Building permit fees in central PA

It depends on who enforces the code where you live. In the Centre Region (State College, Bellefonte and College, Ferguson, Halfmoon, Harris and Patton townships), CRCA charges 0.70% of the declared cost with a $55.50 minimum, plus a $35 residential application fee and the $4.50 state fee; new buildings and additions use the greater of the declared cost or CRCA’s square-foot value. Williamsport charges $30 to $141 for work under $10,000, then $15 per $1,000 above that, plus $4.50. Most other municipalities in Clinton, Lycoming, Centre and Union counties don’t post their fees online, so call the code official listed for your municipality.

A state fee collected on each Uniform Construction Code permit. Act 36 of 2017 raised it from $4.00 to $4.50. Per the PA Department of Community and Economic Development, the money funds training for people who enforce the UCC through the PA Construction Codes Academy, the Pennsylvania Housing Research Center at Penn State and a review and advisory council at the Department of Labor and Industry.

Not a UCC permit if the deck is uncovered and its floor is no more than 30 inches above grade (34 Pa. Code § 403.62(c)(8)). A covered deck, or one higher than that, needs a permit. Your municipality can still require a zoning permit.

Under 34 Pa. Code § 403.62(c), no UCC permit is needed for fences no more than 6 feet high, retaining walls not over 4 feet measured from the lowest level of grade to the top unless the wall supports a surcharge, or sidewalks and driveways 30 inches or less above adjacent grade and not placed over a basement or story below it. Local driveway or road permits can still apply: Williamsport charges $60 for a driveway permit and $75 for a curb cut.

In an opted-out municipality, the applicant for a residential building permit has to hire a third-party agency certified in the right categories to do the plan review and inspections (34 Pa. Code § 403.103(b)), and that agency sets its own fee. On the state’s list, 16 of the 130 municipalities in these four counties are opted out: 10 in Clinton, 3 in Lycoming, 3 in Centre and none in Union. Zoning still applies; Clinton County issues zoning permits for 7 of its opted-out townships at $35 for a renovation or addition and $75 for new construction.

Yes. Zoning is a local land-use approval with its own fee. Montoursville charges $100 for a shed or driveway zoning permit and $100 plus $2 per $1,000 over $10,000 for residential construction, Castanea Township charges $25 to $105 and up by project value, and Williamsport charges $60 for a zoning permit when no building permit is needed.