Boise City
City of Boise, Planning and Development Services
In short
City of Boise, Planning and Development Services issues 7 permits we publish for Boise City, last verified 2026-09-11. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoning Verification / Information Letteronly if it applies to you | City of Boise, Planning and Development Services | $44.10 per letter | one-time, per request | 2026-09-11 |
| Conditional Use Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Boise, Planning and Development Services | Banded by lot acreage: less than 1 acre $908.25; 1 to 5 acres $1,097.25; 5 to 10 acres $1,370.25; 10 to 20 acres $2,730.00; over 20 acres $3,585.75 — plus $15.75 for each residential unit where applicable, capped at a $5,000.00 total addition. | one-time, per project — Planning & Zoning Commission review generally takes six or more months | 2026-09-11 |
| Commercial Building Permit & Certificate of Occupancy | City of Boise, Planning and Development Services | Table No. 1-A of the Boise City Building Code Fee Schedule, banded by project valuation: $1-$2,000 = $26.37 for the first $500 plus $2.95 for each additional $100 or fraction; $2,001-$25,000 = $70.76 for the first $2,000 plus $12.71 per additional $1,000 or fraction; $25,001-$50,000 = $362.80 for the first $25,000 plus $9.30 per additional $1,000 or fraction; $50,001-$100,000 = $595.30 for the first $50,000 plus $6.35 per additional $1,000 or fraction; over $100,000 = $913.09 for the first $100,000 plus $5.17 per additional $1,000 or fraction. Commercial plan review is a further 65% of the building permit fee. Where no other construction is underway, establishing a certificate of occupancy alone costs a flat $175.00. New non-residential construction separately triggers a citywide impact fee per 1,000 sq ft of new floor area, effective October 1, 2025: Retail $4,968.32, Office $1,197.04, Industrial $266.01, plus a 1% surcharge on the assessed impact fees. | one-time, per project — not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-09-11 |
| Fire Sprinkler / Alternative Extinguishing System Permit (Commercial Kitchen Hood Suppression)only if it applies to you | City of Boise, Planning and Development Services | A base plan review and inspection permit fee of $175.00, plus $4.85 for each fire sprinkler head or appliance nozzle (the wet-chemical range-hood system counting as an 'Alternative Extinguishing System' under this same fee), capped at a maximum of $4,000.00 per permit. | one-time, per installation | 2026-09-11 |
| Sign Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Boise, Planning and Development Services | $110.25 for a routine administrative-level on-premise sign permit (the same fee line also covers a Zoning Certificate or Home Occupation application). A Public Hearing Level Sign Program costs $176.40, an Administrative Commission Level sign review $137.55, and a Temporary Sign Permit $22.05. | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-09-11 |
| Zoning Certificateonly if it applies to you | City of Boise, Planning and Development Services | $110.25 per application | one-time, per request — staff-level review generally takes one to two months | 2026-09-11 |
| Contractor Licensing — State Registration Applies (Boise)only if it applies to you | City of Boise, Planning and Development Services | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-11 |
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
Zoning Verification / Information Letter
A genuine, confirmed flat fee directly from the Planning Division's own current fee schedule, priced separately from and below the fuller $110.25 Zoning Certificate reviewed above — this simpler letter confirms a property's zoning designation and allowed-use status without itself constituting a full compliance review.
Conditional Use Permit
Required whenever a proposed use is classified as a conditional (rather than outright allowed) use in its zoning district — a real possibility for a standalone child daycare facility, an auto repair shop, or a veterinary clinic depending on the specific district, per the City's own Table of Allowed Uses. This is a substantially larger fee and a substantially longer review process than the administrative Zoning Certificate recorded above, and applies only when the district-specific use table requires it rather than to every business in these industries.
Commercial Building Permit & Certificate of Occupancy
A valuation-based fee table dated October 2021 on its own face (Planning and Development Services' own fees page states that the current schedule is 'kept on file' there rather than reprinted on the page itself). The standalone $175.00 certificate-of-occupancy fee applies only when no other construction beyond minor electrical, plumbing, or mechanical trade-permit work is underway; a full building permit's own plan review and inspection otherwise establishes occupancy as part of that same process. New non-residential construction also triggers the City's own per-1,000-sq-ft impact fee (Retail/Office/Industrial), a separate charge from the building permit fee itself. The Impact Fee Study the fee schedule is built from states only that 'non-residential square feet are categorized by Retail, Office and Industrial land uses' for its own aggregate fee-calculation purposes, and neither the study nor the fee schedule breaks that phrase down by specific business or industry type; no City document cited here maps a given business to one of the three categories, so a business owner should confirm the applicable category directly with Planning and Development Services before budgeting for new construction.
Fire Sprinkler / Alternative Extinguishing System Permit (Commercial Kitchen Hood Suppression)
A genuine, confirmed per-device fire-code fee, jointly administered by Planning and Development Services and the Fire Department per the Building Code Fee Schedule's own text — the real line item a restaurant, coffee shop, or food-truck commissary kitchen installing a range-hood wet-chemical suppression system pays. This fee falls under the Building Code Fee Schedule's own 'Fire Sprinkler and Alternative Extinguishing Systems' section rather than Boise Fire's separately-published operational-permit list, which prices dozens of other named hazard categories but has no distinct 'commercial kitchen hood' line of its own.
Sign Permit
A genuine, confirmed fee directly from the Planning Division's own current application fee schedule. Most on-premise signs for a restaurant, retail store, salon, fitness studio, auto repair shop, or veterinary clinic are handled at the $110.25 administrative level; a comprehensive multi-sign program for a larger development or shopping center is priced separately and substantially higher.
Zoning Certificate
An administrative, staff-level land-use compliance review, reviewed against the Zoning Code's own allowed-use standards for uses the City's own page names by example — including 'neighborhood cafes,' cottage villages, trade schools, storage uses, duplex/triplex/fourplex conversions, certain demolitions, and a standalone child daycare facility caring for 7 or more children outside a home. A home daycare caring for 7 to 12 children instead needs only a lighter 'Zoning Compliance Review' under the Planning Division's own child daycare requirements page, which does not publish a separate dollar figure for that specific step; that step's fee is not published there and is not assumed to match this $110.25 figure. Where a zoning district does not list daycare (or another proposed use) as an outright allowed use, the fuller Conditional Use Permit recorded separately below applies instead.
Contractor Licensing — State Registration Applies (Boise)
No fee applies beyond Idaho's own state Contractor Registration fee, recorded at the state layer. Planning and Development Services' own FAQ page states that it 'maintains an updated list of Idaho State Contractor Registration and License numbers' so a registration number 'can be associated' with a permit application — meaning Boise requires proof of the state credential before it will issue a building permit, and the City's published license and fee pages list no separate local competency license, registration or additional fee for contractors, unlike some other cities that license trades locally.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Boise City
- Phone
- (208) 608-7100
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.
- Boise City Building Code Fee Schedule (October 2021) — Table No. 1-A valuation-based building permit fee table, the 65% commercial plan review surcharge, the standalone $175 certificate-of-occupancy fee, and the joint Planning/Fire Fire Sprinkler and Alternative Extinguishing Systems Plan Review and Inspection Permit Fee ($175 base plus $4.85 per head, capped at $4,000)City of Boise, Planning and Development Services / Fire Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
- Boise City Impact Fee Schedule effective October 1, 2025 — non-residential impact fees per 1,000 sq ft by land-use category (Retail $4,968.32, Office $1,197.04, Industrial $266.01), plus a 1% capital-improvement-plan surchargeCity of Boise · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
- Boise Impact Fees Final Report, as amended (FY2023) — the Capital Improvement Plan and fee-calculation methodology the Impact Fee Schedule is built from; states (p.5) that 'non-residential square feet are categorized by Retail, Office and Industrial land uses,' with no further breakdown of business or land-use types under any of the three, anywhere in the reportCity of Boise · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Permitting and Licensing FAQs — confirms PDS maintains a list of Idaho State Contractor Registration and License numbers so a permit applicant can be associated with one, with no separate local contractor license describedCity of Boise, Planning and Development Services · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
- Planning Division Application Fee Schedule (effective October 1, 2022) — Zoning Certificate/Sign Permit/Home Occupation $110.25, Zoning Verification/Information Letter $44.10, Conditional Use Permit banded by acreage ($908.25-$3,585.75), and related planning feesCity of Boise, Planning and Development Services · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
- Requirements for Child Daycare — zoning thresholds for home daycare (Zoning Compliance Review, 7-12 children) versus outside-the-home facilities (Zoning Certificate or Conditional Use Permit, 7+ children), plus a required Fire Department inspectionCity of Boise, Planning and Development Services · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
Other offices serving Boise City
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
Industry permit lists that include this agency
Idaho jurisdictions
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.