Cascade Charter Township, Michigan Building Permit Guide

Cascade Charter Township (2025 Census estimate 20,201) runs its own construction code department, Cascade Township Building Inspections, at 5920 Tahoe Drive SE, Grand Rapids (616-949-3765), with Brian Wilson as Building Official. Its inspectors review plans and issue building, electrical, mechanical and plumbing permits in Cascade, and the same office serves Ada, Grand Rapids, Lowell, Plainfield and Vergennes townships and the City of East Grand Rapids by contract. A building permit costs $140 plus $3.50 per $1,000 of value, under a schedule adopted on October 13, 2021, and the valuation table changes on January 1, 2027.

What requires a building permit in Cascade Charter Township?

Cascade’s inspection office points owners to the code’s own rule: a permit is needed to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move or demolish a building or structure, or to change its occupancy, subject to the exemptions in section 105.2 of the code. Its forms and answers fill in the everyday cases.

When a building permit is issued for interior work, smoke alarms must be installed where the residential code requires them in new construction; battery or wireless units are accepted in existing areas, and carbon monoxide alarms are required in the area of every bedroom.

What Cascade decides and what the state holds

The state’s Statewide Jurisdiction List shows Cascade enforcing all four construction codes itself. The township adopts its own permit fees under sections 6 and 22 of the State Construction Code Act, sets the valuation table its Building Official uses, runs zoning, overlay and village districts through its Planning Department, and has its inspection office issue the permits to connect to the township water and sewer system. Six other communities have chosen Cascade as their inspection department, but zoning stays with each of them.

Cascade Charter Township building department: who handles permitting

Building Inspections has a full-time staff of nine inspectors and two clerical employees who review plans, issue permits, inspect and keep construction records. Every inspector holds state registration in one or more trades and in plan review. Zoning approval comes from Cascade’s Planning Department, and the township encourages owners to ask planning staff for an informal look at a site plan before filing.

Cascade Charter Township permit types

The forms page sorts applications by community: Cascade, Ada, East Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids Township, Lowell, Plainfield and Vergennes each have their own building, electrical, mechanical and plumbing forms, so use the Cascade set for a Cascade address. Shared documents include deck details, a pole barn detail, a wall section, pool checklists, a tent checklist, the energy compliance worksheet and a Construction Board of Appeals application.

Residential permits

• New homes and additions need three complete plan sets with elevations, floor plan, foundation, floor, wall, roof and beam details, a site plan with dimensions to the lot lines and a drainage plan, and energy code forms for new floor area; compliance must be shown before the permit is issued.
• Standard-fee jobs such as interior remodels, decks, pools, re-roofs and egress windows are priced flat rather than from the valuation table.
• Remote video inspections are offered for interior remodels of occupied homes, limited to minor projects with little structural change.
• Premanufactured homes are charged half the fee for the same building built on site.

Building or remodeling a home here? Alliance handles residential permit filing, so the crew isn't waiting on the counter.

Commercial permits

Commercial projects pay a separate plan review fee scaled to the building value, and a commercial remodel that does not fit the valuation table is priced on a stated value approved by the Building Official, counting all construction but not landscaping or parking. Special inspection agreements, logs and statements, a commercial roofing worksheet (2025) and sign permits are on the forms page. Planning staff ask for a pre-application meeting for commercial, industrial and large residential projects, with a written description, a conceptual plan, proposed uses and densities and any phasing.

For tenant improvements and new commercial builds, Alliance handles commercial permit expediting through issuance. More on this: commercial building permits explained.

What comes before the building permit

• Zoning approval from the Planning Department, which must come before code review starts; site plan review, land division and zoning verification have their own applications.
• Driveway and address. A Kent County Road Commission driveway permit or address assignment; any work in a county road right-of-way needs a KCRC permit (616-242-6920).
• Soil erosion. KCRC enforces Part 91 in Cascade: earth changes within 500 feet of a lake or stream, or over one acre, need its permit before work starts.
• Well and septic permits from the Kent County Health Department where public water or sewer is not used; otherwise township water and sewer fees are paid with the permit.
• Pathways. A bike path bond and a pathway or sidewalk excavation application where the project touches the township pathway system.

Cascade Charter Township permit costs and fees

The building permit fee schedule was adopted by Cascade Charter Township on October 13, 2021 and took effect on January 1, 2022. Permits based on floor area use the International Code Council’s building valuation data (BVD) square-foot cost table, which the Building Official updates from time to time. A posted notice says that from January 1, 2027 every permit issued will use the August 2024 BVD table, while the standard fees, trade permit fees and the rate per $1,000 stay the same.

Worked examples from the schedules: if the valuation table puts a new house at $320,000, the permit is $140 + 320 × $3.50 = $1,260; replacing a furnace is the $70 mechanical application fee plus $30 for the furnace, or $100. For work permitted from 2027, the August 2024 table Cascade has posted values a one- or two-family house (group R-3) of type VB construction at $167.37 per square foot, a private garage (utility group, type VB) at $64.85 and an unfinished basement at $31.50, so square footage, not the contract price, drives the fee. The plan review bands join exactly at their limits ($1,875 at $1.25 million, $3,750 at $5 million). Checks are payable to Cascade Charter Township.

Trade permits and who may pull them

Electrical, mechanical and plumbing permits in Cascade are township permits filed on Cascade’s own trade forms. Each starts with the $70 application fee, which covers one inspection, and then adds item fees: $10 for an electrical service up to 200 amps, $5 per circuit and $45 for a solar or generator installation; $50 for a heating system in a new house, $30 for an air conditioner and $5 per gas outlet; and $5 for each plumbing fixture.

• Contractors file a registration form with a copy of their license before applying; the $15 registration lasts for the term of the license and is valid in every community Cascade inspects. Residential builders and maintenance and alteration contractors hold LARA licenses, and the trades hold state trade licenses.
• Homeowners may pull their own permits only when they do the work themselves in a home they occupy or will occupy; the trade forms carry an affidavit to that effect.
• Electrical plans are required when the system or alteration exceeds 400 amps and the building exceeds 3,500 square feet.
• Outdoor wood-burning furnaces are mechanical permits that need local zoning approval before installation.

How to apply for a Cascade Charter Township building permit

Review, corrections and what causes delay

Code review does not begin until zoning approval is in, so an unresolved setback or a missing drainage plan is the usual stall. Energy code compliance must be shown before the permit issues. Trade permits become invalid if work does not start within six months or stops for six months, and a permit with no inspection for six months is cancelled without refund or reinstatement.

Inspections and certificates in Cascade Charter Township

Inspections are by appointment and can be requested three ways: through the BS&A Online portal, by calling 616-949-3765 and pressing 1, or by text to 616-240-4693 (texts only). A text must give your name, the contractor, a contact phone, the address, how the inspector gets in, the date wanted and the inspection type, for example plumbing rough or building footing. A new house normally gets these building inspections:

• Pre-pour footing
• Pre-pour wall
• Pre-backfill
• Rough, after the trade roughs
• Insulation
• Final

A certificate of occupancy needs every trade and building permit finaled, energy code compliance documented and, on a well or septic lot, Health Department approval on file. Extra inspections are $70 each. The department will not recommend builders, but staff can share a contractor’s permit history. Its how-to page adds a wood deck construction guide, a window flashing guide and a list of common residential code violations, and an owner who disputes a code decision can file the Construction Board of Appeals application on the forms page.

Michigan building code in Cascade Charter Township

Cascade enforces the state construction code for all four trades and acts as the inspection department for six other Kent County communities. FEMA’s Community Status Book lists the Charter Township of Cascade (community 260814) as participating in the National Flood Insurance Program since November 6, 1991, with current maps effective February 23, 2023; the township’s engineering page lists the Thornapple River and Grand River map panels.

Michigan enforces one statewide construction code under the Stille-DeRossett-Hale Single State Construction Code Act (1972 PA 230); local units cannot amend it, and enforcement sits with the city, village or township, a county program or the state Bureau of Construction Codes, sometimes split by trade. Michigan rules

Cascade Charter Township permit search and official resources

Cascade posts a monthly permit activity list for each year from 2022 to 2026 and a historical list for 2007 to 2021 on its Communities page, and a contractor who links a BS&A Online account with the department’s PIN can see every record the company has with Cascade. For copies of plans or files, submit a Freedom of Information Act application through the Manager’s Office FOIA page.

• Building Inspections department
• Communities served and monthly permit lists
• Forms, fees and permits by community
• Building permit fee schedule (effective Jan. 1, 2022)
• ICC building valuation data table, August 2024
• Building permit application requirements
• Contractor registration
• Permit questions and how-to guides
• Apply online and request inspections
• Remote video inspection program guide
• Planning Department
• FOIA requests
• Kent County Road Commission permits
• Statewide Jurisdiction List (Bureau of Construction Codes)

Cascade Charter Township building permit FAQs

How much is a building permit in Cascade Township?

$140 plus $3.50 per $1,000 of value from the ICC valuation table; decks, interior remodels and in-ground pools are $175, and re-roofs $85.

Will permit fees change in 2027?

The rates stay the same, but permits issued from January 1, 2027 use the August 2024 valuation table, which changes the value the rate applies to.

Can I request an inspection by text?

Yes, at 616-240-4693, with your name, contractor, phone, address, access details, date and inspection type.

Does a new roof need a permit?

Yes. File the roofing and siding worksheet with a building permit application; a residential re-roof is $85.

Can a homeowner get a permit?

Only for work the owner does personally on a home they occupy or intend to occupy.

Which other communities use Cascade’s inspectors?

Ada, Grand Rapids, Lowell, Plainfield and Vergennes townships and the City of East Grand Rapids; each still gives its own zoning approval.

Is a remote inspection possible?

For minor interior remodels of occupied homes with little structural change, through the remote video inspection program.

Simplify Cascade Charter Township permitting with Alliance Permitting

Alliance Permitting is a permit documentation and submission company in Michigan. We prepare your paperwork, file it correctly and coordinate with the permitting authority through issuance. We are not a contractor and we do not perform licensed plan review or inspections; that work stays with your licensed team and the jurisdiction.

This guide is provided by Alliance Permitting for general information about Cascade Charter Township permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.