Bonner County, ID Building Safety: Plumbing Permits (2026)

Title 11 of the Bonner County Revised Code is built around the building location permit, not a county plumbing code. Section 11-101 requires that permit from the Bonner County planning department before a structure is erected, placed or enlarged in unincorporated Bonner County, and section 11-112 directs the Planning Director to check setbacks, permitted use, parcel size, other applicable Code provisions and agency authorizations. Section 11-120 then ties off the loose end: nothing in Title 11 relieves an applicant from compliance with any other requirement in the county code, Idaho Code, or state or federal regulations, such as obtaining sewage disposal, electrical and plumbing permits. The location permit and the plumbing permit are two different approvals, and the first does not stand in for the second.

The sewage side runs through Panhandle Health. Under section 11-110 D, no building location permit is issued without a comment letter from Panhandle Health indicating it reviewed the file, or without the comment period passing, whichever occurs first. Panhandle Health provides its comment letter within ten working days of receiving the completed application. Section 11-119 adds a closing check: before occupancy, the owner gives the Planning Department a notice of completion that includes an acknowledgment from Panhandle Health District, if applicable, that wastewater disposal requirements have been met, along with a final inspection completed by Bonner County Compliance.

Older manufactured housing is the one place Title 11 prints plumbing test detail. Section 11-102 B requires mobile homes built before June 15, 1976 (pre-HUD code) to meet rehabilitation requirements before a building location permit is granted. Those include a full water or air pressure test of the water and sewer system. Water piping has to be proven tight under a water pressure not less than its working pressure, with water from a potable source. For a water test on the drainage and vent system, no section is tested with less than a ten foot head of water, and the water stays in the system at least fifteen minutes before inspection starts. Proof of compliance comes from an ICBO certified building inspector, gas utility provider, licensed electrical contractor or licensed plumbing contractor on a certificate form from the Planning Department, or on a certificate of compliance issued by the Administrator of the Division of Building Safety of the State of Idaho.