Chicopee’s Building Department at 115 Baskin Drive, 2nd Floor, permits and inspects construction for the Hampden County city built where the Chicopee River meets the Connecticut. It enforces the same state building code as every Massachusetts municipality — the tenth edition, in force alone since July 2025 — and administers the city's own zoning ordinance alongside it, with its own electrical, gas and plumbing divisions inspecting those trades under the state codes.
The department opens to the public at 7:00 am and closes at 5:00 pm, Monday to Friday; its inspectors keep office hours from 7:00 to 9:00 am and from 1:00 to 2:00 pm, and permits are applied for through the city’s online permit system. The geography is what makes the city distinctive: two rivers, the Chicopee Falls industrial corridor and a substantial mapped floodplain mean the conservation commission’s order of conditions and floodplain review reach a large share of the city’s parcels, and both run ahead of the building permit.
This guide covers the City of Chicopee. Springfield, Holyoke, West Springfield, South Hadley and Ludlow run their own building departments under the same state code.
Two rivers, one floodplain question. Chicopee sits at the confluence of the Connecticut and Chicopee rivers, with a substantial mapped floodplain and extensive wetland resource areas. On a great many parcels here the conservation commission's order of conditions and the floodplain requirements are settled before the building permit — and the commission hears the filing publicly rather than issuing it at a counter.
What requires a building permit in Chicopee?
What is local in Chicopee is the building department, the fee schedule, zoning, and the zoning ordinance and the conservation commission's river and floodplain jurisdiction.
Short on time to read all of this?
Get a free quote →Typically permit required
- Any construction, reconstruction, alteration, repair, removal or demolition, and any change of use or occupancy
- Work in the wetlands, riverfront or mapped floodplain, which needs the conservation commission's order of conditions before the permit
- Electrical work and plumbing and gas work, each permitted separately under the state codes
- New buildings, additions and any structural work on an existing building
- Alterations, repairs and reconstruction under the existing building provisions, and any change of use or occupancy
- Decks (except small, low, freestanding ones), sheds over 200 square feet at a one- or two-family home or 120 square feet elsewhere, swimming pools 24 inches deep or more, and solar installations
Often exempt
- Ordinary repairs that do not alter structure, egress or systems
- Ordinary repairs that do not alter structure, egress or systems
- Painting, wallpapering, flooring, cabinets and similar finish work
- Small items on the code’s exempt list, such as fences up to 7 feet and retaining walls up to 4 feet
- Work on a building owned by the Commonwealth, which the State Building Inspector enforces rather than the town
What is actually local, and what is not
The code is the Commonwealth's and cannot be amended locally. Chicopee's layer is the building department itself, its fee schedule and filing route, the zoning bylaw or ordinance and the zoning enforcement that precedes the permit, the conservation commission's wetlands jurisdiction under the Wetlands Protection Act, and the Connecticut and Chicopee river corridors and the conservation and floodplain review they bring to much of the city.
Massachusetts has one State Building Code, 780 CMR, for every city and town; towns cannot rewrite it, though many opt into a stricter energy code. The trades run under their own state codes. Massachusetts rules
Who handles permitting in Chicopee?
The Building Department is the enforcing office, with the building commissioner or inspector of buildings as building official under the state code and the city's wiring and plumbing inspectors covering their own trades. The zoning board of appeals hears relief under the state Zoning Act, the planning board handles site plan review, and the conservation commission administers the Wetlands Protection Act and the city's floodplain provisions along both rivers.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Department | City of Chicopee Building Department |
| Office | 115 Baskin Drive, 2nd Floor, Chicopee, MA 01020 |
| Phone | (413) 594-1440 |
| Hours | Monday to Friday, 7:00 am to 5:00 pm; inspectors’ office hours 7:00–9:00 am and 1:00–2:00 pm; permits through the online permit system |
| Trades | The department’s own electrical, gas and plumbing divisions under the state codes |
| Energy | Stretch energy code, effective January 1, 2017; not a Specialized code adopter |
Not sure this scope needs a permit?
Get a free quote →In 2025, building permits issued in Chicopee authorized 15 new privately owned housing units, 7 of them single-family homes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey.
Permit types
Residential permits
A Chicopee house project files with the Building Department against the state code and the city's zoning ordinance, with the supervising individual's Construction Supervisor Licence and, on residential work for an owner-occupant, the contractor's Home Improvement Contractor registration. On a riverside or floodplain parcel the conservation filing comes first, and a homeowner pulling their own permit signs the affidavit that waives Guaranty Fund protection.
Commercial permits
Commercial and industrial work in Chicopee — the Chicopee Falls mills and the Westover industrial area carry much of the city's employment — clears zoning and site plan review, then the building permit, with the fire department reviewing protection systems. Changes of use in the mill stock bring the existing building provisions and their compliance alternatives into the analysis.
Zoning, conservation and the 30-day clock
The approvals that run ahead of the building permit are the local ones: zoning sign-off under Chicopee's bylaw or ordinance, and, where the work is within 100 feet of a wetland or within the riverfront or floodplain areas, an order of conditions from the conservation commission under the Wetlands Protection Act, which is a hearing rather than a counter transaction. In Chicopee the Connecticut and Chicopee rivers bring the conservation commission's Wetlands Protection Act jurisdiction and a substantial mapped floodplain into the file, and the Westover airfield's approaches add height considerations on the city's eastern side. Appeals from the building official go to the local zoning board of appeals on zoning matters and to the State Building Code Appeals Board on code matters.
Rather talk it over?
Call 1-855-478-4290 →Massachusetts has no general contractor licence: the supervising individual holds a Construction Supervisor Licence, and contractors working on existing owner-occupied homes register as Home Improvement Contractors. Massachusetts rules
Chicopee permit costs and fees
Fees follow the city's schedule, with the trades charged separately under the state codes and land use applications charged by their own boards.
| Item | Fee or rule |
|---|---|
| Building permit | City schedule by project type and construction value |
| Wiring permits | Filed with and inspected by the city's wiring inspector under the state electrical code |
| Plumbing and gas permits | Filed with and inspected by the city's plumbing inspector under the state code |
| Conservation | Wetlands Protection Act filing fees where the work is in a resource area |
| Zoning relief | Zoning board of appeals application under the state Zoning Act |
| Certificate of occupancy | Issued after the final inspections on new buildings and changes of use |
Inspectors keep short office hours. Chicopee’s department opens at 7:00 am, Monday to Friday, but its inspectors hold office hours only from 7:00 to 9:00 am and from 1:00 to 2:00 pm. A question for an inspector is best raised in those windows, and the department is at 115 Baskin Drive, not City Hall on Front Street.
Rather not deal with the building department?
Get a free quote →Trade permits and who may pull them
Permit required
- Wetlands, riverfront and floodplain work — the conservation commission's order of conditions before the permit
- Electrical — state-licensed electrician; separate wiring permit under 527 CMR 12
- Plumbing and gas — state-licensed plumber or gas fitter; separate permits under 248 CMR
- Sheet metal work — state sheet metal licence where the work falls under it
- Fire protection and alarms — fire department plan review through the building permit, plus any fire department permit under 527 CMR; alarms by a state-licensed systems contractor
Typically exempt
- Fixing a leaking faucet or valve, clearing a blocked drain, or adjusting gas appliance controls, which need no plumbing or gas permit
Trade work is permitted separately and inspected by the municipality’s own wiring and plumbing inspectors under the state codes. Massachusetts rules
How to apply for a Chicopee building permit
Zoning sign-off under the local bylaw or ordinance, and any variance or special permit the project needs, must come before the building permit.
Work in or near wetlands, rivers or land that floods needs conservation commission approval under the Wetlands Protection Act, usually an order of conditions, before work starts.
The Construction Supervisor Licence of the supervising individual, and the Home Improvement Contractor registration where the work is on an existing owner-occupied home of one to four units.
The building official reviews the documents against 780 CMR and the energy code the town has adopted.
Fees are the town's own and are due before issuance; trade permits are filed separately.
Footing to final, with the wiring and plumbing inspectors on their own trades, then a certificate of occupancy for a new building or change of use, or a certificate of completion for other work.
Want this handled start to finish?
Get a free quote →Review, corrections and what actually causes delay
Chicopee's building official acts on a complete application within 30 days under the state code. What delays a file here is a conservation or floodplain question raised after design on a riverside parcel, and an energy design assumed from a neighbouring city rather than checked against the state list.
Inspections in Chicopee
Inspections follow the code's sequence — footing and foundation, frame, insulation and final — with the wiring and plumbing inspectors covering their own trades, and are requested from the building department by permit number. Work that passes final receives a certificate of occupancy for new buildings and changes of use, or a certificate of inspection where the code requires one. Buildings in the use groups listed in 780 CMR Section 110 also carry periodic inspections, with proof of maintenance filed with the building official. Chicopee inspects in the code's sequence through the Building Department, with the city's wiring and plumbing inspectors carrying their own trades and the certificate of occupancy following the finals.
Chicopee permit search and official resources
- Chicopee Building Department — the department, its permits and its contacts
- Massachusetts State Building Code, 780 CMR — the 10th edition the department enforces
- Massachusetts energy code adoption by municipality — the city's current energy code position
- Massachusetts State Building Code, 780 CMR — the 10th edition and its Massachusetts amendments from the Board of Building Regulations and Standards
- Home Improvement Contractor registration — the consumer-protection registration and Guaranty Fund
- Construction Supervisor Licence — the examined licence held by the individual supervising the work
Inspections are where schedules slip.
Get a free quote →Frequently asked questions
When is the Chicopee Building Department open?
Monday to Friday from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm at 115 Baskin Drive, 2nd Floor, with inspectors’ office hours from 7:00 to 9:00 am and 1:00 to 2:00 pm.
Do I need the conservation commission?
On a great many Chicopee parcels, yes — the two river corridors and the mapped floodplain put much of the city inside the commission's jurisdiction, and its order of conditions precedes the building permit.
Which energy code applies?
The stretch energy code, which Chicopee adopted effective January 1, 2017. The city has not adopted the Municipal Opt-in Specialized code.
Who permits electrical and plumbing work?
The city's wiring inspector under the state electrical code and the plumbing inspector under the state fuel gas and plumbing code, each separately.
How long does the building official have?
30 days from a complete application under the state code, with written reasons for any refusal.
Which building code edition applies?
The 10th edition of the Massachusetts State Building Code, 780 CMR, in effect since October 11, 2024 and the only code in force since July 1, 2025.
Simplify Chicopee permitting with Alliance Permitting
In Chicopee the rivers decide more projects than the code does. We answer the conservation and floodplain question at the parcel stage, then file through the department’s online permit system.
Ready to break ground in Chicopee sooner?
Send us the scope and the parcel. We confirm the review path with the Chicopee Building Department, assemble the submittal, file it, and track it through issuance — corrections included.
More Massachusetts permitting guides
More Massachusetts permitting guides
This guide is provided by Alliance Permitting for general information about Chicopee permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.