Bullitt County's Planning and Development office at 149 Walnut Street in Shepherdsville administers planning, zoning and building services for the county immediately south of Louisville Metro. Its position on the interstate, with land and access that Jefferson County no longer has cheaply, has made it one of the busiest warehouse and distribution development markets in the Commonwealth — a volume of large-footprint industrial work out of all proportion to a population of eighty-six thousand.
The Kentucky Building Code and Kentucky Residential Code apply without local amendment, as everywhere in the Commonwealth, so the county's layer is its zoning, its subdivision regulations, its fee schedule and its inspection programme. The residential side is dominated by subdivision growth spilling south out of Louisville, and the county's planning decisions on that growth have been the subject of consistent public attention.
This guide covers Bullitt County, including Shepherdsville, Mount Washington, Hillview, Lebanon Junction and Fox Chase. Jefferson County to the north is Louisville Metro, and Hardin, Nelson, Spencer and Jefferson counties around it run their own arrangements.
Warehouse volume on a county office's timetable. Bullitt County carries large-footprint distribution and warehouse development at a scale usually seen in metropolitan counties, on the staffing of a county planning and development office. Schedules here are set by review capacity as much as by process, and filing complete on the first submission matters more than in a jurisdiction with reviewers to spare.
What requires a building permit in Bullitt County?
Kentucky runs a mini/maxi code, and the phrase carries real weight. The Kentucky Building Code at 815 KAR 7:120 and the Kentucky Residential Code at 815 KAR 7:125 are statewide, uniform and mandatory, and no local government may adopt or enforce any other building code — the code is both the minimum and the maximum. The Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction adopts them; Bullitt County enforces them. The current editions are the 2018 Kentucky Building Code, Fourth Edition and the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code, Third Edition, both built on the 2015 International Codes with Kentucky amendments that supersede any conflicting model provision. Detached one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses fall under the residential code; everything else under the building code. What is local in Bullitt County is the inspection programme, the fee schedule, zoning and planning, contractor registration, and the county's zoning and the development pressure from the north.
The codes draw the exemption line and it is the same line across the Commonwealth. Ordinary repairs need no permit; constructing, altering, repairing, moving, demolishing or changing the occupancy of a building does. Electrical, plumbing and heating and air work carry their own permits and their own state licences, and Bullitt County's zoning and planning approvals sit outside the building code entirely — a municipality may not add building requirements, but it may and does regulate use, setbacks and site development.
Typically permit required
- Any construction, alteration, repair, demolition or change of occupancy under the Kentucky Building Code or Residential Code
- Zoning and subdivision approval under the applicable city or county ordinance
- Electrical, plumbing and heating and air work, each by a state-licensed contractor on its own permit
- New buildings, additions and any structural work on an existing building
- Alterations, repairs and renovations under the building or residential code, and any change of occupancy
- Decks, accessory structures above the code threshold, retaining walls and swimming pools
Often exempt
- Ordinary repairs that do not alter structure, egress or systems, and agricultural buildings within the statutory definition
- Ordinary repairs that do not alter structure, egress or systems
- Painting, papering, flooring, cabinets and similar finish work
- Like-for-like replacement that the codes place below the permit threshold
- Small accessory structures below the code's threshold — the zoning ordinance still applies
What is actually local, and what is not
The code is the Commonwealth's and cannot be added to. Bullitt County's layer is its building inspection programme and the certified inspectors staffing it, the fee schedule its ordinance sets, the zoning ordinance and planning commission that govern use and site development, any local contractor registration it requires, and the warehouse and subdivision development pressure from Louisville and the county's own zoning decisions on it.
Who handles permitting in Bullitt County?
The Planning and Development office is the enforcing authority, with certified inspectors as the state regulation requires of a local inspection programme, and the planning commission and board of adjustments hearing zoning matters. The cities within the county hold their own ordinances, the health department handles on-site sewage across the unsewered parts, and the state Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction retains its role on certain commercial projects and licenses the trades.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Authority | Bullitt County Planning and Development |
| Office | 149 Walnut Street, Third Floor, Shepherdsville, KY 40165 |
| Phone | (502) 543-6832 |
| Cities | Shepherdsville, Mount Washington, Hillview and others |
| Boards | Planning commission and board of adjustments on zoning matters |
| Codes | Kentucky Building Code and Residential Code, without local amendment |
Permit types
Residential permits
A Bullitt County house project files with the planning and development office against the Kentucky Residential Code and the applicable zoning, with the electrical, plumbing and heating and air work carried out by state-licensed contractors on their own permits. On unsewered land the health department's on-site sewage approval runs alongside, and subdivision development carries the county's own subdivision regulations.
How Kentucky contractor credentials work
Kentucky issues no statewide general contractor licence. The Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction licenses the specialty trades — electrical contractors and electricians, plumbing contractors and plumbers, heating and air conditioning contractors, along with boiler, fire sprinkler and fire alarm contractors and the building inspectors themselves — and those licences are valid across the Commonwealth. General contracting is regulated locally instead: a city or county may require its own contractor licence or registration, and one jurisdiction's licence does not carry into the next. Bullitt County's own requirement, if it has one, is the credential to confirm before a permit is pulled, alongside the state trade licences the department verifies at the counter.
Commercial permits
Commercial and industrial work in Bullitt County is dominated by distribution: large-footprint warehousing along the interstate, with the zoning and subdivision decisions taken by the planning commission and the building plan review following. The state department retains its role on certain commercial projects, elevators and boilers, and on buildings of this size that state involvement is worth confirming early.
Plan review, local programmes and the state's role
Kentucky splits plan review between the state and the locality. The Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction's Division of Building Code Enforcement reviews plans and inspects new construction, additions, alterations and changes of occupancy for buildings under the Kentucky Building Code, unless the local government operates a certified programme holding that authority itself — and a local government running an inspection programme must provide at least one Kentucky Certified Building Inspector and at least one certified electrical inspector, reporting them to the department. Zoning approval, planning commission review and site development sit with Bullitt County and run ahead of the permit. In Bullitt County the Salt River corridor brings floodplain review into the file, the karst terrain of the southern and western parts affects foundations and stormwater, and the planning commission's subdivision regulations govern the residential growth. Fees a local government charges are required by statute to cover the cost of the service performed and not to exceed it.
Bullitt County permit costs and fees
Fees follow the county's schedule, which by statute may not exceed the cost of the service performed, with the trades permitted separately under the state licences.
| Item | Fee or rule |
|---|---|
| Building permit | The county's fee schedule, by project type and construction value |
| Zoning and subdivision | Under the applicable city or county ordinance and the subdivision regulations |
| Trade permits | Electrical, plumbing and heating and air by state-licensed contractors |
| On-site sewage | Health department approval on unsewered land |
| Statutory limit | Local fees may not exceed the cost of the service performed |
| State fees | Department fees where it reviews the project, including large commercial buildings |
Confirm the state's role on a large building early. The state Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction retains plan review and inspection authority on certain commercial projects, elevators and boilers even where a local programme exists. On the scale of building Bullitt County now sees regularly, establishing which reviews sit with the state and which with the county belongs at the start of the programme, not at submission.
Trade permits and who may pull them
The trades are permitted separately from the building permit and carried out by contractors holding the state licences the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction issues.
Permit required
- Large commercial buildings — confirm which reviews sit with the state department and which with the county
- Electrical — state-licensed electrical contractor; separate permit and a certified electrical inspector
- Plumbing — state-licensed master plumber or plumbing contractor; separate permit, inspected under the state plumbing code
- Heating and air conditioning — state-licensed HVAC contractor; separate mechanical permit
- Fire sprinkler and fire alarm — state-licensed contractor, with State Fire Marshal review where it applies
Typically exempt
- Like-for-like replacement the trade codes place below the permit threshold
- Work a homeowner may perform on their own residence where the local programme allows it
How to apply for a Bullitt County building permit
Zoning approval, and planning commission or site development review where the ordinance requires it, precede the building permit.
Commercial plan review sits with the state department unless the local programme holds that authority; residential is local.
The state licenses the trades; general contractor registration, where it exists, is the city's or county's own.
Reviewed against the Kentucky Building Code or Kentucky Residential Code as adopted, with no local amendments to satisfy.
Fees are set by local ordinance and by statute may not exceed the cost of the service performed.
Footing to final, with the trades inspected on their own permits, then the certificate of occupancy.
Review, corrections and what actually causes delay
Bullitt County reviews through a county office carrying metropolitan development volume. What delays a file here is an incomplete first submission on a large building, a subdivision filed against the wrong version of the regulations, and a state-reviewed element assumed to be local.
Inspections in Bullitt County
Inspections follow the codes' sequence — footing, foundation, framing, rough trades, insulation and final — and are requested from the local inspection programme by permit number, with the electrical inspections carried by a certified electrical inspector. Work that passes final receives a certificate of occupancy for new buildings and changes of occupancy. Bullitt County inspects in the codes' sequence through its own inspectors, with electrical inspections carried by a certified electrical inspector as the state regulation requires, and the certificate of occupancy following the finals.
Bullitt County permit search and official resources
- Bullitt County Fiscal Court — the county government and its planning and development office
- Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction — the statewide codes, trade licensing and state plan review
- 815 KAR 7:120 — Kentucky Building Code — the mandatory uniform state building code
- Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction — the statewide codes, trade licensing and the Division of Building Code Enforcement
- 815 KAR 7:120 — Kentucky Building Code — the mandatory uniform state building code and its general provisions
- 815 KAR 7:125 — Kentucky Residential Code — the code governing one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses
Frequently asked questions
Who permits construction in Bullitt County?
The county's Planning and Development office at Shepherdsville, with the cities holding their own zoning ordinances.
Why is there so much warehouse development?
The county sits directly south of Louisville Metro on the interstate, with land and access that Jefferson County no longer has cheaply, which has drawn large-footprint distribution development.
Does the state review large commercial buildings?
The state department retains plan review and inspection authority on certain commercial projects, elevators and boilers; confirm the split at the start of a large project.
Can the county amend the building code?
No. Kentucky's mini/maxi framework means no local government may adopt or enforce any other building code.
Is there a local contractor licence?
Kentucky issues no statewide general contractor licence; confirm any local registration requirement before applying.
Which code editions apply?
The 2018 Kentucky Building Code, Fourth Edition and the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code, Third Edition, both built on the 2015 International Codes with Kentucky amendments.
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Bullitt County reviews metropolitan-scale buildings with a county office's resources. We file complete on the first submission and settle the state-versus-county review split before the drawings are finished.
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More Kentucky permitting guides
More Kentucky permitting guides
This guide is provided by Alliance Permitting for general information about Bullitt County permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.