Wichita, KS Building Safety: Plumbing Permits (2026)

Title 21 of the Code of the City of Wichita, Plumbing and Gas Fitting Code, contains exactly one operative chapter. 01, captioned 'Wichita/Sedgwick Unified Building and Trade Code,' holds Sec. 28) is marked 'Reserved' and carries no text. That single sentence, adopted by Ordinance No. 49-406 on December 11, 2012, replaced the former Uniform Plumbing Code chapter and folded plumbing permitting into the joint City-County unified code, the same document Wichita uses for its general building code (Sec. 010 repeats the identical incorporation language for Title 18).

Enforcement of Title 21 runs through the Metropolitan Area Building and Construction Department. Sec. 200 of the Code states that 'All references throughout this Code to the "Superintendent of Central Inspection" or "Office of Central Inspection" shall be construed to mean the Director of the Metropolitan Area Building and Construction Department or his or her designee,' and gives that Director 'the power of a law enforcement officer' to sign and serve a complaint and notice to appear against anyone the Director has probable cause to believe is violating a Code section, including a plumbing permit or inspection requirement, when the Director has responsibility for enforcing it.

Because Title 21 sets no plumbing-specific fine, a violation defaults to the citywide general penalty at Sec. 060: a fine of not more than $500, with each day the violation continues counted as a separate offense. A permit applicant or contractor who disputes a Director's decision under the unified code can appeal to the Board of Code Standards and Appeals (Ch. 10), a nine-member panel of architects, engineers, contractors and public members that, per Sec. '