Vermilion Parish, LA Building Safety: Building Permits (2026)

Sec. 22-8 of the Vermilion Parish Code states that a floodplain development permit is required to ensure conformance with the flood chapter. Sec. 22-1 defines development as any manmade change to improved and unimproved real estate, including buildings or other structures, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation, or drilling operations or storage of equipment or materials. A new building in unincorporated Vermilion Parish is therefore development under the Code's own definition, and the Police Jury runs the process through Chapter 22.

Under Sec. 22-45 the applicant files on forms furnished by the floodplain administrator. Plans in duplicate, drawn to scale, show the location, dimensions and elevation of proposed landscape alterations and of existing and proposed structures, including manufactured homes, in relation to areas of special flood hazard. The application also states the lowest-floor elevation of all new and substantially improved structures, the floodproofing elevation for any nonresidential structure, an engineer or architect certificate for a floodproofed nonresidential building, and the extent to which any watercourse or natural drainage will be altered or relocated. Approval or denial rests on nine listed factors, including the danger to life and property from flooding or erosion, the safety of access in times of flood for ordinary and emergency vehicles, and the necessity of a waterfront location.

Sec. 22-73 sets the development permit fee by cost of improvement: $15.00 for $0.00 to $2,000.00, $21.00 for $2,001.00 to $3,000.00, and a printed schedule that reaches $198.00 for $49,001.00 to $50,000.00, followed by $1.50 for each additional $1,000.00.

Two neighboring sections in Chapter 8 matter too. Sec. 8-2 adopts the state uniform construction code, R.S. 40:1730.21 et seq., as now or hereafter amended. Sec. 8-1 requires a separate permit from the building permit department to move any house or building wider than 12 feet on parish roads, with a $10.00 fee and a $2,500.00 bond. Sec. 8-3 adds an airport certification step for any structure taller than 40 feet.