Blaine, MN Building Safety: Building Permits (2026)

Blaine's building permit requirement sits in the zoning ordinance's administration article, § 101-7(b), which states flatly that 'No person shall erect, alter, remodel, wreck or move any kind of a structure or building or part thereof without first securing a building permit.' For single- and two-family homes, the applicant files on building permit forms available from the zoning administrator, along with building plans and a certificate of survey; the city will not issue the permit until the required fee, set by the city council, has been paid.

Larger projects carry more paperwork: commercial, industrial, institutional, apartment, and attached or detached townhome applications must also secure site plan approval before a building permit issues, submitting a certificate of survey, a site plan showing setbacks and parking, a tree preservation plan under § 129-9, a landscape plan under § 129-7, a grading and drainage plan meeting § 129-15(g), a utilities plan, a lighting and photometric plan, floor plans and building elevations. All plans must be prepared to scale by a registered architect, engineer, landscape architect or surveyor.

Section 18-19 separately adopts the current Minnesota State Building Code by reference, including chapter 1306 with specific options, so the permit and inspection process the city administers folds the state code's technical requirements into every application. Permits and fee collection for work under that code are further authorized by § 18-21, citing M.S.A. §§ 326B.107 and 326B.153, and a surcharge fee applies to every permit under M.S.A. § 326B.148.