What do these permits involve in Hawaii County?

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Accepted Answer

General Business License — Hawaii County position

The Vehicle Registration & Licensing Division's own Business & Occupation Licensing page lists the individual licenses Hawaii County issues (Auctioneer, Bicycle Tours, Electric Guns, Firearms (to sell), Pawnbroker, Purchasing/Wrecking/Rebuilding Cars, Scrap Dealer, Second Hand Dealer) and names no general, catch-all business license and none specific to the ten industries covered here, so this record carries no fee. Unlike the City and County of Honolulu's list, that page also names no peddler or itinerant-vendor category; the closest local analog to that kind of permit is the Special Activity Permit listed separately. Hawaii's General Excise Tax License, recorded at the state layer, is the universal state-level registration every business needs.

Commercial Building Permit

This valuation-based fee table is published in Hawai'i County Code §5-7-3(b). Starting work before a permit is issued triggers a doubled fee or a flat $1,000 added on top, whichever is greater, per §5-7-3(d); the County and its own contractors, along with Habitat for Humanity (Hilo and Kona) and Hawai'i Community College's Model Home Project, are exempt from the permit fee itself under §5-7-3(g)-(h). A separate Building Plan Review Fee (20% of this permit fee) and a Certificate of Occupancy are recorded as their own lines below.

Special Management Area (SMA) Use Permit (Major)

Applies only to a proposed development on a property within the state-defined coastal Special Management Area, not islandwide. The Planning Commission's own current Major SMA Use Permit application states directly: 'A filing fee of five hundred dollars ($500) to be paid via EPIC,' matching the 'Five hundred ($500) dollars filing fee' in Planning Commission Rule 9-11(b)(5). There is no separately priced Minor permit application. Under Rule 9 as amended in June 2023, a project first goes through a Special Management Area Assessment, whose only fee is 'A fifty dollar ($50) filing fee' (Rule 9-10(b)(12)), and the Planning Director then declares it exempt, issues a Special Management Area Minor Permit for development valued at not more than $500,000 with no cumulative impact or significant adverse effect (Rules 9-4(x) and 9-10(d)-(e)), or requires this Major permit. An applicant who already knows the project exceeds $500,000 or may have a significant adverse effect can skip the assessment and apply for the Major permit directly (Rule 9-10(a)).

Building Plan Review Fee

Charged on every building-permit application under Article 7 of the Construction Administrative Code, in addition to, not instead of, the Building Permit fee itself recorded above. Plan review fees are non-refundable per §5-7-8, even where the underlying permit fee later qualifies for a partial refund.

Certificate of Occupancy

No building or structure may be used or occupied, and no change of occupancy classification may be made, until the Building Division issues a Certificate of Occupancy confirming the work complies with the construction code — mandatory for every commercial occupancy in the ten industries covered here. A separate $200 fee under §5-7-6 applies only if a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy is requested to occupy part of the building before all permitted work is finished.

Plan Approval

No fee applies — none is published anywhere on the Planning Department's own current Application for Plan Approval form. This site-plan and zoning-compliance review requires a scaled site plan, building elevations, a Public-Works-approved drainage plan, and a real-property-tax clearance from the Director of Finance, and is the Planning Department's own product for confirming a proposed commercial use and site layout comply with the Zoning Code before construction proceeds.

Permit	Issuing agency	Fee	Renews	Last checked
General Business License — Hawaii County positiononly if it applies to you	County of Hawai'i, Department of Finance, Vehicle Registration & Licensing Division	No fee	not applicable	2026-09-11
Commercial Building Permit	County of Hawai'i, Department of Public Works, Building Division	Valuation-based schedule per HCC §5-7-3(b): $10 for work valued $0-$500; for $501-$2,000, $10 plus $1.50 per additional $100 (or fraction) up to $2,000; for $2,001-$25,000, $32.50 plus $7.50 per additional $1,000 (or fraction) up to $25,000; for $25,001-$50,000, $205 plus $6 per additional $1,000 (or fraction) up to $50,000; for $50,001 and up, $355 plus $3 per additional $1,000 (or fraction). Carports, garages, porches, patios, lanais, and detached U-occupancy accessory structures are billed separately at $10 per 100 sq. ft. (or fraction) regardless of valuation.	one-time, per project — the permit itself expires 6 years after issuance (HCC §5-5-4)	2026-09-11
Special Management Area (SMA) Use Permit (Major)only if it applies to you	County of Hawai'i Planning Department (and Planning Commission)	$500 one-time, per application, paid via EPIC	one-time, per project	2026-09-11
Building Plan Review Fee	County of Hawai'i, Department of Public Works, Building Division	20% of the Building Permit fee, with a $50 minimum, due with the application per HCC §5-7-1(a). No additional fee applies to a second plan submittal; a third submittal is $250, a fourth is $500, and each further submittal is $1,000.	one-time, per project	2026-09-11
Certificate of Occupancy	County of Hawai'i, Department of Public Works, Building Division	$200 one-time — applies only to a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy authorizing partial occupancy before project completion; the standard Certificate of Occupancy issued at final inspection carries no additional published fee beyond the Building Permit fee already charged	one-time, no expiration once issued	2026-09-11
Plan Approvalonly if it applies to you	County of Hawai'i Planning Department (and Planning Commission)	No fee	one-time, per project — remains valid so long as the approved plan is followed	2026-09-11

Business licenses and permits in Hawaii County, Hawaii

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Permits that apply to every type of business in Hawaii County