A cost that only exists in town
In St. Anthony you build the sidewalk before you get the keys
Published · every figure below was checked against its primary source on the date shown.
A line you sign, near the bottom of the form
The City of St. Anthony's residential building permit application is two pages. Most of it is what you would expect — parcel, owner, contractor, a description of the work, a valuation. Near the bottom of the first page, under its own heading, is a certification with two signature lines: one for the property owner and one for the contractor.
“I hereby certify I understand sidewalk, street, and concrete curb and gutter construction shall be required in and along the street frontage of all properties before certificate of occupancy issued.”
— City of St. Anthony, Residential Building Permit Application, Rev. 11.2023, citing SAMC 17.09.010(5). Signed by both the property owner and the contractor. Retrieved 14 August 2026
It is worth being precise about what that sentence commits you to. Sidewalk, street, and concrete curb and gutter. In and along the street frontage. Of all properties. Before certificate of occupancy issued. Four separate constraints in one sentence, and the last one is the one with teeth.
Why the timing is the expensive part
The certificate of occupancy is the document that makes a finished house legally habitable. It is the last thing to happen and it is the thing everybody is waiting for — the lender, the movers, the family that has already given notice somewhere else.
Attaching a concrete pour to that moment does something specific to your risk. Flatwork is weather-dependent and the season here is short. A house that finishes in late autumn can be complete in every other respect and still not be occupiable, because the one remaining item is a concrete pour that the weather will not allow.
That is not a hypothetical inconvenience. It is a scheduling constraint that should be in the build programme from the first week, not discovered in the last one.
City and county, on this one item
| Inside St. Anthony city limits | Outside, in the county | |
|---|---|---|
| Sidewalk, curb, gutter | Required before certificate of occupancy | Not a building permit requirement |
| Who signs for it | Property owner and contractor | — |
| Scales with | Your street frontage | — |
| What the county asks instead | — | A driveway permit through Public Works or ITD if you are creating new access to a county road or highway |
This is one of the cleanest illustrations of the point made across this site: the same house, built to the same standard, costs measurably different amounts depending on which side of the city line it sits.
What to do about it
- Measure the frontage of any city lot you are considering, before you buy. This cost scales with it.
- Ask the city office what is already in place in front of that specific address. Some streets have curb and gutter already; some do not; only the city can tell you for a given frontage.
- Get it priced as a separate line in the build quote, not folded into a site-work allowance where it disappears.
- Put it early in the programme. Anything that gates the certificate of occupancy should not be scheduled against the weather at the end of the build.
Who to ask, and what about
| Question | Who answers it |
|---|---|
| Is this address inside the city limits at all? | City of St. Anthony, (208) 624-3494 |
| What is already built along this specific frontage? | City of St. Anthony, (208) 624-3494 |
| What is the operative text of SAMC 17.09.010(5)? | City of St. Anthony — not the draft PDF on the website |
| Am I creating new access to a county road or highway? | Fremont County Public Works, or ITD for a state highway |
Where the exact rule lives
The application cites SAMC 17.09.010(5). The city publishes its adopted municipal code online, and that is the version to rely on. There is also a 104-page copy of the zoning title hosted on the city's own website whose filename suggests it is final — but every page of it is footed “Draft,” and its section 17.09.010 has no subsection (5) at all. This site does not quote figures from that file, and neither should anyone else. For the operative text, ask City of St. Anthony, 420 N Bridge Street Suite A, St. Anthony, ID 83445 — (208) 624-3494; inspections (208) 709-3030, 24 hours' notice.
Related reading on this site
- St. Anthony issues its own building permits — the sentence that decides whether this applies to you at all
- What it costs to build a custom home in St. Anthony — where frontage work sits among the other public charges
- The St. Anthony District snow load is 50 PSF — the other county figure worth settling before you buy a lot
Common questions
Do I have to build a sidewalk when I build a house in St. Anthony?
Inside the city limits, yes. The city's residential building permit application carries a certification that sidewalk, street, and concrete curb and gutter construction is required in and along the street frontage of all properties before a certificate of occupancy is issued. Both the property owner and the contractor sign it.
Is it really enforced at the certificate of occupancy?
That is what the certification says: before certificate of occupancy issued. The certificate of occupancy is what makes the house legally habitable, so this is not a requirement you can defer into the following spring by agreement with yourself.
How much does it cost?
This site will not quote you a figure it cannot verify. Concrete flatwork is priced by the linear foot of frontage and varies with access, subgrade and how much of the street section is already in place. What is certain is that it scales with your frontage, so a wide corner lot carries more of it than a narrow interior one.
Does it apply if the street already has curb and gutter?
Ask the city. The certification is written as a requirement along the street frontage of all properties, but what is already in place in front of a specific lot is a question of fact that only the city office can answer for that address. Get the answer before you close on the lot.
Does the county require this too?
No. It is not a Fremont County building permit requirement. This is one of the clearest examples of the city and county paths costing genuinely different amounts for the same house.
Which code section is it?
The city's application cites SAMC 17.09.010(5). The adopted municipal code is published online by the city; a copy of the zoning title hosted on the city's own site is marked as a draft throughout and its section numbering does not match, so ask the city for the operative text rather than relying on that file.
When should I find this out?
Before you buy the lot, and certainly before you sign a build contract. It is a cost attached to the frontage of the parcel, which means it is a fact about the land you are buying rather than a choice you make later.
Does a corner lot cost more because of this?
It has more street frontage, and the requirement is written against the street frontage of the property. Two frontages instead of one is the kind of difference that does not show up in a price per square foot but does show up in the final bill, so measure before you assume a corner lot is simply a nicer version of an interior one.
Ask about a build in St. Anthony
Describe the parcel and roughly what you have in mind. What comes back is an honest read on which firms here take that kind of work, plus the one thing most people have not established yet: whether the city or the county will be reviewing your plans. Free, and nothing automated ever follows.
- Say where the ground is and what you intend to put on it.
- You are pointed toward the firms in this town with that work behind them.
- From there it is between you and them. No commission, no introduction fee, and nobody standing between you and your own contract.
One contact method is plenty — whichever you prefer. A human being writes back.