Welcome to the Boulder County Land Use Department, where we actively promote, through the best in service, public policy, and process, the preservation of the integrity of our landscape, conservation of natural resources for a sustainable future, and provision of safety and well being of the citizens of Boulder County.
The Department provides development review, comprehensive planning, building permits, building inspections, mapping services, zoning enforcement, forest health and wildfire protection planning, and monitors legislative activity for unincorporated Boulder County.
It is the goal of the Land Use Department to provide timely, responsive and helpful service to all members of the public and promote innovative development that effectively balances conservation, development and sustainability.
Dale Case, AICP
Director, Boulder County Land Use
2012 Building Code Adoption & Amendments
Boulder County has updated and amended the building code adoptions to the latest 2012 editions of the International Codes. These changes, which went into effect on January 1, 2013, apply to construction on properties located in the unincorporated portions of Boulder County (outside of the cities and towns), although plan reviews and inspections are currently performed in the Town of Jamestown.
View the 2012 Boulder County Building Code Amendments (1.5 MB).
Please see Resolution 2012-50 - Amendments to the Boulder County Building Code (6.8 MB) for an explanation of changes to the Code. Please contact the Building Safety & Inspection Services Team at 303-441-3926 or building_official@bouldercounty.org if you have questions or need additional information about this change.
Tuesday Plan Review Office Hours Change in Effect
Starting Tuesday August 14th, plan review services by the Building Safety and Inspection Services Team will be unavailable on Tuesdays. Building permits that require a plan review and counter questions will not be accepted on Tuesdays. Building code questions can be answered by calling 720-564-2640.
Building Safety and Inspection Services will be open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. for over the counter EZBP building permits only. See the EZBP program for more information.
Full-service Tuesday office hours will be restored as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please contact the Building Safety & Inspection Services Team at 303-441-3926 if you have questions or need additional information about this change.
Oil & Gas Development Update
Boulder County is concerned about the potential for significantly expanded oil and gas drilling within the county, and supports appropriate, tighter restrictions on drilling and increased local control to mitigate the impacts of these activities. More information is available on the the Oil and Gas Development Update page.
New Building Permit Submittal Requirements
In an effort to reduce the amount of time required for building permit approval, the Boulder County Land Use Department is changing the items we require for a building permit application. Any building permit application associated with a project that has completed planning review and approval will require two paper copies of construction plans and one CD of the electronic PDF files. Jamestown residents are asked to submit three paper copies and one CD.
Please submit one CD per requested building permit. For example, a new house with a detached garage would be submitted on two separate CDs, with each permit application containing its own set of plans in a PDF file. Separate PDF files are requested for the construction plans, HERS rating, soils report, and water and sewer documentation. Please place all pages of each document into one PDF, i.e., all construction plans should be in one PDF file, rather than having one PDF per page.
If your project did not require a planning process, please feel free to submit to this new format as well.
If your project did not go through a planning process and a CD is not being provided as part of your submittal, three paper copies of construction plans are required.
We believe in providing the best in public service, so thank you for making this change with us. Please contact the Building Safety & Inspection Services Team at 303-441-3926 if you have questions or need additional information about this change.
Land Use Services & Resources
Docket Review Notification Postcard
If you have recently received a postcard notification about a review process in your area, check for updates in Current Applications and Dockets Under Review. If you are not able to find the application/docket information you are looking for, please contact us via our Ask a Planner webform.