What do these permits involve in Honolulu County?

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Accepted Answer

General Business License — City and County of Honolulu position

The Department of Customer Services' own current Business License page names the individual business licenses the City and County of Honolulu issues (Auctioneer, E-GUN, Firearms, Garbage/Refuse, Glass Recycler, Pawn Broker, Peddler, Pedicab, Pepper Spray, Scrap Dealer, Secondhand Dealer, Tear Gas/Obnoxious Substance, Used Vehicle Parts, Wrecking/Salvaging), each priced individually on the Department's own current Fee Table, and that list names no general, catch-all business license and none specific to the ten industries covered here, so this record carries no fee. Hawaii's General Excise Tax License, recorded at the state layer, is the universal state-level registration every business needs.

Building Plan Review Fee

Required whenever a plan or other data must be submitted for review under ROH § 18-4.2; § 18-6.1(b) exempts building permit applications for fences, retaining walls, swimming pools, driveways, or work performed for any city agency. This fee is in addition to, not instead of, the Building Permit fee itself recorded above, and is distinct from the Honolulu Fire Department's own separate 10%-of-building-permit-fee Fire Plans Review recorded below.

Fire Plans Review Fee

Charged whenever plans or specifications are submitted to the Honolulu Fire Department under the Building Code; plans are not approved until this fee is paid. It is a separate, Fire-Department-administered fee from the Department of Planning and Permitting's own 20%-of-tentative-permit-fee Plan Review Fee recorded above, and its dollar amount depends on the project's Building Permit fee, which is set by the valuation table in ROH Table No. 18-A.

Commercial Building Permit & Certificate of Occupancy

ROH § 18-6.2 requires a fee for each building permit and 'other fees associated with the administration of the building codes' as set forth in 'Table No. 18-A, set out at the end of this chapter.' Table No. 18-A, as published in the Revised Ordinances of Honolulu, prices the building permit by the total estimated valuation of work, from $20 for work up to $500 through $4,300 plus $4.50 per $1,000 above $2,000,000, and lists a temporary certificate of occupancy at $200. Two enforcement provisions apply: § 18-6.2(d) triples the fee for work started before a permit is obtained, and § 18-6.2(e) allows the fee to be doubled for an applicant with a history of false statements. The Department's own online Fee Calculator computes the permit fee from the same table. The Plan Review Fee and Fire Plans Review fee layered on top of this base figure are listed as their own lines below.

Special Management Area (SMA) Permit Determination

Applies only to a proposed project on a property within the coastal Special Management Area, not islandwide — the Department's own current SMA Permit Determination form states directly 'There is a standard fee of $150 per tax map key' to determine whether Chapter 25's own Minor or Major SMA permitting requirements apply at all before any permits issue. The Department's own current pages for the two permit types that determination can lead to price them directly: an SMA Minor Permit carries a $200 non-refundable review fee plus a $1,200 processing fee (refundable only if the application is incomplete), and an SMA Major Permit carries a $400 non-refundable review fee plus a processing fee of $2,400 plus $600 per acre (or major fraction) of the project site, capped at $30,000 — both doubled if the applicant is cited for acting before obtaining approval, the same enforcement pattern as DPP's other zoning permits. Neither is recorded as its own line here since which permit type applies, if either, depends on this same threshold determination and on the project's own valuation and acreage.

Zoning Verification

No fee applies here — none is published. The Department's own current Zoning Permits page describes this product only as a request for property zoning designations, flood zones, development standards, and use legality, 'submit request through New Zoning Permit on HNL Build' — an online portal that requires a user account to file a request. Unlike every other zoning permit type on the same page — Conditional Use Permit (Minor/Major) and Zoning Variance, each of which links its own priced instruction PDF — Zoning Verification links no instruction PDF, application form, or fee schedule anywhere on the Department's site, and HNL Build's own public-facing landing page (honolulu.my.site.com/s/) publishes no fee schedule either.

Zoning Variance

Provides forgiveness from zoning rules where there is hardship, per Charter § 6-1517, confirmed directly on the Department's own current Zoning Permits page. Doubled if the applicant is cited for taking action without first obtaining approval, the same enforcement pattern as the Department's other zoning applications.

Permit	Issuing agency	Fee	Renews	Last checked
General Business License — City and County of Honolulu positiononly if it applies to you	City and County of Honolulu, Department of Customer Services, Business License Section	No fee	not applicable	2026-09-11
Building Plan Review Feeonly if it applies to you	City and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and Permitting	20% of the tentative Building Permit fee (calculated from ROH Table No. 18-A on a preliminary estimated project valuation), capped at $25,000, due upon submission of plans and specifications for review, per ROH 18-6.1(a).	one-time, per project	2026-09-11
Fire Plans Review Feeonly if it applies to you	Honolulu Fire Department, Fire Prevention Bureau	10% of the Building Permit fee, payable to the City and County of Honolulu before the building permit is issued; waived entirely where an automatic fire sprinkler system (NFPA 13, 13R, or 13D) is installed, per Fire Code Section 1.12.8, as amended.	one-time, per project	2026-09-11
Commercial Building Permit & Certificate of Occupancy	City and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and Permitting	ROH Table No. 18-A (Fees for Permits), by total estimated valuation of work: $20 from $0.01 to $500; $8 plus $2.50 per $100 from $500.01 to $1,000; $12 plus $2.20 per $100 from $1,000.01 to $20,000; $82 plus $18 per $1,000 from $20,000.01 to $50,000; $286 plus $14 per $1,000 from $50,000.01 to $100,000; $700 plus $10 per $1,000 from $100,000.01 to $500,000; $3,200 plus $5 per $1,000 from $500,000.01 to $2,000,000; and $4,300 plus $4.50 per $1,000 above $2,000,000 (each 'per $100' or 'per $1,000' or fraction thereof of the total estimated valuation). The same table lists a temporary certificate of occupancy at $200 and plan review of revisions at $200 or 10% of the original building permit fee, whichever is greater.	one-time, per project	2026-09-11
Special Management Area (SMA) Permit Determinationonly if it applies to you	City and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and Permitting	$150 one-time, per tax map key (TMK) parcel	one-time, per property	2026-09-11
Zoning Verificationonly if it applies to you	City and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and Permitting	No fee	one-time, per request	2026-09-11
Zoning Varianceonly if it applies to you	City and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and Permitting	$2,400 one-time — $400 non-refundable Initial Review fee plus a $2,000 Processing fee	one-time, per application	2026-09-11

Business licenses and permits in Honolulu County, Hawaii

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Permits that apply to every type of business in Honolulu County