What do these permits involve in Maui County?

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Fire Plan Review Fee

Charged whenever plans requiring fire-code review are submitted; where plans are incomplete or changed so as to require additional review, a further $30/hour applies. This is a separate, Fire-Department-administered fee from the Department of Public Works' own 35%-of-permit-fee Building Plan Review Fee listed above. For comparison, Honolulu's Fire Plans Review fee is 10% of the building permit fee.

General Business License — Maui County position

The County's own 'Starting A Business' page treats state General Excise Tax registration, recorded at the state layer, as the universal requirement and names no general county license. The Department of Finance's annual fee ordinance (Appendix B, FY 2027) lists the individual licenses the County issues — Peddling Merchandise, Secondhand Dealers, Selling Firearm, Pawn Broker, Auctioneer, Bike Tour, Taxicab Business, Taxicab Drivers, Aquatic Life Operations, and an Electronic Gun Dealer License — and that schedule names no general, catch-all business license and none specific to the ten industries covered here, so this record carries no fee. The County's Food Truck FAQs guide states that food truck operators 'need a business license/tax certificate in addition to any zoning-specific approvals'; the Appendix B schedule lists no general license that phrase could refer to, so it most likely means the state General Excise Tax license — confirm with the County's Business Action Center.

Certificate of Occupancy

A flat $50 issuance fee, confirmed directly and currently, in addition to the Building Permit fee already paid. The Department's own current Building Permit page confirms a Certificate of Occupancy is created as part of the building permit application when appropriate, or can be applied for as a standalone application for a structure not associated with a building permit.

Commercial Building Permit

This is a genuine, complete, currently-published valuation-based fee table — confirmed directly from the current fiscal year's own Appendix B fee ordinance, read in full, with no gap of its own. (By contrast, the Honolulu file records that county's equivalent table as one with no publicly posted copy.) Starting work before a permit is issued doubles the fee or adds a flat $500, whichever is greater, per §16.25.109.4; projects located on the island of Molokai valued at $200,000 or less are exempt from the fee entirely, once per structure, under a standing enterprise-zone designation confirmed directly in this same ordinance. A separate Building Plan Review Fee (35% of this permit fee) and a $50 flat Certificate of Occupancy issuance fee are recorded as their own lines below.

Building Plan Review Fee

Charged on every building-permit application requiring plan review, in addition to, not instead of, the Building Permit fee itself recorded above. The building official may authorize an expedited review process, in which case the applicant instead pays 50% of the building permit fee as the plan review fee. This 35% figure is genuinely distinct from the separate Fire Plan Review Fee (17.5% of the building permit fee) recorded below, which is billed by the Department of Fire and Public Safety rather than the Department of Public Works.

Special Management Area (SMA) Permit

Applies only to a proposed project on a property within the state-defined coastal Special Management Area, not islandwide. Every tier above is taken from the Department of Planning's section of the Appendix B fee ordinance. A separate, genuinely distinct Shoreline Setback Variance ($5,666, or $4,865 for removal/demolition) and Shoreline Setback Appeal ($3,464) exist for the narrower shoreline-setback process and are noted here rather than given their own lines.

Use Determination (Zoning Verification)

This is Maui County's closest confirmed analog to a zoning-verification service — a request that the Zoning Administration and Enforcement Division determine what use, or whether a specific use, is permitted on a given property. The current fee ordinance prices the administrative version at $297 and a non-administrative version (requiring further review) at $4,206, both confirmed directly under the same code citation.

Permit	Issuing agency	Fee	Renews	Last checked
Fire Plan Review Feeonly if it applies to you	County of Maui, Department of Fire and Public Safety, Fire Prevention Bureau	17.5% of the Building Permit fee, payable to the Department of Fire and Public Safety's Plan Review, Processing and Inspection Revolving Fund, per Maui County Code §16.04E.060.	one-time, per project	2026-09-11
General Business License — Maui County positiononly if it applies to you	County of Maui, Department of Finance, Division of Motor Vehicles and Licensing	No fee	not applicable	2026-09-11
Certificate of Occupancy	County of Maui, Department of Public Works, Development Services Administration	$50 one-time, per certificate	one-time, no expiration once issued	2026-09-11
Commercial Building Permit	County of Maui, Department of Public Works, Development Services Administration	Valuation-based schedule per Maui County Code §16.25.109: $30 for work valued $1-$500; for $501-$2,000, $30 for the first $500 plus $3 for each additional $100 or fraction, to $2,000; for $2,001-$25,000, $75 for the first $2,000 plus $10 for each additional $1,000 or fraction, to $25,000; for $25,001-$50,000, $305 for the first $25,000 plus $9 for each additional $1,000 or fraction, to $50,000; for $50,001-$100,000, $530 for the first $50,000 plus $7 for each additional $1,000 or fraction, to $100,000; for $100,001-$500,000, $880 for the first $100,000 plus $5 for each additional $1,000 or fraction, to $500,000; for $500,001-$1,000,000, $2,880 for the first $500,000 plus $6 for each additional $1,000 or fraction, to $1,000,000; for $1,000,001 and up, $5,880 for the first $1,000,000 plus $10 for each additional $1,000 or fraction thereof.	one-time, per project — the permit itself expires 5 years after issuance if work is not completed	2026-09-11
Building Plan Review Fee	County of Maui, Department of Public Works, Development Services Administration	35% of the Building Permit fee, due with the building permit application, per Maui County Code §16.25.109.2.1.	one-time, per project	2026-09-11
Special Management Area (SMA) Permitonly if it applies to you	County of Maui, Department of Planning	A genuinely tiered, currently-published fee schedule under the Maui, Molokai, and Lanai SMA Rules (Table A, public hearing required): $3,206 for a new single-family dwelling on one lot; $4,686 for a new subdivision (single-family or multi-family), a new commercial/industrial project up to 50,000 square feet, a hotel with up to 100 guest units, a hotel renovation up to 50,000 square feet, or mixed use up to 15 acres; $5,786 for a larger commercial/industrial project (50,000+ sq ft), a hotel renovation of 50,000-99,999 sq ft, or mixed use of 15+ acres; $6,886 for a hotel with 100 or more guest units; $7,616 for a hotel renovation of 100,000 square feet or greater; $688 for a boundary amendment. A separate Table B (no public hearing required) prices minor permits, exemptions, and emergency SMA determinations at $206, and Shoreline Setback Approvals/Determinations at $688 each.	one-time, per project	2026-09-11
Use Determination (Zoning Verification)only if it applies to you	County of Maui, Department of Planning	$297–$4,206 one-time — $297 if handled administratively, $4,206 if it is not	one-time, per request	2026-09-11

Business licenses and permits in Maui County, Hawaii

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Permits that apply to every type of business in Maui County