The short version
- , Engineering permit covers the smaller disturbances; grading permit kicks in at the larger thresholds.
- , Completion bonds run 120% of the estimated project cost on engineering permits.
- , Grading permits are valid 180 days and must stay posted and visible from the street.
Which permit you actually need
Any excavation on private property in unincorporated Summit County, grading, filling, trenching, or cutting in a driveway, needs a permit unless it lands on the exemption list. Which permit depends on parcel size, how much material you move or import, and how much ground you disturb.
The engineering permit covers work under the county's threshold chart. The grading permit covers everything at or above it. Cross 5,000 cubic yards and you are into engineered grading, which means the work follows a plan prepared by a civil engineer and gets professional inspections from the civil engineer, soils engineer and, when required, an engineering geologist.
The exemptions worth knowing
Not every scoop needs paper. Excavation below finished grade for basements and footings under a valid building permit is exempt. So are utility lines serving existing or approved developments, wells, and projects already covered by a valid development permit such as a building permit, low impact permit or conditional use permit.
Landscape grading after a certificate of occupancy is exempt within limits: berms outside the county right-of-way under 4 feet, slopes under 30%, no obstruction or alteration of a drainage course, and nothing in potential Army Corps wetlands. Read those limits before you assume you are clear, the drainage course clause catches more mountain lots than people expect.
What goes in the submittal
- Completed application, emailed to Summit County Engineering.
- Site plan with a north arrow, detailed description of the work, and required stormwater mitigation items shown. Grading permits need that plan stamped by a Utah-licensed surveyor, architect or engineer.
- Signed construction acknowledgement.
- Cost estimate, used to set the completion bond. On engineering permits the bond runs 120% of the estimate; on grading permits it comes off the engineer's estimate.
- Disturbance over one acre triggers a State Stormwater Permit plus pre- and post-development runoff calculations.
How the bond comes back
The completion bond is not a fee. It is your money, held until the county is satisfied the site is finished and stable. Release happens after the bond release inspection, which is called once roughly 70% of the disturbed area has revegetated.
That single sentence is why seeding timing matters so much up here. Hydroseed a slope in late October at 7,000 feet and you are not getting germination before snow. That bond sits through the winter and into the following summer. Seed in the right window, protect it, and the money comes back on this job instead of next year's.
Sequencing so the start is fluid
The permit does not slow a job down. Waiting to start the permit does. Get the site plan and the cost estimate moving while the building permit is in review, not after. Have the erosion control plan drawn as part of the site plan rather than sketched later. Line up the stamped survey early, because that is the item that reliably takes the longest.
Grading permits are valid for 180 days, so pulling too early on a project that will not break ground until spring is its own mistake. There is a window. We help contractors hit it.
Want this handled instead of managed?
We do this work every week in Park City and 25 miles around. Call and we’ll tell you straight what your site needs.