Published
The eleven questions Fremont County asks before it looks at your plans
It is the last page, and you answer it yourself
The Fremont County building permit packet is four things most people expect — an application, two sets of plans, a site plan and a fee — and one they do not. The final page is headed Zoning Questionnaire, and it is completed by the applicant, in their own hand, before a plan reviewer has opened anything. The form served from the county’s own document library today is the revision dated 17 April 2026, and it carries eleven questions and one agreement.
It matters more than its position suggests. Every question on it is a routing question. A yes rarely stops a build; what it does is decide whether your file stays inside the county building department or picks up a second desk — a health district, a highway district, a canal company, a licensed engineer. Those referrals are what turn the county’s stated four to six weeks of review into something longer, and they are usually discovered late, because this page gets filled in quickly at the end of an evening of paperwork.
The eleven questions, and what each one actually triggers
The left column is the county’s own wording and its own order. The right column is not on the form: it is what a yes tends to mean in practice on ground around St. Anthony, Parker and Egin.
| What the form asks | What a yes usually means |
|---|---|
| Disturb more than 1 acre cumulatively on ground over 8% slope | Erosion and sediment control enters the file. Rare on the valley floor, normal on the bench. |
| Create more than 20,000 square feet of impervious surface | Stormwater has to go somewhere on paper, not just downhill. A house plus shop plus paved yard reaches this without anyone intending it. |
| Property contains wetlands or a spring | The likeliest route to a federal question. It is also the one most often answered “no” by people who have never had the ground looked at in spring. |
| Structure in or next to a floodplain or stream | Floodplain development standards, and a survey requirement that is far cheaper to discover now. |
| Structure on a slope of 15–30%, or over 30% | Engineered foundation design. Almost never triggered in town or on the flat ground west of it. |
| Property includes or borders a canal | The one most likely to surprise a valley-floor buyer. See below — the canal company is not the county. |
| You will be renting the property or running a home business | A use question rather than a building question, and the answer can change which zone rules apply. |
| Height of the proposed building (a blank, not a yes/no) | Checked against the county’s 30-foot cap, and 25 feet if what you are describing is an accessory structure. |
| Installing a septic system, or connecting to public or private sewer | Eastern Idaho Public Health enters at submittal, not at framing. A sewer connection needs its approval attached. |
| Drinking water: drill a well, or connect to a community water system | A community system needs its written approval attached to the packet. |
| Is nearby electric power available (a blank) | Distance to the nearest service is a real cost line, and it is not the county’s to quote. |
The three that catch ground on the valley floor
Most of that list is either obviously yes or obviously no. Three are worth slowing down for if the parcel sits west or south of town, on the irrigated flat rather than up on the bench.
The canal question
Ground around Parker, Egin and the flats is threaded with irrigation canals, laterals and ditches, and a great many parcels border one without the deed drawing attention to it. The county asks the question; it does not answer it. The canal company, not Fremont County, controls the easement, and the easement width and the access rules that come with it are a private matter between you and that company. Establish which entity holds it before you site a building rather than after, because an easement discovered late does not move — the building does.
The wetlands-or-spring question
A field that is dry in August is not evidence about the same field in May. This is the question most often answered from the memory of a single summer walk-through, and it is the one with a federal agency standing behind it. If there is any history of standing water on the parcel, that history is worth establishing before the answer is written down and signed.
The impervious-surface question
20,000 square feet is a larger number than it sounds and a smaller one than a working farmstead needs. Add a house, an attached garage, a shop, a hay shed and a yard that starts as gravel and ends as paving, and the threshold stops being theoretical. It is worth adding up on paper once, early, rather than assuming an agricultural parcel is comfortably under it.
The line at the bottom that is not a question at all
The questionnaire finishes with something different in kind. It is not asking; it is telling, and you sign next to it.
“Utilities provided to your property must be underground. I agree”
— Fremont County, Zoning Questionnaire page of the Pre-Construction Check List for Building Permits, rev. 17 April 2026. Retrieved 14 August 2026
There is no yes-or-no box beside it and no stated exception on the form. On a lot with power at the road this is a non-event. On deep acreage — and deep acreage is most of what is left to build on around here — the distance from the nearest pole to the house pad is a trenching bill, and it is a bill that belongs in the first conversation with a builder rather than the fourth. It is also the single line on this page that most often changes where on a parcel a house ends up sitting.
What the questionnaire does not ask, and why that matters
Reading a form for what is absent is as useful as reading it for what is present. Three things people expect to be settled here are settled somewhere else entirely.
| Not on this page | Where it is actually decided |
|---|---|
| Whether the county is your permit desk at all | Your address. The county issues every building permit in Fremont County except inside the St. Anthony city limits — which side of that line you are on decides everything else. |
| Your ground snow load | Ordinance 2005–02, by district. The St. Anthony District figure is 50 PSF, and the county sets it, not this form. |
| Whether your plans need a stamp | A separate rule on a different page of the same packet — three triggers across two desks, and one of them has no size condition at all. |
Filling it in without creating work for yourself
- Get the parcel number first. The checklist is explicit that an incomplete application will not be accepted or processed, and it wants parcel, section, township and range — plus lot and block inside a subdivision.
- Walk the ground in the wet part of the year, or talk to someone who has. The wetlands, spring and floodplain answers are worth more than a summer impression.
- Establish who holds any canal or ditch easement before siting the building. That is a call to the canal company, and it is not something the county can resolve for you.
- Answer the height question with the number you actually intend, and know which cap you are being read against — 30 feet, or 25 if the county reads the building as accessory.
- Price the trench to the nearest power. The underground line is an agreement, not a question, so there is nothing to negotiate later.
Where this page stops
This is research, not a permit decision. Every routing consequence above is this site’s reading of a public form, and the only people who can tell you what your answers trigger are the ones who will read them: Fremont County Building Department, Fremont County Courthouse, 151 W 1st North, St. Anthony — (208) 624-7200. Applications and attachments go by email to p.b@co.fremont.id.us. What this page is for is arriving at that desk having already found the two or three answers on the page that were going to cost you a fortnight.
Common questions
Where do I actually find the Zoning Questionnaire?
It is the last page of Fremont County's Pre-Construction Check List for Building Permits, in the county's own document library. It is not a separate download and it is not linked separately, which is why people miss it until the packet is nearly assembled.
Does answering yes to something stop my build?
Almost never. What a yes normally does is add a reviewer — a health district, a highway district, a canal company or an engineer. The cost of a yes is usually time rather than permission, and the time is far cheaper when it is discovered before submittal.
My parcel borders an irrigation canal. Who do I talk to?
The canal company that holds the easement, not the county. Fremont County asks the question on its form but the easement is a private property matter, and its width and access rules come from the company's own records. Establish which company it is before you site a building.
What counts toward the 20,000 square feet of impervious surface?
The form does not define it, which is the honest answer. Treat roofs and paving as the obvious contributors and ask the building department how they count gravel and compacted yard before you assume a farmstead is under the threshold.
Is the underground-utilities line negotiable?
It is printed as an agreement rather than a question, with no yes-or-no box and no exception stated on the form. Anyone building on deep acreage should treat the trench from the nearest power as a real cost line and raise it with the county early if the distance is unusual.
Does the questionnaire apply inside St. Anthony city limits?
No. The county issues permits everywhere in Fremont County except inside the St. Anthony city limits, so a build in town goes through the city instead and this form is not part of it. Which side of that line your ground is on decides which packet you are filling in at all.
How long does the county take once the packet is complete?
The checklist states approximately four to six weeks to review and approve building plans, and says plainly that an incomplete application will not be accepted or processed. The questionnaire is one of the cheapest places to make a packet incomplete.
What height do I put if I have not finalised the design?
Put the number you intend and expect it to be read against the county's caps — 30 feet for buildings, 25 feet for accessory structures. Guessing low to stay under a cap is the wrong move, because the figure gets checked against the plans that follow.
Do I need the septic permit before or after the building permit?
The checklist states the septic permit is required upon submittal of the building permit application, so it comes first. The sewer application is made with Eastern Idaho Public Health, whose Fremont County office is at 45 South 2nd West in St. Anthony, (208) 522-8065.
Was this checked against the current form?
Yes. Every figure and quotation on this page was read from the revision dated 17 April 2026, retrieved from the county's document library on 14 August 2026. County forms are revised without announcement, so confirm anything you are about to rely on.