Scott County, Iowa - Planning & Development Department

Unincorporated Scott County, Iowa, plus the Cities of Dixon, Donahue, LeClaire, Long Grove, McCausland, Panorama Park, Princeton, and Riverdale under a 28E intergovernmental agreement. Davenport and Bettendorf are explicitly excluded — those two cities issue their own building permits.

county

600 W. 4th St., Davenport, IA 52801

Required

Required

Per Scott County Ordinance No. 24-07 Sec. 5-6(E) (amending IRC Section R105.5), a permit becomes invalid unless work is commenced within 180 days of issuance or is suspended/abandoned for 180 days after work begins; all permits expire 12 months from the date of issue unless extended by the building official (extension fee: half the original permit fee, or a fee set by the building official based on remaining work). Under the county's fee schedule (Sec. 5-14(i)), work begun without a required permit triggers a special investigation, with an investigation fee equal to the amount of the permit fee that would otherwise apply.

Scott County has adopted the 2021 International Building Code, 2021 International Existing Building Code, 2021 International Residential Code, 2021 International Mechanical Code, 2021 International Property Maintenance Code, and 2021 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, together with the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code, the 2020 National Electrical Code, and the 2021 Uniform Plumbing Code, by Scott County Ordinance No. 24-07 (recorded 11/22/2024, published 11/27/2024), effective January 1, 2025, applicable to unincorporated Scott County and, by the 28E agreement, the eight contract cities.

Required — Scott County adopts the 2021 International Residential Code by Ordinance No. 24-07. That ordinance's own amendment section, Sec. 5-6 (19 lettered items, read in full), does not touch drip edge or the IRC roof-covering underlayment provisions, so the base 2021 IRC drip-edge provision applies unmodified. About drip edge

Required — Scott County's own Table R301.2 insert, added by Ordinance No. 24-07 Sec. 5-6 item F (applicable to the 2021 IRC as adopted by the same ordinance), lists "Ice Barrier Underlayment Required: Yes" as a filled-in table value for the jurisdiction. About ice & water barrier

Not required — Scott County Ordinance No. 24-07, read in full — its International Building Code amendments and its International Residential Code amendments (19 lettered items, including the Table R301.2 insert) — together with the county's other in-force Chapter 5 provisions, contain no "UL 2218" or "Class 4" impact-resistance requirement and no windborne-debris/impact-rating provision of any kind.

Scott County's own fee schedule (Code of Ordinances Sec. 5-14(e)) sets a flat $50 residential roofing permit fee ($100 if combined with a siding permit), and the county's own "Roof / Siding Construction Permit Application for Unincorporated Scott County" (revised 8/2/2024) confirms the same flat fee. Neither document states a minimum job value or square-footage below which a residential reroof is exempt from a permit.

Table R301.2 (Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria) as filled in by Scott County Ordinance No. 24-07 Sec. 5-6 item F, applicable to the 2021 IRC: ground snow load 30 psf (moderate-to-heavy additional drift loads calculated using a 25 psf ground snow load where applicable); ultimate design wind speed 115 mph; no topographic wind effects; no special wind region; no windborne debris zone; seismic design category A; weathering (concrete masonry) Severe; frost line depth 42 inches; termite damage Moderate to Heavy; ice barrier underlayment required Yes; flood hazard — initial FHBM effective 6/1/1977, NFIP community #190239, effective FIS 3/23/2021, effective FIRMs 3/23/2021 and 4/11/2024; air freezing index 2000; mean annual temperature 50.5 F.

Scott County adopts the 2021 International Residential Code by Ordinance No. 24-07. That ordinance's own amendment section, Sec. 5-6 (19 lettered items, read in full), does not touch roof-recovering or roof-layer-limit provisions, so the base 2021 IRC provisions apply unmodified.

Scott County adopts the 2021 International Residential Code by Ordinance No. 24-07. That ordinance's own amendment section, Sec. 5-6 (19 lettered items, read in full), does not touch roof deck sheathing provisions, so the base 2021 IRC provisions apply unmodified.

7% combined rate — Iowa's 6% state sales tax plus a 1% local option sales tax in effect since 1/1/1989 — per the Iowa Department of Revenue's own "LOST by County" workbook (effective 7/1/2026). This 7% rate applies uniformly across unincorporated Scott County and all eight 28E-contract cities the county permits for (Dixon, Donahue, LeClaire, Long Grove, McCausland, Panorama Park, Princeton, Riverdale); Davenport and Bettendorf are also listed at 7% on the same DOR workbook, though those two cities are outside the county's own permitting authority.