City of Michigan City, Indiana - Building Permits & Inspection Department

City of Michigan City, Indiana

city

100 E Michigan Blvd, Michigan City, IN 46360

Required

Required

WHERE AND HOW. The Building Permits & Inspection Department is at 100 E Michigan Blvd, Michigan City, on (219) 873-1417; City Hall hours are Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Filing is online: the City states that its Cloudpermit portal is where to "View and submit applications for permits, business registration, short-term rentals, property changes, and more", and that the department "is responsible for issuing building permits and performing inspections for construction and remodeling projects within the city limits." WHAT THE REROOFING APPLICATION MUST CONTAIN is set by Code of Ordinances section 22-75: the class of material to be used, the owner's name, the location of the building, the name and address of the person proposing to do the work, and the estimated cost of the job. The planning director reviews the application and then issues or denies the permit. FEES are in section 50-132 - general construction $100.00 to $1,000.00 at a $40.00 minimum, plus $10.00 for each additional $1,000.00, and $45.00 per inspection - and the contractor registration fee in section 50-138 is $150.00. STARTING BEFORE THE PERMIT ISSUES DOUBLES THE FEE under section 22-75(e), with an exception "in cases of emergency (such as fire, storm damage and the like)". PERMIT LIFE: section 22-84 gives permits for additions, remodeling or interior and exterior changes to a Class 2 residential structure one year from the date of issue, and a permit may be automatically renewed once, on a written application received at least ten days before expiry, at 50 percent of the original fee. INSPECTIONS are not staged by ordinance for a re-roof; section 22-53 gives the planning director and the inspectors a general right of entry "shall have at all times the right to enter any buildings, sites or premises, or upon any work in the process of construction", and the fee schedule prices inspections individually, so agree the inspection points with the department when the permit issues rather than assuming a mid-roof stop. STOP-WORK POWER is broad and is exercised on site: under section 22-53 an inspector finding a violation, improper materials or improper methods "may stop work within that inspector's assigned duties only for that inspection upon the project and cause the immediate cessation of work inspected", and "there shall be no resumption of any work without first having obtained written authority to proceed." COMMERCIAL WORK is a different track - section 22-84(c) lets the City suspend or revoke a permit "upon revocation of the state building commission construction design release (CDR)", which is the state approval a Class 1 building needs before the City will issue anything.

STATE-SET, AND MICHIGAN CITY'S OWN ADOPTION FLOATS FORWARD WITH IT. The residential rule is the state's: 675 IAC 14-4.4, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 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 ... 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." It was filed November 26, 2019 and formally readopted November 18, 2025, and it is the newest rule in its article. Michigan City takes it up whole. Code of Ordinances section 22-111, headed "Adoption of title 675 (Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission) of the Indiana Administrative Code", provides that "The articles of the state fire prevention and building commission as set out in the articles of title 675 of the Indiana Administrative Code are hereby incorporated by reference and shall include later amendments to those articles as the amendments are published in the Indiana Register or the Indiana Administrative Code, with effective dates as affixed therein." That is a floating adoption, and Indiana law would make it one anyway: IC 22-13-2-3(b) provides that a local citation to the Indiana Administrative Code "shall be construed to include all amendments as of the date that the reference is written and any later amendments to that provision, unless accompanied by a reference to a specific edition or supplement to the Indiana Administrative Code." So there is no stale local edition to worry about here, and no city in Indiana can be on a different residential code in any event - 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 local ordinance covering the same subject matter. TWO SEPARATE CODES, DO NOT CONFUSE THEM: alongside the state residential code the City has adopted the 2012 International Property Maintenance Code as its property maintenance code, by section 22-800, with a long list of local amendments in section 22-801. That governs the condition of an existing building, not how a new roof is installed. One vocabulary warning: "Class 2 structure" in Michigan City's code, as in Indiana law generally, means a one or two dwelling unit building - it is a STRUCTURE class and has nothing to do with a fire class or an impact class of roof covering.

Required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET, and unconditional on a shingle roof. Michigan City cannot vary it: 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." The operative text is published first-hand by the Indiana State Building Commissioner, on Indiana Department of Homeland Security letterhead, in the Ice/Water Shield and Metal Drip Edge guidance of February 25, 2020, which reproduces the adopted Section R905.2.8.5 in full: "A drip edge shall be provided at eaves and rake edges of shingle roofs. Adjacent segments of drip edge shall be overlapped not less than 2 inches (51 mm). Drip edges shall extend not less than ¼ inch (6.4 mm) below the roof sheathing and extend up back onto the roof deck not less than 2 inches (51 mm). Drip edges shall be mechanically fastened to the rood deck at not more than 12 inches (305 mm) o.c. with fasteners as specified in Section R905.2.5 Underlayment shall be installed over the drip edge along eaves and under the drip edge along rake edges." The word "rood" in that passage is a typographical error in the published guidance, quoted here as printed; it plainly means the roof deck. The Indiana rule amends Section R905.2.8 only by deleting the word "approved" and does not touch R905.2.8.5, so this text governs as published. About drip edge

Required — REQUIRED IN LaPORTE COUNTY. This is a county-by-county answer in Indiana and it is the field most often got wrong here by carrying an answer up from a job further south. The state deletes the model climatic table and substitutes its own: 675 IAC 14-4.4-5 directs "Delete TABLE R301.2(1) and the corresponding footnotes and substitute to read as follows", and the substituted table runs one row per county. Row 46 is LaPorte, and it carries "Yes" in the column headed "Ice Shield Underlayment Required". Twenty-seven of Indiana's ninety-two counties carry "Yes" there and they are the northern tier; the other sixty-five carry "No". The rest of the LaPorte County row is the northern Indiana set: wind speed 115 mph, seismic design category A, ground snow 30 psf, foundation depth 36 inches, winter design temperature 1 degree F, weathering Severe. The whole Lake Michigan shore reads the same way - Lake and Porter Counties to the west and St. Joseph County to the east are all "Yes" - so a crew working the northern corridor is on the same answer throughout. Michigan City has no power to change it: IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from an ordinance more stringent or detailed than the state rules. WHAT THE BARRIER HAS TO BE. The Indiana State Building Commissioner publishes the adopted Section R905.1.2 first-hand, on Indiana Department of Homeland Security letterhead, in the Ice/Water Shield and Metal Drip Edge guidance of February 25, 2020: "In areas where there has been a history of ice forming along the eaves causing a backup of water as designated in Table R301.2(1), an ice barrier shall be installed for asphalt shingles, metal roof shingles, mineral-surfaced roll roofing, slate and slate-type shingles, wood shingles and wood shakes. The ice barrier shall consist of not fewer than two layers of underlayment cemented together, or a self-adhering polymer-modified bitumen sheet shall be used in place of normal underlayment and extend from the lowest edges of all roof surfaces to a point not less than 24 inches (610 mm) inside the exterior wall line of the building. On roofs with slope equal to or greater than eight units vertical in 12 units horizontal (67-percent slope), the ice barrier shall also be applied not less than 36 inches (914 mm) measured along the roof slope from the eave edge of the building." The same section carries one exception: "Detached accessory structures not containing conditioned floor area." Note that 24 inches inside the exterior wall line is measured from the wall, not from the eave, so on a house with a deep overhang the barrier runs further up the slope than a 36 inch roll suggests. About ice & water barrier

Not required — No impact-resistance requirement applies in Michigan City. The 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, makes four amendments touching the model code's roofing chapter and not one of them concerns impact: it deletes the text of the last sentence of Section R902.4 on rooftop-mounted photovoltaic panel systems, deletes the words "approved" from Section R905.2.6 on asphalt shingle attachment, deletes the word "approved" from Section R905.2.8 on flashing, and deletes the word "printed" from Section R905.2.8.4 on other flashing. Nothing in the rule imposes a UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 impact rating. Chapter 22 of the Michigan City Code of Ordinances, Buildings and Building Regulations, was read in full across all fourteen articles and searched for each of those terms; none of them appears anywhere in it. Michigan City could not add one on top: IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from adopting an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the state rules, and IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) gives those rules precedence over any local ordinance on the same subject. Two things that get mistaken for an impact mandate in Indiana: the phrase "Class 2 structure", which the Michigan City code defines as a one or two dwelling unit building and which is Indiana's STRUCTURE class rather than any rating of the roof covering; and an insurer's premium discount for an impact-rated shingle, which is a private contract term and not a code requirement. The City does require the permit application to state the class of material to be used in reroofing, but that is a disclosure on the application, not a performance standard the material has to meet.

NO THRESHOLD, AND MICHIGAN CITY SAYS SO TWICE. Most Indiana cities leave a roofer to work out whether a re-roof counts as a remodel. Michigan City does not. Code of Ordinances section 22-72(a), headed "Roofing, siding, windows", states: "No person shall re-roof, re-side, or install or replace any window or door for a Class 1 Structure or Class 2 Structure without first obtaining a building permit from the planning department. Replacement of broken glass for a window or door shall be an exception to this requirement." That is the only exception in the subsection, and it is a glazing exception, not a roofing one. Section 22-75, headed "Reroofing, re-siding or replacement window permit", says it again from the other direction: "No person, by himself or his servant, or as a servant or agent of another, shall reroof, re-side or replace a window to any building in the city without having made application to the planning director for a permit therefor and payment of the applicable fee set forth in section 50-132." Note the words "to any building" - section 22-75 is not limited to the Class 1 and Class 2 structures section 22-72 names. So there is no square-footage, dollar-value, layer-count or repair-versus-replacement threshold to measure a job against in Michigan City: if the work is a re-roof, it needs a permit before it starts. WHAT THE APPLICATION MUST SAY. Section 22-75(a) requires the application to state "the class of material offered for sale or class of material to be used in reroofing", the name of the owner, the location of the building, and the name and address of the person proposing to do the work; section 22-75(b) adds that "The estimated cost of reroofing, re-siding and replacing the window shall be stated in each application for a permit." TIMING IS PART OF THE RULE: "The application for a permit shall be filed and the permit granted before any work is started". STARTING EARLY COSTS DOUBLE - section 22-75(e) provides that if work is initiated before the permit issues, "except in cases of emergency (such as fire, storm damage and the like)", the applicant pays twice the regular permit fee. THE FEE is set by section 50-132(a), which covers both the general building permit and the reroofing permit: "General construction, $100.00 to $1,000.00, $40.00 minimum, plus $10.00 for each additional $1,000.00", with a further "Fee per inspection: $45.00". That fee schedule was enacted by Ordinance No. 4749, adopted November 6, 2024. A TARP IS NOT AN ANSWER TO A DELAY: the City has written its own section into the property maintenance code, section 304.7.1 "Temporary Roof Cover", providing that "Excluding emergency repairs, the use of tarps for roof and building repairs is prohibited. Temporary tarps placed upon a roof for emergency repairs shall be limited to ninety (90) days."

115 mph. Indiana replaces the model IRC Table R301.2(1) with its own county-by-county table at 675 IAC 14-4.4-5, which opens "Delete TABLE R301.2(1) and the corresponding footnotes and substitute to read as follows". The LaPorte County row gives 115 in the column headed "Wind Speed", in miles per hour, and every one of the ninety-two county rows carries the same figure, so 115 mph is the one genuinely statewide Indiana roofing number. The same row gives seismic design category A, ground snow 30 psf, a 36 inch foundation depth, a winter design temperature of 1 degree F and Severe weathering, and an air freezing index of 2000 with a mean annual temperature of 49.7 degrees F. Michigan City cannot raise or lower any of it by ordinance, because IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from an ordinance more stringent or detailed than the state rules. Wind exposure category is still a site-by-site determination made under the residential code rather than a figure the city or state sets - the table's own footnote marker on the Wind Speed column points to Section R301.2.1.4 - and a lakefront job in Michigan City is exactly the kind of site where that determination matters, so settle the exposure category with the department rather than assuming the one used inland.

NO LOCAL LAYER RULE, AND NO INDIANA CITY MAY WRITE ONE. Michigan City's residential code is the state's: Code of Ordinances section 22-111 incorporates title 675 of the Indiana Administrative Code together with later amendments, and 675 IAC 14-4.4, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, incorporates the 2018 International Residential Code. That rule runs to 245 numbered sections and its only amendments touching the model roofing chapter are word and sentence deletions in the rooftop photovoltaic section and in the asphalt shingle attachment and flashing sections. It makes no amendment at all to the model code's reroofing and roof recover section, which does not appear anywhere in the Indiana rule. Chapter 22 of the Michigan City Code of Ordinances, Buildings and Building Regulations, was read in full - all fourteen articles - and it contains no roof-covering provision of any kind: its roofing references are the reroofing permit requirement itself, sidewalk shed construction, protection of adjoining roofs during construction, the weathertightness standard in the housing code, the roofing contractor registration, and the temporary tarp rule. So the base International Residential Code rule on recovering an existing roof applies here exactly as published, and neither the state nor the City has changed it. Michigan City could not change it: IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the state rules. The number of layers a particular roof may carry therefore comes out of the adopted International Residential Code itself, and a roofer planning a recover rather than a tear-off should settle the existing layer count with the department against that code before quoting. Either way the job needs a Michigan City reroofing permit, and the permit application has to state the class of material going on.

7.00% statewide, with no county or city add-on in Michigan City or LaPorte County. Indiana levies a single state sales tax rate. The Department of Revenue's own page listing what Indiana does tax at county level - innkeeper's tax, food and beverage tax and local income tax - closes with the sentence "The sales tax for the entire State of Indiana is 7%." The county-level tax LaPorte County levies is an income tax, not a sales tax, so there is no local percentage to add to a materials invoice. WHO PAYS IT DEPENDS ON THE SHAPE OF THE CONTRACT, NOT ON THE ROOF. Indiana Department of Revenue Sales Tax Information Bulletin #60 (March 2024) names roofing in its own definition of a contractor 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", and may buy the material exempt for resale. A contractor working under any other form, such as a lump sum, is not a retail merchant: they "must pay sales or use tax on their construction material" and "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 is Department guidance and says of itself that information bulletins are not binding on the department or the taxpayer, so a roofer should settle their own contract form with an accountant. One local point worth keeping straight: the estimated cost stated on a Michigan City reroofing permit application drives the permit fee under section 50-132, which is a city fee and not a tax.