City of Stanley, North Dakota - Planning and Zoning Administrator

City of Stanley, North Dakota

city

221 S Main St, PO Box 249, Stanley, ND 58784

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Stanley City Hall is at 221 S Main St, PO Box 249, Stanley, ND 58784, on 701-628-2225, [email protected], open Monday to Friday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. WHO DOES WHAT. Ordinance Section 5.0703 designates the Building Inspector to ENFORCE the ordinance and the Planning and Zoning Administrator to ADMINISTER it, "including the receiving of applications, the inspection of premises, the issuing of certificates of occupancy, and the issuing of building permits". Section 5.0704 then routes the approval through both the Administrator and the City Council: a permit is "approved by the Planning and Zoning Administrator and issued by the City Council". Build the Council's meeting calendar into any start date. WHAT THE APPLICATION TAKES. The City's Building Permit Application asks for the applicant, mailing address, building dimensions and materials used, and requires a drawing that "must indicate placement of structure showing footage from lot lines/setbacks from all property lines on all sides", with the note that you "May attach copy of floor plan/pre-existing plan for improvement instead of drawing". The fee "Must be paid at the time of submission of the building permit" and is non-refundable. The form is signed off by the Building Official as APPROVED or DECLINED. THE FORMS THE CITY PUBLISHES, all as downloads on its Permit Applications page: Building Permit, General Contractors License Application, Demolition Permit, Infrastructure Permit, Conditional Use Permit, Variance Permit, Rezone Application, Plat Lots Permit, Annexation Application, Sign Permit, Consent Form (legal size required, used for fences on a shared property line), Fireworks Permit, Mobile Vendor Food Permit and Special Event Mobile Vendor Food Permit. OCCUPANCY. The permit form carries a use-and-occupancy clause: "No building or structure shall be used or occupied, and no change in the existing occupancy classification of a building or structure or portion thereof shall be made, until the building official has issued a certificate of occupancy."

STANLEY NAMES NO BUILDING CODE EDITION IN THE INSTRUMENT IT PUBLISHES, AND A ROOFER SHOULD ASK WHICH ONE APPLIES BEFORE ORDERING TO A DETAILING STANDARD. What the City publishes is its Planning and Zoning Ordinance, "AMENDED & ADOPTED: March 13, 2018 / AMENDED: November 10, 2020 / AMENDED: April 9, 2024", and that document was read in full this session. It carries the permit regime, the district regulations, the definitions and the enforcement provisions, but it contains no section adopting the North Dakota State Building Code or any International Code by edition. Its references to those codes are incidental rather than adopting: a temporary-housing conditional use must include a "Building permit which follows State Building Code Guidelines"; ground-supported signs "shall have all posts or supporting structure embedded in concrete, following the local and State building codes"; and a flagpole or tower fifteen feet or more in height needs a permit "pursuant to Stanley City Zoning Ordinance 5.0704 and the International Building Code, Section 105.1, Building Permits Required, as amended." The City's own Building Permit Application says only that "Execution of the Building Permit shall follow all North Dakota Century Codes and City of Stanley Ordinances". So the City clearly works to a building code; it does not publish which edition in the documents it makes available. WHAT THE STATE FRAMEWORK SUPPLIES, STATED AS CONTEXT. North Dakota Century Code Section 54-21.3-03(6): "The governing body of a city, township, or county that elects to administer and enforce a building code shall adopt and enforce the state building code. However, the state building code may be amended by cities, townships, and counties to conform to local needs." The 2026 North Dakota State Building Code Book states that "Effective January 1, 2026, the North Dakota State Building Code consists of the 2024 International Building Code (IBC), International Residential Code (IRC), International Mechanical Code (IMC), International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC), International Energy Conservation Code, and the International Existing Building Code as published by the International Code Council (ICC)" and that "NO APPENDICES ARE ADOPTED." This record does not infer from that which edition Stanley enforces - that would be a legal conclusion rather than a sourceable fact, and North Dakota's chapter lets a jurisdiction amend the state code to conform to local needs. ASK THE PLANNING AND ZONING ADMINISTRATOR ON 701-628-2225 which code and edition your permit will be written to. WHAT IS NOT IN DOUBT is that Stanley administers and enforces a permit regime of its own: Ordinance Section 5.0703 provides that "The Building Inspector is designated by the City Council to enforce this ordinance. The Planning and Zoning Administrator is designated by the City Council to administer this ordinance, including the receiving of applications, the inspection of premises, the issuing of certificates of occupancy, and the issuing of building permits and other permits as authorized within this ordinance."

Not required — No impact-resistance mandate applies in Stanley, at either level of government, and that is established by reading the instruments rather than by failing to find one. CITY LEVEL. The City of Stanley Planning and Zoning Ordinance is the instrument that carries the City's permit and enforcement regime, and it was read in full this session as amended and adopted 13 March 2018 and amended 10 November 2020 and 9 April 2024 - Articles 1 through 7, definitions, district regulations, supplementary regulations, and administration and enforcement. It contains no UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 provision, and no impact, hail or roof-covering rating requirement of any kind. The City's Building Permit Application and its General Contractor License Application impose none either. STATE LEVEL. The North Dakota amendments to the 2024 International Residential Code, published in the 2026 North Dakota State Building Code Book, were read in full - the numbered section amendments running from Section 104.8 to Section 2103.3 - and none addresses roofing at all, let alone impact rating. AN IMPORTANT DISTINCTION. Impact resistance under UL 2218 is a hail rating. It is not the same thing as a fire classification, which is graded under ASTM E108 or UL 790, or a wind rating, which is graded under ASTM D3161 or D7158. An impact-rated shingle may well be worth buying in Mountrail County, and an insurer may discount for one, but nothing in Stanley or North Dakota law requires it. ONE LIMIT ON THIS ENTRY, STATED PLAINLY. Stanley names no building code edition in the ordinance it publishes, so this negative rests on the City's own instrument and on the state amendments, not on a reading of an adopted model code. Nothing found in either imposes an impact requirement.

STANLEY'S OWN DEFINITION PUTS A ROOF CHANGE INSIDE THE PERMIT TRIGGER, AND THAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SENTENCE IN THIS RECORD. Read the trigger and the definition together. THE TRIGGER. Planning and Zoning Ordinance Section 5.0704, Building or Demolition Permit: "No building or structure shall be erected, added to, or structurally altered or moved until a permit therefore has been approved by the Planning and Zoning Administrator and issued by the City Council." THE DEFINITION, WHICH THE ORDINANCE SUPPLIES ITSELF: "Structural Alteration: Any change in the supporting member or any substantial change in the roof or exterior walls of a building." A full tear-off and re-cover is a substantial change in the roof on the face of that definition, so it falls inside the trigger. THE CARVE-OUT, AND ITS LIMIT. The same section provides: "No permit is required for the maintenance of any building or structure which does not structurally alter the building as determined by the Planning and Zoning Administrator." Two things follow. First, the carve-out is for maintenance that does NOT structurally alter - and the ordinance has already said a substantial roof change does. Second, the question is expressly one for the Planning and Zoning Administrator to determine, not for the contractor. Patching a few shingles and replacing an entire roof are very different jobs against that test. CALL 701-628-2225 AND GET THE DETERMINATION BEFORE YOU START; do not read the maintenance sentence as a re-roofing exemption. THE PENALTY FOR GETTING IT WRONG IS NOT NOMINAL. The City's own Building Permit Application states: "Building Permit is only valid for ONE YEAR after its approval date. If a project is started before approval, or continued after expiration of permit without approval, legal action may be taken against the offender." Section 5.0710 gives the Building Inspector three working days from a written correction order before "appropriate criminal action" is instituted against the property owner or the individuals violating the ordinance. THE FEE IS A PERCENTAGE WITH NO CAP ON ANYTHING BUT A NEW HOUSE, which matters on a large re-roof. Section 5.0709 sets a non-refundable building permit fee at a "Minimum of fifty dollars ($50.00) or one-half of one percent (1%) of the estimated improvement with no maximum", and for a new single-family dwelling only a "Minimum of one hundred dollars ($100.00) or one-half of one percent (1%) of the estimated improvement with a five hundred dollars ($500.00) maximum". The City's permit form states the same two scales as $50.00 under $10,000 and $100.00 under $20,000 respectively. A permit is valid for one year and the application must be resubmitted if the work is not completed in that time. A CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY IS SEPARATE AND IS BROADLY DRAWN. Section 5.0705 makes it unlawful to use or occupy any building "hereafter created, erected, changed, converted, or wholly or partly altered, or enlarged in its use or structure, until a Certificate of Occupancy is issued by the Building Inspector", and failure to obtain one is itself a violation. TWO OTHER PERMITS THAT CATCH ADJACENT WORK. A building permit is required for new fences and for concrete work such as sidewalks "unless such work is considered replacement or maintenance as determined by the Planning and Zoning Administrator", and the City publishes a separate Infrastructure Permit and Demolition Permit.

Stanley states no layer or recover rule, and - unusually for this directory - there is no adopted model code named in the instrument the City publishes to supply one. WHAT WAS READ. The City of Stanley Planning and Zoning Ordinance, amended and adopted 13 March 2018 and amended 10 November 2020 and 9 April 2024, was read in full this session: Articles 1 to 7, from the Planning and Zoning Commission through Administration and Enforcement, including the definitions, the district regulations, the supplementary regulations and the permit sections 5.0703 to 5.0710. It contains no roof-covering, shingle, recover or re-roofing provision and no limit on the number of layers. The North Dakota amendments to the 2024 International Residential Code, published in the 2026 North Dakota State Building Code Book, were also read in full - the numbered section amendments running from Section 104.8 to Section 2103.3 - and none of them reaches the roof-assemblies chapter. WHY NO NUMBER IS STATED HERE, AND WHY NONE SHOULD BE INFERRED IN EITHER DIRECTION. The City's published ordinance names no building code edition, so unlike most jurisdictions in this directory there is no base code text this record can point at and say the rule comes from there. The absence of a City rule is not permission for an unlimited number of layers - it means the question is settled somewhere this record cannot see. ASK THE PLANNING AND ZONING ADMINISTRATOR TWO QUESTIONS ON 701-628-2225 before bidding an overlay in Stanley: which code and edition the permit will be written to, and how many layers the City will allow. WHAT THE ORDINANCE DOES SAY THAT BEARS ON THE JOB. Its definition of structural alteration - "Any change in the supporting member or any substantial change in the roof or exterior walls of a building" - means the City treats the roof as a structural element for permit purposes, so an overlay decision is a permit decision here rather than a purely technical one.

Stanley publishes no roof sheathing or decking standard, and that is established by reading the City's own instrument in full rather than by failing to find one. The Planning and Zoning Ordinance, amended 9 April 2024, was read from Article 1 to Article 7 and contains no sheathing provision, no span table, no panel thickness minimum and no fastener schedule; its technical content is dimensional and use-based rather than structural. The City names no building code edition of its own, so this record does not point at a base code text for the deck requirement either - see the adopted code entry. WHAT THE ORDINANCE DOES CONTROL THAT REACHES A ROOF. First, the definition that decides whether your job needs a permit: "Structural Alteration: Any change in the supporting member or any substantial change in the roof or exterior walls of a building." Replacing deteriorated decking or a rafter is a change in a supporting member, so it is permit work under Section 5.0704 even if a covering-only job somehow were not. Second, and this catches people out on overhangs: STANLEY MEASURES ITS SETBACKS FROM THE ROOF, NOT FROM THE WALL. Its definitions provide that a front yard depth is "measured as the least distance between the front lot line and the roof overhang", a rear yard "between the rear lot line and the roof overhang", and a side yard "from the side lot line and the side of the roof overhang of any structure on the property", and the district regulations repeat throughout that "Setbacks - All measurements shall be made from the roof line of the building." Extending an eave in Stanley can put a building out of compliance with its setback. Building height is measured the same way, "from the highest point of immediately adjacent ground to the highest point of the roof line, excluding chimneys, flues, belfries, or steeples." Third, a materials prohibition that is not about roofs but uses the word: "Use of corrugated or pro-rib steel type of roofing or siding in the construction, erection, or installation of any fence is prohibited." That is a fence rule. It does not restrict a roof, and it should not be read as one.

6.50% on materials in Stanley - North Dakota state sales and use tax of 5%, plus the City of Stanley's 1.5% local sales, use and gross receipts tax. THERE IS NO COUNTY COMPONENT. Mountrail County does not appear in the county table of the North Dakota Office of State Tax Commissioner's Local Taxes by Location Guideline, which lists only eight North Dakota counties as imposing a local tax - Burleigh, Cass, Hettinger, Morton, Steele, Walsh, Ward and Williams - and the Stanley city row is neither shaded nor marked with a county name, the two marks the guideline uses for a city that also owes county tax. The guideline, rates effective 1 July 2026, gives Stanley local code 137 and a current rate of 1.5%, built from 1% effective 10-1-95 and 0.5% effective 4-1-13. THERE IS A PER-TRANSACTION CAP AND IT IS LOW. The maximum tax (refund cap) is $25 per sale, in force since 10-1-95, which at 1.5% is reached on a $1,667 purchase - most shingle orders will run past it. The guideline warns that the cap "is calculated on each material purchase a contractor makes to fulfill a construction contract, not on purchase orders or the entire construction contract itself," and that where use tax is accrued rather than collected by the retailer "it should be accrued up to the maximum tax amount only." New farm machinery is not subject to the local tax; permit holder compensation is 3%, capped at $83.33 a month or $250.00 a quarter. WHO PAYS IT ON A ROOF. North Dakota treats a roofing contractor as the final consumer of the materials installed into real property: "A contractor or subcontractor entering into any contract, except for a labor only contract, is regarded as the final user or consumer of all tangible personal property installed into real property." So the contractor pays the tax on its material purchases and does not charge the homeowner sales tax on an install-plus-materials re-roof; selling materials without installing them is a taxable retail sale instead. A POINT WORTH KNOWING IF YOU BUY IN MINOT OR WILLISTON. Stanley is NOT among the sixty local ordinances the guideline names as carrying the limited exemption for "materials that are purchased within the jurisdiction, but later installed outside of the jurisdiction where the sale took place" - but WILLISTON IS, and so are Williams County and Ward County. Where a contractor buys in Williston on a certificate of exemption, the guideline provides that "the local use tax is due to the city or county where the goods are installed only if the goods are installed within a city or county that imposes a local use tax," so the Williston and Williams County local tax do not stay with a sale destined for a Stanley job. Buying inside Stanley for a job elsewhere works the other way, because Stanley has no limited exemption of its own.