What permits do you need to open a retail store in Wichita Falls?

Grease Trap Permit

$81 a year, with the ordinance stating plainly that the rate is for a one-year permit and that the control authority may prorate a shorter one. Let it lapse and it is $28 for every month expired, which overtakes the permit fee itself in three months. A vacuum truck permit — the hauler's, not the restaurant's — is $162 per truck, so check whether your grease contractor holds one before assuming the charge is yours.

Swimming Pool Permit

$215 per pool per year, charged per body of water rather than per site, so a gym with a lap pool and a spa pays twice. There is a second line most operators miss: the manager of a public or semi-public water-related activity operation is licensed separately at $54 per manager per year. A permit renewed after expiry costs $28 for every month it was late.

Retail Food Establishment Permit

Three sizes — small $226, medium $283, large $329 — with a restricted operation at $221. The schedule does not define where small ends and medium begins, so confirm your band with Environmental Health rather than assuming. A caterer is $275 for catering only, or $138 as an add-on to an establishment that already holds an annual permit. A ghost kitchen is free, which is unusual enough to be worth checking if you run one. A shared community kitchen is $139.

Initial and Re-Inspection Fees

New construction is inspected at $163, an extensive remodel requiring construction at $112, and a concept change requiring different equipment at $112. Each re-inspection is $82 — cheap against Garland's and McKinney's $200 — and a soft-serve re-sample is $31, which is the most specific inspection fee anywhere in this dataset and tells you exactly which machine the city worries about.

Conditional Use Permit

$179 for a conditional use permit application, the same $179 for a carport, and $260 where the use is a communications tower; an appeal is $104. Site plan review is $78, and the ordinance waives it where the site plan accompanies a conditional use application — worth filing them together. If the use needs rezoning rather than a conditional use permit the numbers jump: $470 up to five acres, $470 plus $11 an acre above that, and $575 plus $11 an acre for a planned unit development. A subdivision modification or variance request is free.

Shared with other businesses in Wichita Falls

• Pop-Up Food Vendor Permit — City of Wichita Falls Environmental Health, $310 per year, 1 year. Also required for food trucks and restaurants; what it involves is set out on the food trucks page.
• Temporary Food Permit — City of Wichita Falls Environmental Health, $56–$84 by notice given, per event. Also required for coffee shops, food trucks and restaurants; what it involves is set out on the coffee shops page.
• Flammable or Combustible Liquid Storage Tank Permit — City of Wichita Falls Building Inspections, $37 per tank or pump, per permit. Also required for auto repair shops and contractors and trades; what it involves is set out on the auto repair shops page.
• Multi-Departmental Grocery Store Permit — City of Wichita Falls Environmental Health, $221 for the store plus $139 for each department, 1 year. Also required for coffee shops; what it involves is set out on the coffee shops page.
• International Fire Code Operational Permit — City of Wichita Falls Fire Department, Fire Marshal, $55 per permit, per permit. Also required for restaurants, auto repair shops, contractors and trades and fitness studios; what it involves is set out on the contractors and trades page.