§ 3-41. Building division fee schedule.

(a)

Building Permit Fees. A fee shall be paid for each permit in accordance with the latest adopted Butte County Master Fee Schedule. The determination of valuation for the purpose of establishing Strong Motion Instrumentation Plan fees for new construction shall be made using the most recently adopted Building Valuation Data Table, as published in "The Building Standards Magazine" published by the International Conference of Building Officials, rounded off to the nearest dollar. To establish fees in mixed occupancy buildings, the County will determine the amount of square footage occupied by each occupancy type and calculate the fees separately for each type of occupancy.

(b)

Reserved.

(c)

Investigation Fees. When any work for which a permit is required by the Butte County Code is commenced prior to obtaining said permit, the investigation fee equal to sixty percent (60%) of the amount of the permit fee shall be imposed, in addition to the payment of the permit fee. The payment of this fee shall not relieve any person from fully complying with the requirements of the Butte County Code in the execution of the work, nor from other investigations prescribed therein. The Building Official may waive this investigation provision on written request by the applicant/permittee showing that circumstances beyond the control of the applicant/permittee have prevented him or her from obtaining said permit. This investigation provision shall not apply to emergency work when it shall be proved to the satisfaction of the building official that such work was urgently necessary and that it was not practical to obtain a permit therefor before the commencement of work. In all such cases, a permit must be obtained as soon as practical to do so, and if there be an unreasonable delay in obtaining such a permit, the investigation fee as herein provided shall be charged, in addition to the permit fee.

(d)

Refund Policy. The Building Official shall not authorize the refunding of any fee paid except upon written application filed by the person originally paying the fee. The Building Official shall deduct all Development Services Department costs prior to authorizing any refund and shall charge one (1) hour at the building division standard hourly rate to process the refund application and recover costs related to application, file set-up, and file archiving fees. Refunds may be processed as follows:

(1)

The Building Official may authorize the refunding of any fee paid which was erroneously paid or collected. (Refund processing fee not required.)

(2)

The Building Official may authorize the refunding of permit fees and the plan checking fee when the application for a permit is withdrawn or cancelled before any plan checking is done.

(3)

The Building Official may authorize the refunding of the permit fees paid prior to the expiration of the permit providing no work has been done pursuant to the permit.

(4)

The Building Official may authorize the refunding of the permit fees paid prior to the expiration of the permit application, if the permit requested is not issued, but not after one hundred eighty (180) days from the date of fee payment.

(5)

The Building Official shall not authorize the refunding of any filing fees, nor any plan checking fees, for work plan checked.

(e)

The Director of Development Services shall require any unpaid balance of fees due the Department of Development Services on current applications or prior applications be current and/or paid in full prior to permit issuance or finalization.

(Ord. No. 3070, § 1, 5-11-93; Ord. No. 3120, § 1, 2-22-94; Ord. No. 3269, § 1, 6-11-96; Ord. No. 3865, § 1, 12-2-03; Ord. No. 3954, § 2, 2-13-07; Ord. No. 3971, § 4, 11-27-07; Ord. No. 4001, § 8, 3-24-09; Ord. No. 4139 , § 4, 10-24-17)