When do Gilbert businesses pay water, sewer and system development fees?

Subsection (a) says the charges are calculated and collected before permission to start work is issued. In order:

1. 1Building permit: unless a development agreement says otherwise, fees are paid before the building permit issues, under the current fee schedule for the service area.
2. 2No building permit, but a connection: if water or wastewater connections are required, the fees are paid when the water service connection is purchased. If only a wastewater connection is required, they are paid before the sewer connection is approved. Wastewater fees apply if a development connects to the public sewer or, as the town manager or designee determines, is capable of discharging to it.
3. 3No permit, no connection, stormwater fee area: a stormwater, drainage and flood control fee is paid when any permit is issued.
4. 4Nothing issues until paid: the quote above. A permit issued in error, or work begun without authorization, may be revoked and stopped until the fee is paid in full.
5. 5Change or expansion: a permit for a change in building use, added square footage, a change to land use or an added point of demand is assessed on the additional service units, under the schedule for any new use type.
6. 6Expired or voided permits: the original permittee renewing pays the difference between the fee paid and the schedule at reissue. A different applicant pays the full fee at the schedule in effect at reissue.

Subsection (b) lists two cases where no fee is owed: the fee was already paid and the permit has not expired or been voided, or the approvals only modify existing development without adding new service units, increasing the impact of existing ones or changing the land-use type to one with a higher fee. If a modification falls short of that, the fee due is the difference. Subsection (c) freezes the schedule: for a commercial, industrial or multifamily development, the schedule in force on the day of final approval of a site plan or final subdivision plat stays in force for 24 months. Subsection (d) lets the town require an alternative fee analysis for a use that does not fit a category.

• System development fee: the code's term for a fee on new development. Water facilities and wastewater facilities are two of the categories the town may charge, alongside stormwater, library, street, fire and police, and park facilities (10-339).
• Building permit: in Article XI, any permit that authorizes vertical construction, increases square footage, authorizes changes to land use, or provides for the addition of a residential or non-residential point of demand to a water or wastewater system. Our reading is that a plumbing permit adding a point of demand to the water or wastewater system fits this definition.
• Service unit: a standardized measure of consumption, use, generation or discharge for a unit of development.
• Schedule in force: the Town's Development Services fee schedule lists water, resource and wastewater connection fees in one table and system development fees for parks, traffic signals, roads, police and fire in another. The code does not say which table is which fee. Our reading is that the connection fees are the water and wastewater facility fees.

Developers, owners and tenants of new commercial, industrial and residential development, and anyone whose permit adds water or sewer demand. It does not apply when the fee is already paid and the permit is live, or when a modification adds no service units, raises no impact and keeps the same land-use category.

These are the Town's published amounts, not HQ prices, from the Development Services Fee Schedules (PDF cover revised 9/15/2026). Fees are determined by the property's ultimate use, not a temporary use, and all landscape meters are considered commercial.

Each total is water resource plus water infrastructure plus wastewater. Meters larger than 6 inches are priced by Meter Services. The nonresidential system development fees are listed per KSF of building: commercial $1,622 parks and recreation, $4,884 traffic signals, $8,379 roads, $3,166 police and $891 fire; office and other services $2,494, $2,015, $3,456, $4,869 and $1,370; industrial $1,201, $907, $1,556, $2,345 and $660.

A new retail shell. The builder pays before the building permit. If the site plan or plat has final approval, the schedule in force that day can stay in force for 24 months, which matters if the fee table changes before the permit pulls.

A tenant improvement. A remodel that adds no service units, adds no impact and keeps the same land-use category owes nothing under (b)(2). If the project adds service units or moves the use to a higher-fee category, the difference is charged.

The edge case: the permit lapses and a buyer takes over. The original permittee would owe only the difference. A buyer who is not the original permittee, and who did not receive an assignment of the permit rights, pays the whole fee at the schedule current when the permit is reissued.

1. 1Work out your use category, meter size and service area (Neely or Greenfield) on the fee schedule.
2. 2Ask whether your project has a final site plan or plat approval date, which starts the 24-month schedule.
3. 3Pull the fee schedule and total the connection fees and the per-KSF fees for your building.
4. 4Pay through the One Stop Shop portal (OneStopShop.gilbertaz.gov) or call Development Services at (480) 503-6700 to confirm the amount due before the permit.
5. 5If the use is unusual, ask about the alternative fee analysis in subsection (d).

• Fees are due at the final inspection. The code collects them before the permit, connection or sewer approval.
• The code sets the amounts. The amounts are in the fee schedule, adopted separately.
• Any tenant improvement triggers a fee. Subsection (b)(2) exempts modifications that add no service units.
• A renewed permit keeps the old fee. A new applicant pays the schedule in effect at reissue.

Gilbert's own text governs; this page explains it.