Palmer building department

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough does not run a residential building-code program. The State of Alaska and the borough have not adopted the International Residential Code, so a house, duplex, or triplex in the unincorporated borough does not go through building-code plan review or framing inspections. The permits a homeowner usually needs here are land-use permits: a driveway permit, a mandatory land use permit near water, a floodplain permit, or a multifamily permit. Commercial and public buildings are different. In the Central Mat-Su Fire Service Area, they need a fire and life-safety plan review from the borough’s Fire & Life Safety (Fire Code) office before work starts.

Development Services runs the Permit Center at the borough building, 350 East Dahlia Avenue in Palmer (Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m.). Most applications are filed and paid online through the borough’s EnerGov (Tyler) Permit Portal. The cities of Palmer, Wasilla, and Houston have their own municipal rules. Many borough permits, including driveway and mandatory land use permits, do not apply inside those city limits.

Commercial plan review (Fire & Life Safety)

The Central Mat-Su Fire Service Area is a “deferred” jurisdiction. The borough’s Fire & Life Safety Division does the plan reviews and inspections that the State Division of Fire and Life Safety would otherwise do, under AS 18.70.080, 13 AAC 50.025, and MSB 17.73.100. Plan review is required before construction, alteration, repair, or a change of occupancy of buildings regulated by the state fire marshal.

Exempt: residential buildings that are triplexes or smaller. Once a business operates in the building, it is no longer exempt. Occupying a building whose plans have not been reviewed is prohibited for work begun on or after December 5, 1956.

What to submit: building location on the property; area, height, stories, and occupancy classification; construction type and interior finish; exits and accessible routes; mechanical and electrical systems; fuel storage tanks; and sprinkler and fire alarm systems. For an existing building, include the previous plan review approval letter and certificate. The review covers fire and life safety only, not structural design or general accessibility.

Process:

1. Apply in the portal under Fire Plan Review. Fire alarm, sprinkler, hood suppression, and fuel systems use the separate FC Application for Fire Protection Systems.
2. A permit technician calculates the fee and emails an invoice. Review by a Deputy Fire Marshal starts after payment and usually takes about three weeks.
3. On approval you receive a letter and certificate. Post the certificate on site as 13 AAC 55.100(b) requires.
4. When the work is done, email the Fire Code office to schedule a final inspection. Once any deficiencies are corrected, a certificate of occupancy is issued.

Codes and fees

Under 13 AAC 50–55, the 2021 International Building, Fire, Fuel Gas, and Mechanical Codes took effect October 28, 2022. The borough also lists the 2021 International Existing Building Code. Plan review fees follow the state formula in 13 AAC 50.027. New construction is valued by square footage and remodels by project cost. All fees are non-refundable.

Fire & Life Safety fee	Amount
Value can’t be determined	$95/hour, 2-hour minimum
Home day care; R-3 assisted living (5 or fewer residents)	$150
Relocation of a previously approved building	$150
Special event; footing/foundation or other administrative approval	$150 minimum
Identical structures in the same subdivision	Full fee for the first, 60% for each additional
Work started before approval	Extra fee equal to the plan review fee, escalating for repeat violations

Card payments carry a 3% fee and eChecks $1. You can pay in person at the Fire Code office, Station 51, 1911 S. Terrace Court, Palmer, or call (907) 861-8383.

Land-use permits from the Permit Center

Permit	When it’s required	Fee
Mandatory land use permit	Outside Palmer, Wasilla, and Houston, for any structure within 75 ft of a stream, river, lake, pond, or wetland, unless another Title 17 permit covers it	$60
Driveway permit	New, paved, widened, or relocated driveway onto a borough road, or a land-use change that adds traffic	$60
Floodplain development permit	Any development in a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area, including fill, grading, and manufactured homes	$110
Multifamily development permit	More than 6 units, or more than 2 units per 40,000 sq ft of lot area	$500 + $25 per unit over five

Mandatory land use permit: the site plan (MSB 17.02) must show all existing and proposed development, setbacks from property lines and rights-of-way, a north arrow, roads and easements, driveways, nearby waterbodies, septic systems and wells, and the intended uses. Incomplete applications are not processed, and staff may visit the site.

Driveways: low-volume permits cover 10 or fewer peak-hour trips; high-volume permits cover commercial, multifamily, and subdivision access and need engineered drawings. You stake the proposed location, wait for approval before building, and a borough inspector gives final approval. Driveways onto private roads need no borough permit, and state roads need a state permit.

Floodplain: submit a site plan, elevation drawings or photos, and a signed acknowledgement of MSB 17.29.100. An elevation certificate is always required after a habitable structure is built. Floodway work needs an engineering study showing no rise in flood levels. Repairs costing 50% or more of market value count as substantial improvements.

Multifamily: density is capped at 18 units per 40,000 sq ft in the Core Area and 12 elsewhere. Required items include a certified site plan by a licensed architect, engineer, or surveyor, a drainage plan, and a landscape plan; 4-plexes and larger also need a fire and life-safety plan. Wastewater systems must be engineer-certified within 90 days of installation, and impervious surfaces are limited to 60% of the lot.

Development Services also handles conditional use permits (including the Core Area CUP between Palmer and Wasilla), the Talkeetna, Sutton, Chickaloon, Glacier View, and Denali State Park special land use districts, tall-structure, encroachment, and utility permits, variances, and code compliance complaints such as unpermitted construction and setback violations.