Des Moines
City of Des Moines Neighborhood Services Department, Zoning Enforcement Division
In short
City of Des Moines Neighborhood Services Department, Zoning Enforcement Division issues 2 permits we publish for Des Moines, last verified 2026-09-10. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.
What this agency issues
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sign Permit | City of Des Moines Neighborhood Services Department, Zoning Enforcement Division | No fee | one-time, per sign | 2026-09-10 |
| Zoning Verification Letteronly if it applies to you | City of Des Moines Neighborhood Services Department, Zoning Enforcement Division | No fee | one-time, no stated expiration | 2026-09-10 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
About each permit
Sign Permit
The ordinance itself states the permit fee is 'in the amount set in the Schedule of Fees adopted by the city council by resolution.' That resolution's dollar figure sits outside the codified text: the Permit and Development Center's complete fee schedule (effective 1 January 2026, all seven pages of it) carries no sign-permit line item, and the Zoning Enforcement Division's own page, which administers sign permits, names no fee either. The permit itself is mandatory for essentially every sign exceeding one square foot; only a short list of exemptions (identification signs under one square foot, vehicle-mounted signs, government flags, real-estate signs under six square feet, and similar minor cases) avoids it entirely. Confirm the current fee directly with Zoning Enforcement (515-283-4207) before budgeting for a sign.
Zoning Verification Letter
The Zoning Enforcement Division's own page confirms it issues zoning verification letters, but names no fee for the service, and none could be found in any linked or searched document. This is an advisory letter documenting a property's zoning status, most often requested by lenders, buyers or new tenants rather than required to open every business. No fee is published for the letter — confirm directly with the division (515-283-4207 or dz@dmgov.org).
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Des Moines
- Phone
- (515) 283-4207
Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.
Sources
Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- Code of Ordinances, Chapter 26 — Buildings and Building Regulations (2023 updates, markup version), including the sign-permit requirement (§ 26-802), the electrical/mechanical/plumbing contractor-license sections (§§ 26-450, 26-550, 26-670) and the general permit-fee provisions (§§ 26-135–26-143)City of Des Moines · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-10
- Zoning Enforcement Division — confirming it issues sign, sound and home-occupation permits and zoning verification letters, with no fee schedule published on or linked from the pageCity of Des Moines, Neighborhood Services Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-10
Other offices serving Des Moines
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