Permits

Any work done in the road right-of-way must be permitted. This includes private and public accesses, utilities (gas, water, electric, cable TV, phone, etc.), or any other construction work in the road right-of-way.

Any private or public access that connects to a county or dedicated road will need to be permitted. A permit for a residential access is $75.00 and a commercial access is $150.00. A residential access must be no wider than 30 feet and a commercial access must be no wider than 50 feet. A copy of the contractors Excavation Bond to do work in Yellowstone County may be required. The Yellowstone County Public Works Department will review the access for proper sight distance.

Culvert piping (if applicable) must be sized for the appropriate drainage area and must be a minimum of 15 inches in diameter.

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Building Permits& Certificate of Occupancy

Certificate of Occupancy Notice

Yellowstone County does not issue Building Permits or Certificates of Occupancy for structures outside the city limits of Billings. These structures are not subject to the same restrictions and permits as those located within the city limits.

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UtilityPermitting Info

Permittees shall review and become familiar with Yellowstone County’s Road Policies regarding requirements associated with working in County rights-of-way and permitting.

Utility service and maintenance permit requests can be made by sending your staking/plan sheets to Trasee at tfield@yellowstonecountymt.gov.

Information to be included when submitting your detailed staking/plan sheets should be:

• Name and contact info of requesting Utility Company
• Name and contact info of local contractor (performing the work)
• Description of work to be performed
• Location

Once received, your request will be forwarded for review. At this time our engineer or representative will go over your staking/plan sheets and provide comments about any concerns there may be. If comments are provided, the staking/plan sheets will be returned to the Utility Company for revisions, corrections, and resubmittal. Please be advised we have a 10-day review window for all utility requests.

The County does not review for private entities (irrigation/water/sewer districts) – you will need to permit with these other entities separately.

The County requires a pre-construction walkthrough, interim inspections as necessary, and a post-construction walk-through. Schedule these with Trasee. If two permits are active, subsequent permits will not be issued until at least one outstanding permit is closed.

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Utility Permitting Fees

The base fee is $150.00. (Please note there are 3rd party review and inspection fees that are required in addition to the base fee.)

Utility service installation and maintenance up to 1 mile $.10/ft more than 1 mile $.05/ft
Utility pole installation $50.00 per new pole
No fee for new horizontal directional drilling operations

These fees can be paid by credit card either over the phone or in person for a 2.5% fee. Cash and/or check are also acceptable.

The fees associated with the pre-construction, interim, and post-construction walk-throughs are the responsibility of the permittee. The County will pass through all representative third-party fees associated with these services onto the permittee via invoice from the County.

ALL COSTS INCURRED BY THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT OR ITS REPRESENTATIVES ASSOCIATED WITH REVIEW, TESTING, INSPECTION, AND CORRECTION OF CONSTRUCTION DEFICIENCIES SERVICES WILL BE CHARGED TO THE RESPONSIBLE PERMITTEE.