The purpose of a permit is to help ensure that your construction project complies with City codes and essential safety standards. This compliance protects you in several important ways:

• Safety: By following the code, your project meets minimum safety standards designed to protect you, your family, and the public.
• Insurance: Property insurers may only cover work that was completed under a valid permit.
• Resale: If you sell your property, a permit demonstrates that the work was done to code, which can increase buyer confidence.
• Liability: In the event of a legal dispute, having a permit shows that the project met code requirements, offering added protection.

Any property owner or authorized agent planning to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish, or change the occupancy of a building or structure—or to install, alter, or replace any gas, mechanical, or plumbing system regulated by the building code—must first obtain the appropriate permit. Work within environmentally critical areas, shoreline areas, native growth protection areas (such as tracts), and their associated buffers may not be exempt from permit requirements. If your project involves any of these areas, please contact us at permittech@kenmorewa.gov before proceeding.

Important: Even if your project qualifies for a permit exemption, you are not authorized to perform any work that violates City codes, laws, or ordinances. Exemptions do not override code compliance requirements.

Per KMC 15.30.205, A building permit is not required for the following work on your private property:

• Painting, papering, tiling, carpeting, cabinets, countertops and similar finish work; provided, that existing, required accessible features are not altered.
• Temporary motion picture, television and theater stage sets, and scenery.
• Window awnings supported by an exterior wall of one- and two-family dwellings or Group R-3 and Group U occupancies which do not project more than 54 inches (1,372 mm) from the exterior wall and do not require additional support.
• Nonfixed and movable cases, counters and partitions not over five feet nine inches (1,753 mm) in height.
• Satellite earth station antennas six and one-half feet (two meters) or less in diameter or diagonal dimensions in zones other than residential zones.
• Satellite earth station antennas three and one-quarter feet (one meter) or less in diameter in residential zones; and
• Video programming service antennas three and one-quarter feet (one meter) or less in diameter or diagonal dimension, regardless of zone.
• Replacement of nonstructural siding on IRC structures except for veneer, stucco, or exterior finish and insulation lotssystems (EFIS).
• In-kind window replacement for IRC structures where no alteration of framing members is required and when the window U-values meet the prescriptive requirements within the Washington State Energy Code.
• Job shacks that are placed at a permitted job site during construction may be allowed on a temporary basis and shall be removed upon final approval of construction. A job shack is a portable structure for which the primary purpose is to house equipment and supplies, and which may serve as a temporary office during construction for the purposes of the construction activity.
• In-kind reroofing on IRC structures, provided roof sheathing is not removed, replaced or added.

A mechanical permit is required to install, alter, repair, replace or remodel per the International Mechanical Code. A mechanical permit is not required for the following per Kenmore Municipal Code 15.30.205:

• Portable heating, cooking, or clothes drying appliances.
• Portable ventilation appliances and equipment.
• Portable cooling unit.
• Steam, hot or chilled water piping within any heating or cooling equipment or appliances regulated by the construction codes.
• Replacement of any part which does not alter its approval or make it unsafe.
• Portable evaporative cooler.
• Self-contained refrigeration system containing 10 pounds (4.54 kg) or less of refrigerant and actuated by motors of one horsepower (746 W) or less.
• Portable fuel cell appliances that are not connected to a fixed piping system and are not interconnected.

A plumbing permit is required for any installation, alteration, repair, replacement or remodel of any plumbing system per Uniform Plumbing Code. A plumbing permit is not required for the following per KMC 15.30.205:

• The stopping and/or repairing of leaks in drains, water, soil, waste or vent pipe; provided, however, that should any concealed trap, drain pipe, water, soil, waste or vent pipe become defective and it becomes necessary to remove and replace the same with new material, the same shall be considered as new work and a permit shall be obtained and inspection made as provided in this code.
• The clearing of stoppages or the repairing of leaks in pipes, valves or fixtures and the removal and reinstallation of water closets, provided such repairs do not involve or require replacement or rearrangement of valves, pipes or fixtures.
• Re-installation or replacement of prefabricated fixtures that do not involve or require the replacement or rearrangement of valves or pipes.

Permits are required for all new signs or expansions of existing signs in Kenmore. No permit is needed for repainting, cleaning, or other normal maintenance and repair of a sign, or for sign face and content changes that do not alter the size or structure of the sign. Per KMC 18.42.030, sign permits are not required for the following:

• Historic site markers or plaques, gravestones, and address numbers.
• Signs required by law (e.g., traffic directional signs, official or legal notices issued and posted by any public agency or court).
• Plaques, tablets or inscriptions indicating the name of the building, date of erection, or other commemorative information, which are an integral part of the building structure or are attached flat to the face of the building, which are nonilluminated, and which do not exceed four square feet in surface area.
• Incidental signs, which shall not exceed two square feet in surface.
• State or Federal Flags.
• Religious symbols.
• Flag of a commercial institution. No more than one on-site flag is permitted per business premises, and the flag does not exceed 20 square feet in surface area.