A drip edge shall be provided at eaves and rake edges of shingle roofs." The same passage sets the overlap between adjacent segments, how far the drip edge extends below the sheathing and back onto the deck, the fastener spacing, and which way the underlayment laps it at eaves and at rakes; read it in the guidance before detailing the edge. The 2020 Indiana Residential Code amends Section R905.2.8 only by deleting the word "approved" and makes no amendment to R905.2.8.5. The County's Unified Development Ordinance contains no drip edge or underlayment provision, and IC 22-13-2-3(c) would bar it from varying the state rule. About drip edge

Not required — NOT REQUIRED BY THE TABLE IN CLARK COUNTY, BUT READ THE REST OF THIS BEFORE LEAVING IT OFF. Indiana deletes the model climatic table and substitutes its own, one row per county: 675 IAC 14-4.4-5 directs "Delete TABLE R301.2(1) and the corresponding footnotes and substitute to read as follows". Row 10 is Clark, and its entry in the column headed Ice Shield Underlayment Required is No. The state's guidance explains what that No means. The Indiana State Building Commissioner's ice and water shield and drip edge guidance of February 25, 2020 points out that the code requires roofing to be installed to the manufacturer's instructions and concludes that "there are specific counties in which it is always required (per Table R301.2(1)), and specific counties in which it is required only when the roofing manufacturer's written installation instructions require it (per Sections R903.1, R904.1 and R905.1)." Clark County is in the second group. So read the shingle manufacturer's published instructions for the product being installed: if they call for an ice barrier, the code requires you to follow them. The County has no ordinance of its own on this, and IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a county from one more stringent than the state rule. About ice & water barrier

Not required — No impact-resistance requirement applies in the County's jurisdiction. The 2020 Indiana Residential Code, which the County enforces, makes four amendments to the model roof assemblies chapter and none concerns impact: it deletes the last sentence of Section R902.4 on rooftop-mounted photovoltaic panel systems, deletes "approved" from Section R905.2.6 on attachment, deletes "approved" from Section R905.2.8 on flashing, and deletes "printed" from Section R905.2.8.4 on other flashing. Neither that rule nor the County's Unified Development Ordinance contains any UL 2218, Class 4 or Class IV impact rating, and where the ordinance speaks of impact it means flooding, noise, glare and the like, never roof coverings. A county could not impose such a rating in any event, since IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a local ordinance more stringent than the state rules. An insurer's discount for an impact-rated shingle is a private contract term, not a code requirement.

THE COUNTY'S ORDINANCE DRAWS THE PERMIT LINE AT ALTERATION OF A STRUCTURE, AND IT DOES NOT NAME ROOFING EITHER WAY. Building permits here are Improvement Location Permits under the Clark County Unified Development Ordinance, and the County says "All building permits are issued through the Planning & Zoning office." The ordinance's applicability clause reads: "An ILP, also known as a building permit, shall be required for the erection, alteration, or modification of all structures within the jurisdiction including, but not necessarily limited to:" primary structures, accessory buildings and structures, patios and slabs, signs, temporary storage containers and wireless communication facilities. The ordinance defines ALTERATION as "Any change or rearrangement in the supporting members of an existing structure, such as bearing walls, columns, beams, girders, or interior partitions, as well as any change in doors, windows, means of ingress or egress, or any enlargement to or diminution of a structure, whether horizontally or vertically, or the moving of a structure from one location to another." A separate definition, ALTERATION, STRUCTURAL, reaches any change "in the dimensions or configurations of the roof or exterior walls". The word "modification" is not defined, and the ordinance's definition of an ILP describes it as permission "for the construction, repair, alteration, or addition to a structure". So work that changes roof framing, pitch or shape is plainly permit work. A like-for-like replacement of the covering is not named in either direction: the ordinance lists no roofing exemption, and the County's residential fee schedule, the one it posts and the one enacted by Ordinance 18-2021 on June 24, 2021, carries no roofing line, its nearest category being Alteration/Remodel at $150. Because the enacted text does not settle a straight re-roof, this record states neither that one is exempt nor that one needs a permit. Ask the Planning and Zoning office on 812-285-6287 before the tear-off, because guessing wrong is priced: the ordinance imposes the fine set in the fee schedule on anyone who begins construction before obtaining a required ILP, and that schedule sets the fine for work without a permit at twice the permit fee.

115 mph. Indiana replaces the model climatic table with its own county-by-county table at 675 IAC 14-4.4-5, which directs "Delete TABLE R301.2(1) and the corresponding footnotes and substitute to read as follows". Row 10 is Clark County and reads: wind speed 115 mph, seismic design category B, ground snow load 20 psf, foundation depth 24 inches, winter design temperature 9 degrees F, decay slight to moderate, termite moderate to heavy, weathering severe, ice shield underlayment required No, air freezing index 1500 or less, and mean annual temperature 54.7 degrees F. The County publishes no design criteria of its own, its Unified Development Ordinance sets no design wind speed, snow load or seismic category, and IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a county from varying the state figures. Wind exposure category is not in the table; settle it for the particular site under the residential code rather than assuming one.

NO COUNTY RULE AND NO STATE AMENDMENT, SO THE MODEL CODE'S REROOFING SECTION APPLIES UNCHANGED. The residential code the County enforces is 675 IAC 14-4.4, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, which incorporates the 2018 International Residential Code, and the County's own page names that code as the one permits must follow. The Indiana rule's only amendments in the roof assemblies chapter are four word and sentence deletions, in the rooftop photovoltaic, shingle attachment and flashing sections. It makes no amendment to the reroofing section, R908, which does not appear anywhere in the rule. The County's Unified Development Ordinance contains no layer, overlay or reroofing provision, and IC 22-13-2-3(c) would bar a county from writing one. The layer rule on a Clark County recover is therefore the 2018 International Residential Code's own reroofing section, unamended. Base-code rule, read at 2018 International Residential Code Section R908.3.1.1, Roof recover not allowed: a roof recover "shall not be permitted" where "the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." One existing layer may be recovered; a second existing layer means a tear-off to the deck. Establish the existing layer count with the Building Commissioner before quoting a recover rather than a tear-off.

NO COUNTY SHEATHING RULE, AND THE STATE EDIT IN THIS AREA CONCERNS PAPERWORK, NOT THE DECK. The County's Unified Development Ordinance contains no sheathing or roof deck provision. The state rule it enforces, 675 IAC 14-4.4, amends Section R803.2.1, headed identification and grade, only by deleting the words "or certificate of inspection issued by an approved agency". It makes no other amendment to the roof sheathing provisions of the 2018 International Residential Code, so those apply here as published. IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a county from adding a sheathing rule of its own.

7.00% statewide, with no county add-on in Clark County. Indiana levies a single state sales tax rate, and the Department of Revenue's own page on the taxes Indiana counties do levy closes with the sentence "The sales tax for the entire State of Indiana is 7%." WHO PAYS IT DEPENDS ON THE SHAPE OF THE CONTRACT. Indiana Department of Revenue Sales Tax Information Bulletin #60 (March 2024) names roofing in its description of construction contractors and then splits on contract form. A "Time and Material Contract" is one "in which the cost of construction material and the cost of labor or other charges are stated separately"; a contractor working under one "is a retail merchant that is selling the construction material that it incorporates into real property, and must be registered with the department and collect sales tax on the material portion of their contracts". A contractor on any other form, such as a lump sum, "must pay sales or use tax on their construction material" and they "do not collect sales tax from their customers". On labour the bulletin adds that "Installation charges separately stated on an invoice are not included in gross retail income." The bulletin describes itself as not binding on the department or the taxpayer where it is inconsistent with the law, so settle your own position with an accountant.