City of Youngstown, Ohio - Building Permits and Inspections

City of Youngstown, Ohio

city

26 South Phelps Street, Youngstown, OH 44503

Required

Required

Two separate offices are involved in a Youngstown roofing permit. Contractor registration and the City's own building-permit fee schedule sit with the City of Youngstown Engineering & Construction Department (City Hall, 5th Floor, 26 South Phelps Street, Youngstown, OH 44503; 330-742-8800; [email protected]; Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM-4:00 PM). But the City's own page directs all residential and commercial plan submittals and permit applications to the Mahoning County Building Inspection Department (50 Westchester Drive, Room 201, Austintown, OH 44515; 330-270-2894; Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM-4:30 PM), which the county describes as fully funded by permit, inspection, architect-review, and administrative fees rather than tax revenue. The county's own current published fee schedule prices a residential roofing/siding/windows permit as a flat "Minimum/ minor permit" at $25.00 (one inspection included), on top of which a 1% state assessment fee applies to all residential permits and charges per Ohio Administrative Code Rule 4101:8-1-03. The City does not run a competing fee schedule: its own Codified Ordinance Section 1311.10 (Ord. 12-417, passed 1-2-13) adopts the Mahoning County Building Department Fee Schedule outright, "including all updates and amendments immediately upon their adoption," and provides that the county's fees "shall take precedence over any conflicting or corresponding fees set forth elsewhere in Chapter 1311." So the older City figures in Section 1311.04 are superseded wherever the county schedule speaks, and the county schedule is the one to quote. The City does still require general-contractor registration (see registration_details) before a permit application. Re-inspection and other miscellaneous county fees include a $25.00 residential inspection/reinspection charge and a $200.00-or-200%-of-permit-fee penalty for work started without an approved permit.

Mahoning County (which performs Youngstown's inspections) states on its own page: "We inspect; footings prior to placing concrete, foundations at top of block, framing inspection after all mechanicals have been installed; i.e. electrical, HVAC, plumbing and fire suppression, a final inspection is also completed before a structure can be occupied for use. Other required inspections must also be performed depending on the type of project. Once a project receives all of the required final inspections, a Certificate of Occupancy/ Use is issued." No distinct mid-roof/dry-in inspection stage is separately named for roofing work. A residential inspection or reinspection carries a $25.00 fee under the county's own fee schedule.

LAYERED. STATE FRAMEWORK (dated context): OAC Chapter 4101:8, the 2019 RCO (2018 IRC base) as amended effective March 1, 2024 and April 15, 2024, adopted by the Ohio Board of Building Standards under ORC Chapter 3781; ORC 3781.11 requires statewide uniformity of residential code content, and ORC 3781.01(B) lets a local governing authority add non-conflicting local regulations via the division (C) notice procedure. COUNTY LAYER (the body that actually administers Youngstown's permits today, per both the City's and the County's own pages): the Mahoning County Commissioners have adopted the "Mahoning County Building Regulations," the county's own department page stating this was done "under authority granted by the Ohio Revised Code" and that these regulations "cannot conflict with either building code" (i.e., the Ohio Building Code or the RCO); the regulations document itself states an effective date of December 19, 2009 and covers contractor licensing/registration, fees, pools, and an appendix reproducing RCO Table 301.2(1) with county-specific fill-ins -- read in full (31 pages) this session. CITY LAYER: the City of Youngstown's own Codified Ordinances, Part Thirteen -- Building Code, comprises Chapter 1305 (Flood Damage Prevention), Chapter 1306 ("OBOA One, Two and Three-Family Dwelling Code"), Chapter 1307 ("Ohio Building Code"), Chapter 1309 (Demolition of Structures), and Chapter 1311 (Building Permits). Chapter 1306.01 (Adoption), read from the live amlegal-hosted codification (supplement 2025-01) in a real browser session on 2026-09-18, states verbatim that the City has adopted "that certain code known as the OBOA One, Two and Three-Family Dwelling Code, 1993 edition, published by Building Officials and Code Administrators International, Inc.; subject to the modifications provided under Section 1306.04" (Ord. 95-344, passed 10-4-95). Section 1306.04 (the modifications section) was read in full and counted: it amends four sections of the adopted dwelling code -- R-103 Scope, R-105 Entry, R-106 Violations and Penalties, and R-112 Prefabricated Construction -- and none of the four reaches roofing. Chapter 1307 (Ohio Building Code) was also read in full: eleven sections, all administrative, adopting the Ohio Building Code effective March 1, 2005, and its Section 1307.03 scope exception (a) expressly excepts detached one-, two- and three-family dwellings, which leaves an ordinary house to the state RCO and the City's Chapter 1306. Chapter 1311 (Building Permits), covering permit application, fees, general-contractor registration, when permits are not required, and permit revocation, was enacted by Ordinance 11-220, passed 6-22-11, and was read from the live codification, whose supplement 2025-01 states it carries local legislation current through that supplement. Whether Youngstown's 1995-enacted adoption of the 1993 OBOA dwelling code remains the operative city-level dwelling code alongside the current state RCO, or has been superseded in practice, is not adjudicated in this record.

Not required — SET BY STATE RULE, and a genuine, non-obvious deviation from most other IRC-based states. Ohio's RCO does not carry forward the base IRC's prescriptive drip-edge provision. The entire content of RCO Section 905.2.8.5 (OAC 4101:8-9-01, effective 7/1/2019) is, verbatim: "905.2.8.5 Drip edge. Refer to Sections 903.1 and 905.1." Section 903.1 (General) requires only that roof coverings be "secured to the building or structure in accordance with the provisions of this chapter" and installed "in accordance with this code and the approved manufacturer's instructions." There is therefore no numbered Ohio provision requiring a drip edge at eaves and rakes with the usual dimensional and fastening specifications; at the state level, drip edge is effectively governed by the roof-covering manufacturer's approved installation instructions via Section 903.1. The Mahoning County Building Regulations (read in full, 31 pages -- the county administers Youngstown's actual permit review and inspection) add no drip-edge provision of their own. The City of Youngstown's own Codified Ordinances were read in full on this point from the live amlegal codification (supplement 2025-01) on 2026-09-18. Section 1306.04, the modifications section, amends exactly four sections of the adopted dwelling code -- R-103 Scope, R-105 Entry, R-106 Violations and Penalties, and R-112 Prefabricated Construction -- and not one of the four reaches a roofing provision. Chapter 1307 is eleven sections, all administrative, and its own Section 1307.03 scope exception (a) provides that detached one-, two- and three-family dwellings "shall comply with local residential codes, if any, adopted by the authority having jurisdiction," which puts an ordinary house outside that chapter altogether. So Section 903.1's manufacturer's-instructions standard is the complete picture for a Youngstown house, not merely the state and county floor. About drip edge

Required — SET BY STATE RULE -- required in Youngstown exactly as everywhere else in Ohio, because Ohio makes the ice-damming determination statewide by rule rather than leaving it to local option. RCO Table 301.2(1) pre-fills "Ice Barrier Underlayment Required" as "Yes" for the whole state, with footnote (h) explaining that "all jurisdictions in Ohio have a history of local damage from the effects of ice damming." RCO Section 905.1.2 (Ice barriers), verbatim: "In areas where there has been a history of ice forming along the eaves causing a backup of water as designated in Table 301.2(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 measured along the roof slope from the eave edge of the building." Exception, verbatim: "Detached accessory structures and roof assemblies terminating at a vertical wall over unconditioned floor areas." Independently corroborated by Mahoning County's own Appendix III (its reproduction of Table 301.2(1) in the Mahoning County Building Regulations), which likewise lists "Ice Shield Underlayment Required -- Yes." About ice & water barrier

Not required — Not established as a sourced affirmative. Mahoning County's own "About the Office" page -- the office that actually performs Youngstown's inspections -- states: "We inspect; footings prior to placing concrete, foundations at top of block, framing inspection after all mechanicals have been installed; i.e. electrical, HVAC, plumbing and fire suppression, a final inspection is also completed before a structure can be occupied for use. Other required inspections must also be performed depending on the type of project." No distinct mid-roof or dry-in inspection stage is named. The City of Youngstown's own Codified Ordinances Sections 1311.01 through 1311.09 (its Building Permits chapter, covering application, fees, contractor registration, when permits are not required, and permit revocation) likewise name no specific inspection-stage list. Recorded here as a sourced negative -- required: false -- rather than asserting a mid-roof inspection stage that was not found in the documents opened this session.

CITY-SPECIFIC, corroborated by the county's fee schedule. Youngstown's own Codified Ordinance Section 1311.08 (WHEN PERMITS NOT REQUIRED, enacted by Ord. 11-220, passed 6-22-11), verbatim: "No permits shall be required for minor interior repairs, or for alterations or in dwellings or other buildings which do not involve any change in the bearing walls, structural parts, electrical system, stairways, means of ingress or egress, lighting systems, HVAC systems or alteration of building use. Any project with an estimated cost greater than five hundred dollars ($500.00) shall require a building permit to be issued in accordance with Section 1311.03." Separately, the Mahoning County Building Department Fee Schedule -- the schedule of the office that actually issues Youngstown's permits today -- lists "Minimum/ minor permits (roofing, siding, windows)" as its own flat-fee line item ($25.00, one included inspection) rather than exempting roof coverings outright; no square-footage or percentage-based roofing exemption was found in either document.

SET BY STATE RULE, with a county-specific reading for the ground-snow-load input that Mahoning County has itself filled in. RCO Table 301.2(1) ("Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria"), OAC 4101:8-3-01 effective 7/1/2019, pre-fills a Wind Design Speed of 115 mph (ultimate design wind speed) for the entire state, along with Weathering "severe" and Ice Barrier Underlayment Required "Yes." Wind exposure category is determined site-specifically per Section 301.2.1.4 rather than by state or city rule. Ground snow load is the one input the state table leaves blank for local fill-in (footnote (o): "The jurisdiction shall fill in this section of the table using the Ground Snow Loads in Figure 301.2(6)"). Mahoning County's own Building Regulations (Appendix III, effective 12/19/2009) reproduce Table 301.2(1) with the county's own values filled in: "Ground snow load -- 25 pounds per square foot" and "Wind Speed -- 90 miles per hour." The county document's 90-mph figure reads as an earlier-edition or allowable-stress-basis wind speed rather than the current RCO's 115-mph ultimate-design figure (the two conventions commonly differ by roughly this ratio); both figures are stated here as fact from the documents that state them, without resolving which edition currently governs -- that determination was not made in this record.

SET BY STATE RULE. RCO Section 908 (OAC 4101:8-9-01, effective 7/1/2019). Section 908.3 Roof replacement, verbatim: "Roof replacement shall include the removal of existing layers of roof coverings down to the roof deck." Exception, verbatim: "Where the existing roof assembly includes an ice barrier membrane that is adhered to the roof deck, the existing ice barrier membrane shall be permitted to remain in place and be covered with an additional layer of ice barrier membrane in accordance with Section 905." Section 908.3.1 Roof recover permits installing a new roof covering over an existing one under listed conditions, but Section 908.3.1.1 Roof recover not allowed states, verbatim, that a roof recover "shall not be permitted where any of the following conditions occur: ... 3. Where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." Net effect for the common asphalt-shingle case: one existing layer may be recovered over; once two or more layers already exist, full tear-off to the deck is mandatory -- functionally a one-layer (single recover) limit, applying identically statewide, including in Youngstown and throughout Mahoning County.

SET BY STATE RULE, applying identically in Youngstown as everywhere else in Ohio. RCO Section 905.2.1 (OAC 4101:8-9-01, effective 7/1/2019) reads verbatim: "Asphalt shingles shall be fastened to solidly sheathed decks." Ohio adopted this without amendment from the base 2018 IRC. Related, RCO Section 908.3.1.1 forbids a roof recover "where the existing roof or roof covering is water soaked or has deteriorated to the point that the existing roof or roof covering is not adequate as a base for additional roofing," the practical deck-condition trigger for tear-off and sheathing replacement.

Mahoning County's combined state-and-local sales and use tax rate is 7.50%, per the Ohio Department of Taxation's own Sales and Use Tax Rate Map (dated March 31, 2026, reflecting rates in effect as of October 2025): a 5.75% state rate (the map's own note states "The current state rate is 5.75%") plus a 1.50% Mahoning County permissive rate plus a 0.25% transit permissive rate, printed in the map's own county table as "Mahoning 1.50% 0.25% 7.50%." The map's own narrative names Mahoning County as one of only seven Ohio counties at 7.30% or higher, alongside Cuyahoga and Franklin (8.00%, the state's highest), Hamilton (7.80%), Lucas and Coshocton (7.75%), and Montgomery (also 7.50%) -- meaning Mahoning sits well above the statewide range of 6.50%-8.00% described in the same map.