Boulder County is reducing permit fees for rebuilding homes burned in the Calwood and Marshall fires, in an effort to help residents return to their neighborhoods.
The Board of County Commissioners approved modification of the fees in early December after acknowledging increases in construction costs.
The fee reductions aim to help property owners restore communities in unincorporated Boulder County.
“Many if not most, I would say, of the fire survivors were under-insured, and not through any fault of their own — building costs had just skyrocketed, and their insurance premiums hadn’t kept pace,” said Boulder County Commissioner Claire Levy. “So we, from the outset, have been looking for ways to narrow the gap between the amount of insurance that they have and the cost of rebuilding.”
Single-family rebuilds will receive a $4,400 permit fee reduction, and accessory structure rebuilds will receive a 25% reduction in fees.
“We were looking to make sure that our building permit fees really reflected the cost, and absolutely nothing more than that,” Levy said. “We were just taking a really, really close look at that, and making sure we could reduce costs wherever possible.”
As of Dec. 16, the county had issued 28 building permits for new homes and 11 permits for accessory structures burned in the Marshall fire. Five permits had been issued for the Calwood fire.
The county collects the fees to fund its Building Safety and Inspection program, which ensures new construction is safe.
The commissioners approved in May the use of revenue collected from fire rebuilds to help the funding of additional resources for permit and inspections processing.
Residents can apply for the permit reduction fees through December 2024 for homes destroyed by the Marshall fire, and October 2023 for homes burned in the Calwood fire. Fee reductions are also available for residents who already paid fees for their rebuilds.
More information about the building permit fee reductions can be found here.
