Building permit
Inside Waynesville town limits or its extra-territorial jurisdiction: the Town’s own Building Inspections Department issues your permit — call Waynesville Town Hall below, not the county. Waynesville is the only town Haywood County’s Inspections Department excludes from its own jurisdiction.
Everywhere else in the county — including inside Clyde, Canton, or Maggie Valley town limits: Haywood County Development Services below issues the permit. If you’re inside one of those three towns, you also need a separate zoning sign-off from that town hall below before the county will issue it — get both, not one or the other.
Before you apply, either way: get septic and/or well approval from Environmental Health first — see well and septic questions. Development Services won’t issue a building permit without it.
Building in a flood-prone area, a protected watershed, or on a steep slope? Development Services administers those extra permits too — ask when you apply.
What to expect: gather your septic/well approval and any town zoning sign-off before you apply — missing either one stalls the county permit.
Who to call
5 offices can be the right one, depending on the details above.
Development Services
- Main: 828-452-6638
- Fire Marshal (burn permits, burn-day questions): 828-452-6717
157 Paragon Parkway, Suite 200, Clyde, NC 28721
The county doesn't have a standalone "Code Enforcement" office — Development Services handles building inspections, permits, planning, and zoning/erosion-control enforcement (fax 828-452-6791). Separately, the county's public-nuisance ordinance — Chapter 159, Public Health and Solid Waste Awareness and Compliance — is enforced by Environmental Health working in conjunction with the Planning Department and the Sheriff's Office, and it applies only in the unincorporated areas of the county. It covers accumulation of trash, objects that hold water and breed mosquitoes, and rodent harborages; the county's stated goal is voluntary compliance, with court action only when that fails. For nuisance calls, see Haywood County Environmental Health — the enforcing division, at the same Paragon Parkway campus, with its own direct line. Note that the county's Code Enforcement page itself lists only the agency-wide Health & Human Services front desk, which is the number carried under Haywood County Public Health: https://www.haywoodcountync.gov/456/Code-Enforcement. The county's Fire Marshal's Office is also organized under Development Services (site breadcrumb: Development Services > Building Inspections > Fire Marshal) — it handles burning-permit questions, whether burning is allowed on a given day, and burn bans; the actual permit itself is issued by the NC Forest Service's online system, not this office.
Waynesville Town Hall
- Main: 828-452-2491
- Building Inspections & Code Enforcement (Development Services): 828-456-8647
16 South Main Street, Waynesville, NC 28786
Covers Town Manager, Assistant Town Manager, Human Resources, and Town Clerk (Administration). Separate from Waynesville Public Works (129 Legion Drive — streets, water/sewer, electric), which has its own entry. Office hours were not published on the Town's contact or Administration pages, so they're omitted here rather than guessed. Waynesville is the one town Haywood County's own Inspections Department excludes from its jurisdiction — inside Waynesville town limits/ETJ, the Town's own Building Inspections Department (number above) issues building permits and handles property-maintenance/junk-vehicle code enforcement instead of the county.
Canton Town Hall
- Main: 828-648-2363
Monday–Friday, 7:30 AM–4:00 PM (closed office holidays)
85 Summer Street, Canton, NC 28716
Fax 828-646-3419. Town Hall, the Water & Sewer Department, and the Street & Sanitation Department all operate out of this same building and phone line — see Canton Public Works for department-specific numbers (after-hours emergency, water filter plant).
Maggie Valley Town Hall
- Main: 828-926-0866
3987 Soco Road, Maggie Valley, NC 28751
Office hours were not published on the Town's own contact or department pages, so they're omitted here rather than guessed. Staff extensions: Town Manager ext. 103, Town Clerk ext. 105, Finance Director ext. 101, Planning Director ext. 104, Public Services Director ext. 112.
Clyde Town Hall
- Main: 828-627-2566
Monday–Friday, 9:00 AM–12:00 PM and 1:00 PM–5:00 PM
8437 Carolina Blvd, Clyde, NC 28721
Mailing address PO Box 386, Clyde, NC 28721. The municipal building also houses the Police Department.
Related questions
Every office on one page
It happens: you call, and it turns out to be someone else's job. The cheat sheet puts every number on this site in one place, grouped by who runs it, so the next one to try is right there.