OUR GOALS: To keep Dover a great place to live through application of Smart Growth principles. To safeguard life or limb, health, property and public welfare by regulation and control of design, construction, use and occupancy, location and maintenance of buildings and structures. To develop, maintain and update plans, systems, facilities, and services necessary to accommodate smart growth and development.
The Planning Department encompasses the Divisions of Planning, Zoning, Public Works, Roads and Parks. Follow the links on the left to view more about the Road and Parks Departments.
The Planning and Zoning Department administers the City of Dover’s Code of Ordinances which affect location, appearance, parking, height, size, land use, including Zoning Regulations and setback regulations. We work closely with the P&Z Commission, City Council and with neighboring communities regarding activities within the Area of City Impact to provide unified and consistent decisions.
This is the department responsible for the regulation of all new, altered, and existing buildings within the city limits. This process includes residential and commercial plan review, field inspections, and permitting. The basic purpose is to assure public safety by verifying compliance with City Ordinances, state and national codes.
In order to effectively respond to the level of local construction activity, our staff have developed measures to minimize processing delays of plan checks, field inspections, and coordination work associated with all building permit activities. We will assist with coordination between other service providers, such as the Panhandle Public Health Department, Westside Fire or Bonner County School District and the Independent Highway District.
As a courtesy for anyone wishing to build in Dover, we offer pre-application meetings to help the novice and experienced applicant understand the review process and land development regulations. To schedule a pre-application meeting please call 208-265-8339.
Development review represents the greatest percentage of the workload for the Planning Department. The Public Works Administrator has the authority to provide interpretations of Zoning Ordinance provisions and to decide routine and uncontested matters such as fence waivers, accessory uses, home occupations, sign permits. These are considered as Staff level decisions . The Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council hold public hearings on the more complex and intense applications such as conditional uses, lot line adjustments, subdivisions, and planned developments. These are Council level decisions.
The evaluation process for all council level decision applications (including Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Ordinance amendments) includes an in-depth evaluation by the Public Works Administrator and preparation of a staff report. The process for evaluation of each application include: