What do these permits involve in Dover?

Question

Accepted Answer

Zoning Board of Adjustment Variance / Planning Commission Conditional Use (fee not published)

No current fee is published in the City's current fee documents, so no fee is recorded here. The most recent adopted schedule with published text is Ordinance #2015-22, adopted December 14, 2015 and effective January 1, 2016, which deleted Appendix F (Fees and Fines) in its entirety and substituted a replacement schedule; its figures are given here as background rather than as today's fee: under Appendix B Zoning Article 9 (Board of Adjustment) §3.4, all variance requests for residential uses were set at $300.00, all variance requests for nonresidential uses at $600.00, and all appeals from an order, requirement, decision or determination of an administrative official, board or agency at $300.00, with the Board given discretion to refund part or all of the fee where an interpretation appeal under §2.1 succeeds and with variance fees under §2.2 expressly non-returnable regardless of outcome; under Article 10 (Planning Commission) §1.52, a conditional use permit was set at $425.00 plus $25.00 per acre of the area or multiple thereof involved in the application. Those 2015 figures are not today's fee: the City's own chronological ordinance list shows Appendix F amended repeatedly since, including Ordinance #2016-16 (comprehensive amendments touching both Appendix B Zoning and Appendix F together) and Ordinance #2018-01 (zoning and fee amendments), and the currently codified Appendix F is not publicly viewable on the City's Municode code site. The Zoning Board of Adjustment and the Planning Commission are both sitting bodies. A business owner should confirm the current application and fee directly with Planning and Inspections at (302) 736-7196 (zoning).

Public Occupancy Permit

This is a separate, newer local credential from the Certificate of Occupancy listed elsewhere on this page — issued jointly by Planning and Inspections and the Fire Marshal's Office and priced by building-code occupancy classification rather than by construction activity or square footage alone. A typical small retail store, salon, or fitness studio under 10,000 square feet in a Mercantile or Business occupancy classification falls into the schedule's own unpriced gap; a business owner should confirm the applicable fee directly with Planning and Inspections or the Fire Marshal's Office.

Building Permit

Neither the City's own Building Permit Application nor its Sign Permit Application carries a fee table on the form itself; this figure comes from a separate 'Permit Fees' brochure dated 7/2022. The application must be filled out by a City-licensed contractor or by the property owner directly. A separate Fire Prevention Permit (listed elsewhere on this page) applies on top of this permit for fire alarm, sprinkler, or suppression-system work. A $50.00 demolition permit and separate mechanical/plumbing/heat-pump trade-permit fees appear on the same brochure but are not separately recorded here.

Certificate of Occupancy

This is the Certificate of Occupancy tied to the Building Permit / construction process, distinct from the separate 'Public Occupancy Permit' listed elsewhere on this page, which is priced by building-code occupancy classification rather than square footage and is jointly administered with the Fire Marshal's Office. A one-family residential C of O is priced separately and lower ($60.00 permanent, $75.00 temporary) but does not apply to the commercial industries covered here.

Sign Permit

The City's own Sign Permit Application form itself leaves the fee line blank for staff to calculate; the $0.75-per-square-foot rate and $50.00 minimum come from the separate Permit Fees brochure (7/2022). A sign requiring structural or electrical work would separately require the standard Building Permit listed elsewhere on this page. A temporary sign (inflatable, under 100 square feet) is capped at 90 continuous days per calendar year per the City's own Planning FAQ.

Zoning Verification Letter

The City's own current Zoning Verification Request Form states plainly: 'There is a $60.00 fee per Zoning Verification Letter.' This confirms whether a proposed use is allowed at a given parcel under Dover's own zoning ordinance (Appendix B) before a business commits to a location.

Fire Prevention Permit

Required for installing or modifying a fire alarm system, sprinkler or standpipe system, or a cooking-hood suppression system, and for underground/aboveground fire-protection-related storage tanks. This $25.00/$1,000-with-$150.00-minimum figure, listed on the Fire Marshal's own permit description, matches the identical rate the separate Permit Fees brochure lists under 'Fire Sprinkler Permits' — an independent cross-confirmation across two of the City's own documents. The Fire Marshal's Office also conducts a separate Annual Fire and Life Safety Inspection that checks a business's Public Occupancy Permit status (listed elsewhere on this page) alongside fire-code compliance items, but no distinct fee for that annual inspection itself is published.

Permit	Issuing agency	Fee	Renews	Last checked
Zoning Board of Adjustment Variance / Planning Commission Conditional Use (fee not published)only if it applies to you	City of Dover Planning and Inspections Department	No fee	one-time per application; the City's published documents state no specific term	2026-09-12
Public Occupancy Permit	City of Dover Planning and Inspections Department	Fee is set by the applicant's building-code occupancy classification: Assembly occupancy with an occupant load under 75 persons, no charge; 75 or more, $100.00 (plus $10.00 per each additional 50 fixed seats beyond the first 200); Day Care, $50.00 for a family day care home (6 or fewer children) or large family day care home (7-12 children) as defined at Zoning Appendix B, Article 5, §§14.22-14.23, otherwise $100.00; Health Care, $100.00 for the first 25 rooms plus $5.00 per additional room; Educational, Ambulatory Health Care, Residential Board and Care, and Industrial occupancies, $100.00 each; Residential, $100.00 per building; Mercantile, Business, and Storage occupancies of 10,000 square feet or more, $100.00 each. The published schedule states no fee for Mercantile, Business, or Storage occupancies under 10,000 square feet.	not stated in the published fee schedule; the City's own Annual Fire and Life Safety Inspection checklist verifies this permit's status as an ongoing item, but the City's published documents state no renewal cycle or expiration date	2026-09-12
Building Permit	City of Dover Planning and Inspections Department	$25.00 for the first $1,000 of construction value, plus $8.00 for each additional $1,000 of value up to $10,000,000; $6.00 per $1,000 of value from $10,000,000 to $20,000,000; and $5.00 per $1,000 of value above $20,000,000.	one-time, per project; expiration not stated in the published fee schedule	2026-09-12
Certificate of Occupancy	City of Dover Planning and Inspections Department	$75.00 for the first 20,000 square feet of a non-residential occupancy, plus $15.00 for each additional 10,000 square feet, for a permanent Certificate of Occupancy. A Temporary Certificate of Occupancy for the same non-residential use costs $100.00, capped at 45 days.	one-time — issued after final inspections confirm code compliance; a temporary C of O is capped at 45 days	2026-09-12
Sign Permitonly if it applies to you	City of Dover Planning and Inspections Department	$0.75 per square foot of sign area for each sign, with a minimum fee of $50.00 for all signs.	not stated in the published fee schedule	2026-09-12
Zoning Verification Letteronly if it applies to you	City of Dover Planning and Inspections Department	$60 one-time, per Zoning Verification Letter	one-time, per request; not further specified in the source form	2026-09-12
Fire Prevention Permit	City of Dover Fire Marshal's Office	$25.00 per $1,000.00 of system cost or fraction thereof, with a minimum fee of $150.00 per permit.	one-time, per project; required before work begins	2026-09-12

Business licenses and permits in Dover, Delaware

What are you opening in Dover?

Permits that apply to every type of business in Dover