City of Dunkirk, New York Building Permit Guide

Inside the City of Dunkirk, building, plumbing and electrical permits are issued by the Building and Zoning Department in the Stearns Building, suite S2, at 342 Central Avenue (716-366-9858). Building applications go through the city’s online Citizenserve portal, and fees come from the 2025 Permit Fee Schedule the city adopted on December 12, 2024 as Local Law No. 2 of 2024; a new one- or two-family house costs $100 plus $0.15 per square foot.

What requires a building permit in Dunkirk?

The building chapter of the City Code posted on the city’s website requires a separate building permit for each building or structure before anyone starts erecting, enlarging, altering, improving, removing, demolishing or converting it, or changes how it is occupied. The one stated exception is ordinary repairs that are not structural. The 2025 fee schedule shows the categories the department prices.

What the city decides and what the state holds

The state Uniform Code and Energy Code are the construction rules. Dunkirk decides the rest by local law: its permit fees (Local Law No. 2 of 2024), its own licensing of master electricians, electrical inspectors and master plumbers, and its zoning law, Chapter 79 of the City Code. The city has hired Colliers Engineering & Design and FHI Studio to rewrite Chapter 79 so it reflects the 2019 Comprehensive Plan, with help from a New York Department of State Smart Growth grant; the project page gives no adoption date, so the existing Chapter 79 remains the zoning law until a new one is adopted.

Dunkirk building department: who handles permitting

One department, Building and Zoning, runs building, plumbing and electrical permitting for the city; its three divisions are Building, Plumbing and Electrical. The department’s listed contact is the Housing, Building and Zoning Officer at 716-366-9858. The office reviews all development plans, issues permits, inspects construction and handles complaints about zoning, building and other local laws. It also guides residents through the zoning ordinance and re-zoning requests and reviews applications going to the Zoning Board of Appeals. Electrician and electrical inspector licenses are issued through the City Clerk.

The city’s permits stop at the city line. The Town of Dunkirk next door is a separate municipality, listed separately by FEMA.

Dunkirk permit types and filing requirements

Residential permits

Homeowners and contractors file through the Building Applications Online Portal, describing the owner, parcel, scope and value and uploading site and construction drawings. Every project that needs a permit must come with proof of workers’ compensation and disability coverage naming the City of Dunkirk as certificate holder, or the state CE-200 exemption, which most often applies when the owner is doing the work. ACORD certificates are not accepted for this purpose, and new certificates are needed for each project unless valid ones are already on file. Pools and carports put up as temporary structures need a $25 permit every year.

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

Commercial permits

New commercial, industrial and institutional buildings, additions and alterations are all priced at $200 plus $0.45 per square foot, and solar and wind installations are charged as new commercial work. Commercial and multi-family buildings also pay for the city’s fire safety inspections, and assembly buildings are billed per 100 occupants. The Planning Board charges $100 for sign review.

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

What comes before the building permit

• Zoning Board of Appeals: area variances ($200) and use variances ($500); the department reviews applications before they go on the agenda, and agendas are posted in the city’s document center.
• Planning Board: site plan review at $250 per acre and sign review at $100.
• Right-of-way and utilities: work in the street costs $75, and new or existing underground water and sewer services are permitted separately.
• Septic: where a property is on a private septic system, the Chautauqua County Health Department must send the code officer a “right to connect” letter before a permit for a new building, added bedrooms or a change in use, and new systems need a county OWTS permit.
• Property maintenance: an owner who disputes a property maintenance order can appeal to the city’s Property Maintenance Board for $100, and housing complaints can be filed online.
• Flood areas: FEMA lists the City of Dunkirk as a participating community in the National Flood Insurance Program.

Dunkirk building permit fees

All amounts below are from the 2025 Permit Fee Schedule, adopted on December 12, 2024 as Local Law No. 2 of 2024, the schedule the department links today. A fixture, for plumbing fees, is any device connected to water or gas.

Worked examples: a new 1,800-square-foot house costs $100 + (1,800 × $0.15) = $370; a $25,000 kitchen renovation costs $10 per $1,000, or $250; a $6,000 electrical upgrade costs $60; a new bathroom with three new fixtures costs $50 + (3 × $20) = $110; and a 120-foot fence costs $25 + $12 = $37. The schedule does not say how a residential alteration of exactly $10,000 is charged, or how the residential roofing rate of “$50 / 2,000 square feet” applies to roofs larger than 2,000 square feet.

Trade permits and who may pull them

Electrical. Dunkirk licenses its own master electricians and electrical inspectors. The City Clerk’s licensing page asks $250 for a new license and $150 to renew; the only fee law in the posted City Code (§ 31-51, Local Law No. 5 of 2004, in a code file last updated in 2012) sets $150 for an initial master electrician license and $75 for each yearly renewal, so confirm the amount with the Clerk. Licenses are applied for through the city’s licensing portal with a general liability certificate naming the city, workers’ compensation and disability certificates or a CE-200, and either G16 test results or a reciprocal license from a city of at least 15,000 people. Under Chapter 28 of the posted City Code a master electrician must have at least five years’ experience as a journeyman, and no one may employ an unlicensed person for electrical work. The owner of an owner-occupied one- or two-family house may do his or her own electrical work; owners of rentals, commercial, mixed-use or multiple dwellings may not unless licensed. Electrical permits cost $10 per $1,000 of the work, and a board of electrical examiners appoints the inspectors.

Before electrical work starts, the installer files with the code enforcement officer a copy of the application made to one of the city’s approved electrical inspection agencies, and the building inspector then issues the electrical permit; work by people who need no license, such as an owner-occupant wiring his or her own house, is the exception. The inspection agencies must carry $1,000,000 of insurance naming the city, keep a local or toll-free number for inspection requests, and each inspector needs a city license from the City Clerk, expiring every March 1, plus certification from a national testing agency approved by the five-member Electric Board of Examiners. Master electricians file a new insurance certificate with the City Clerk every year at renewal.

Plumbing. Only a licensed master plumber, or a journeyman working for one, may install, alter, repair or clean plumbing in the city, except that the owner of an owner-occupied one- or two-family house may do plumbing work inside it. Plumbing permits are $50 plus $10 for each existing fixture or $20 for each new fixture.

Other trades. Solid-fuel appliances carry a flat $150 permit. The city’s pages show no separate license for general or home-improvement contractors, who need only the insurance proof described above.

How to apply for a Dunkirk building permit

Review, corrections and what causes delay

Every development plan is reviewed by the department for compliance before a permit issues. Insurance paperwork needs care, since ACORD forms are refused and the city must be named as certificate holder. Starting first is expensive: the schedule charges $200 or twice the permit fee, whichever is greater, for construction before a permit, and each failed inspection costs $75.

Dunkirk inspections and certificates

The Building and Zoning Department inspects construction as it goes and closes the job with a certificate of occupancy, which costs $50. Electrical work is inspected by inspectors appointed under the city’s electrical code, Chapter 28, and the department keeps its own plumbing division. A failed inspection adds $75 to the bill, so book each stage only when the work is complete and exposed. The department also carries out fire safety inspections of multi-family, commercial and assembly buildings, charged at $25 per dwelling, $50 per 1,000 square feet of commercial floor area, or $25 or $50 per 100 occupants for assembly spaces.

New York building code

New York builds on one statewide code, the Uniform Code, outside New York City; the 2025 edition and 2025 Energy Code took effect on 31 December 2025 (the all-electric provisions remain suspended by court order). Cities, towns and villages administer it, and local standards stricter than the code need Code Council approval. The Uniform Code in New York

Dunkirk’s permit fees are set by Local Law No. 2 of 2024, and its electrical and plumbing licensing rules are in Chapters 28 and 55 of the City Code. Chapter 15, the building chapter, traces back to a May 7, 1963 resolution accepting the state building construction code.

City of Dunkirk permit FAQ

How much is a building permit for a new house in Dunkirk?

$100 plus $0.15 per square foot for a one- or two-family house, so 1,800 square feet costs $370.

Can I apply online?

Yes. Building applications are taken through the city’s Citizenserve Building Applications Online Portal.

How much is a fence permit?

$25 plus $0.10 per linear foot; a 120-foot fence costs $37.

Do I need a licensed electrician?

Yes, unless you own and live in a one- or two-family house and do the work yourself. Master electricians are licensed by the city; the City Clerk’s page asks $250 for a new license and $150 to renew, while the 2004 fee law in the posted City Code still says $150 and $75.

Can a homeowner do plumbing?

Yes, inside an owner-occupied one- or two-family house; all other plumbing must be done by a licensed master plumber or a journeyman employed by one.

What happens if I build without a permit?

The city charges $200 or twice the permit fee, whichever is greater.

Do temporary pools need a permit every year?

Yes. The schedule charges $25 every year for temporary accessory structures such as pools and carports.

Where is the Dunkirk building office?

In the Stearns Building, suite S2, 342 Central Avenue, Dunkirk, NY 14048; phone 716-366-9858, fax 716-363-6481.

Is Dunkirk in the National Flood Insurance Program?

Yes. FEMA lists the City of Dunkirk as a participating community, separate from the Town of Dunkirk.

Dunkirk permit search and official resources

Applicants can follow their own applications in the Citizenserve portal. For copies of past permits or certificates, fill in the city’s Freedom of Information Law form and email it to FOIL@cityofdunkirk.com.

• Dunkirk Building and Zoning Department
• Applications & permits page
• Building Applications Online Portal (Citizenserve)
• 2025 Permit Fee Schedule (Local Law No. 2 of 2024)
• Proof of insurance requirements
• Master electrician and electrical inspector license
• Dunkirk City Code (PDF)
• Zoning Board of Appeals agendas
• FOIL request
• Chautauqua County sewage and wastewater (OWTS) permits
• NYS code adoption and enforcement updates

Simplify City of Dunkirk permitting with Alliance Permitting

Alliance Permitting is a permit documentation and submission company in New York. 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 City of Dunkirk permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.