Permitting Authorities / City of Gretna - Building & Zoning Department
Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Gretna, NE?
Adopted codeCity of Gretna - Building & Zoning Department
Yes — a permit is required to replace a roof in Gretna, NE, issued by City of Gretna - Building & Zoning Department. Permit applications are printed from the Building & Zoning page but "must be submitted in person to the Building and Zoning Department", and the City states permits "may be paid for by check, cash or credit cards, in person only." Two complete sets of plans are required with every application. A building permit expires "within 180 days if a substantial beginning has not been made" and within one year if the work is not complete, with a one-year renewal available at the cost of the original permit. Inspections are booked by phone on 24 hours' notice; the City warns that leaving a voicemail is not a booking unless the office confirms it, and charges an $80 re-inspection fee beyond the second re-inspection. The office is at 204 North McKenna Avenue, open Monday to Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Jurisdiction
City of Gretna, Nebraska
Jurisdiction type
city
Address
204 N McKenna Ave, Gretna, NE 68028
Contact
- url: https://www.gretnane.org/147/Building-Zoning
- phone: 402-332-3336
- email: [email protected]
Roofing permit required
Required
Permit process note
Permit applications are printed from the Building & Zoning page but "must be submitted in person to the Building and Zoning Department", and the City states permits "may be paid for by check, cash or credit cards, in person only." Two complete sets of plans are required with every application. A building permit expires "within 180 days if a substantial beginning has not been made" and within one year if the work is not complete, with a one-year renewal available at the cost of the original permit. Inspections are booked by phone on 24 hours' notice; the City warns that leaving a voicemail is not a booking unless the office confirms it, and charges an $80 re-inspection fee beyond the second re-inspection. The office is at 204 North McKenna Avenue, open Monday to Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Inspection requirements
The City's published inspection sequence for a residential building permit runs: temporary power pole; footings, once formed with rebar installed and ready to pour; plumbing groundwork in open trench; sewer and water connections in open trench; septic where applicable; rough-in framing "when all framing, mechanical, electrical wiring, plumbing lines, and venting is complete, prior to insulation and covering walls"; and final, which must be passed before occupancy. The department's fuller residential handout adds exterior drain and waterproofing, garage braced wall, wall insulation, a separate electrical final, water final and certificate of occupancy. Next-day inspections must be called in by 3:30 p.m. the prior day and the City does not do same-day inspections. Sealed load and wind uplift calculations for roof trusses, and for rafter connections where these are engineered, are required at the framing inspection.
Adopted code
Gretna is on the 2021 International Residential Code. Ordinance No. 2138, passed and approved March 21, 2023 and effective May 1, 2023, rewrote Section 9-401 of the Gretna Municipal Code to adopt by reference the 2021 IBC, 2021 IFGC, 2021 IMC, 2021 IEBC, 2021 IRC, 2018 IECC, DCA 6 (2015), 2018 ISPSC and ICC/ANSI A117.1-2009, and then set out the City's own amendments to the 2021 IRC. Ordinance No. 2141, passed April 18, 2023 and effective the same day as 2138, repealed that IRC amendment package and re-enacted a corrected version, so Ordinance 2141 carries the operative amendment list. The City's own "Current Building Codes" sheet, updated February 5, 2025, states the same package and names those two ordinances for the residential code, plus Ordinance 2137 for the 2021 International Plumbing Code and Ordinance 2169 for the 2023 National Electrical Code; it directs fire-code questions to the Nebraska State Fire Marshal's Office. Note that the codified Chapter 9 posted on the City website predates these ordinances - it still carries the older 9-401 wording adopting "the most recent edition" of each code, with an amendment history ending in 2008 - so the ordinances, not that posted chapter, state the editions in force.
Drip edge
Required — Required by the code Gretna has adopted, with no local change. The City adopts the 2021 International Residential Code, and its two amendment ordinances - No. 2138 and the corrected No. 2141 that replaced it, both read in full - amend nothing in Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies: the amendment list runs from Chapter 1 through Section R802.11.1.2 and then jumps to Chapter 11 and the mechanical, fuel-gas and plumbing chapters, touching no section between R901 and R910. The base 2021 IRC drip-edge provision for asphalt shingles, Section R905.2.8.5, therefore applies in Gretna unmodified. About drip edge
Ice & water shield
Required — Required, and Gretna states it twice from two directions. The City's amended Table R301.2(1), enacted by Ordinance No. 2141, publishes "ICE BARRIER UNDERLAYEMENT REQUIRED - YES" for Gretna, which is the trigger the adopted 2021 IRC keys its ice-barrier provision to. Separately, the Building & Zoning FAQ attaches the ice shield to the roofing work rather than to the permit: its list of work for which a permit is NOT required exempts "Roofing projects that do not involve rafters or installation or replacement of more than one sheet of decking. (such as re-shingling)" and adds in the same entry "Note: Ice shield must be installed." A re-shingle that the department treats as permit-exempt therefore still has to carry the ice barrier. About ice & water barrier
Mid-roof inspection
Not required — No mid-roof or in-progress roof-covering inspection appears in any of the three inspection schedules Gretna publishes. Gretna Municipal Code 9-103, "Time of Inspection", lists three stages - foundation, frame "after the roof, framing, fire-blocking, and backing is in place", and final. The Building & Zoning FAQ "When are inspections required?" lists seven stages, running from temporary pole through rough-in framing to final. The department's "Residential Building Inspections" handout lists thirteen numbered stages from temporary power pole to certificate of occupancy. None of the three includes a roof-covering stage.
Impact-resistant roofing
Not required — No impact-resistance requirement applies in Gretna. The City adopts the 2021 International Residential Code by Ordinance No. 2138 and Ordinance No. 2141, both read in full; neither amends Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies, and no UL 2218, Class 4 or other impact-rating provision appears anywhere in either ordinance or in the City's amended Table R301.2(1). Gretna's amended table names no windborne debris zone and no special wind region. Nebraska supplies no impact requirement either: the state building code adopts the IRC and leaves its roofing chapter unmodified, and under Neb. Rev. Stat. 71-6406 a Nebraska city sets its own content within an edition floor, so the answer is the city's own. Note that hail-resistant roofing is often an insurance discount question in the Omaha metro rather than a code question - an insurer's requirement is not a building-code requirement.
Repair permit threshold
Gretna publishes two positions on roofing permits and a roofer should settle which applies before starting. THE ENACTED ORDINANCE: Ordinance No. 2141, which carries the City's operative amendments to the 2021 IRC, amends Section R105.2 "Work Exempt From Permit" and replaces the model list with six items - playground equipment; landscaping features including terrace and retaining walls not over 4 feet unless supporting a surcharge, trellises and similar structures; replacement of paved slab-on-grade sidewalks, driveways and patios with no added square footage or grading change; one-story detached accessory structures not exceeding 80 square feet; painting, papering, tiling, carpeting, cabinets, counter tops and similar finish work; and prefabricated temporary soft-sided pools less than 24 inches deep. Roofing is not among them. Gretna Municipal Code 9-201 requires a building permit of anyone who proceeds to "erect, construct, repair, enlarge, demolish, or relocate any building or dwelling", and the only exception in that article, 9-202, is for accessory buildings under 120 square feet; Section 5-901 states the same requirement in the business-regulations chapter. THE DEPARTMENT'S PUBLISHED FAQ: under the heading "When is a permit not required?" the Building & Zoning pages list "Roofing projects that do not involve rafters or installation or replacement of more than one sheet of decking. (such as re-shingling). Note: Ice shield must be installed." On that page the carve-out is bounded two ways - touch a rafter, or install or replace more than one sheet of decking, and the job is back inside the permit requirement. The companion "When is a permit required?" list separately catches "Repairs to structural components or any building damaged by fire, wind or collision", which is where a storm-damaged roof needing structural repair lands either way. The City states that list "is not intended to be inclusive" and asks that borderline jobs be confirmed with the office, so confirm the job with Building & Zoning before relying on the exemption. Note also that Gretna Municipal Code 9-203 doubles the permit fee on work started before a permit was obtained.
Wind design criteria
Gretna fills in its own climatic and geographic design criteria. Ordinance No. 2141, amending Table R301.2(1) of the 2021 IRC, publishes GROUND SNOW LOAD 25, WIND SPEED 114 mph, TOPOGRAPHIC EFFECTS No, SPECIAL WIND REGION No, WINDBORNE DEBRIS ZONE No and SEISMIC DESIGN CATEGORY A. The same amended table gives WEATHERING Severe, FROST LINE DEPTH 42, TERMITE Moderate to Heavy, WINTER DESIGN TEMP -3, ICE BARRIER UNDERLAYMENT REQUIRED Yes, FLOOD HAZARDS 1971, AIR FREEZING INDEX 2000 and MEAN ANNUAL TEMP 51.2. The ordinance does not itself state whether 114 mph is a nominal or an ultimate wind speed, and it adds no separate nominal figure. It also leaves Section R301.2.1 of the 2021 IRC unamended, and that section directs the wind provisions to be applied "using the ultimate design wind speed in Table R301.2" - so treat the 114 mph as an ultimate (strength-design) speed and convert before using it in a method that expects a nominal one. Ordinance 2141 also deletes Section R802.11.1 (uplift resistance) and rewrites the truss and rafter uplift provisions: truss uplift connections must meet the truss design drawings with sealed load and wind uplift calculations produced at framing inspection, and individual rafters must be attached with connections resisting 500 pounds per square foot or as designed by a structural engineer with calculations provided at framing inspection.
Roof layer limit / recover
Gretna states no layer cap of its own. The City adopts the 2021 International Residential Code, and its two amendment ordinances - No. 2138 and the corrected No. 2141 that replaced it, both read in full - amend nothing in Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies, and nothing in Section R908, so the base 2021 IRC re-cover rule at Section R908.3.1.1 governs a Gretna re-roof unmodified. That section is what decides whether an existing roof may be covered over or has to come off, and it is the provision to read before quoting an overlay. Note separately that the City's own permit-exemption language turns on decking rather than layers: the department treats a re-shingle as needing no permit only where it does not involve rafters or the installation or replacement of more than one sheet of decking.
Deck & sheathing requirements
Gretna sets a decking threshold rather than a decking specification. The department's published permit-exemption entry treats a roofing project as needing no permit only where it does "not involve rafters or installation or replacement of more than one sheet of decking"; replace a second sheet, or disturb a rafter, and a building permit is required. The City's two amendment ordinances to the 2021 IRC, read in full, amend nothing in Chapter 9, so the base code's sheathing and deck requirements for the roof covering apply unmodified. On the framing side Gretna does amend the roof structure: Ordinance No. 2141 deletes Section R802.11.1 and requires truss uplift connections to match the truss design drawings with sealed load and wind uplift calculations supplied at framing inspection, and individual rafters to be connected to resist 500 pounds per square foot or as designed by a structural engineer.
The permitting authority for the City of Gretna, a fast-growing Sarpy County city on the western edge of the Omaha metro. Building & Zoning issues building permits and runs inspections for the City and its zoning jurisdiction under codes the City Council adopts by ordinance. Gretna is unusual in publishing two different answers on roofing permits: the enacted 2021 IRC amendment ordinance gives a six-item permit-exemption list that does not mention roofing, while the department's public FAQ says an ordinary re-shingle needs no permit but must still carry an ice shield. Permit applications are printed from the City website and submitted in person, and the City charges double the fee on any permit taken out after work has started.
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Sources
- gretnane.org verified 2026-09-03
- gretnane.org verified 2026-09-03
- gretnane.org verified 2026-09-03
- gretnane.org verified 2026-09-03
- gretnane.org verified 2026-09-03
- gretnane.org verified 2026-09-03
- gretnane.org verified 2026-09-03
- gretnane.org verified 2026-09-03
- nebraskalegislature.gov verified 2026-09-03
- nebraskalegislature.gov verified 2026-09-03