Retaining wall permit checklist — Spokane, Washington
Assembled from Spokane’s own published permit rules. Every line below is quoted from a city document and linked to it. Nothing here is generated, estimated, or inferred from another jurisdiction.
Do you need a permit?
Spokane requires a permit for a retaining wall.
Spokane skips the permit for three categories of earth-retaining work. A poured reinforced concrete wall qualifies where it stands three feet or less above grade, its foundation extends as far below grade as the wall rises above it, the backfill behind it is level, and nothing loads the soil behind it, meaning no parking surface, no walkway and no structural weight. Any earth-retaining structure four feet or under, sized footing base to wall top, also qualifies once it sits at least 15 feet back from every property line. Modular block walls at that same four-foot limit qualify on stricter terms: built to the block manufacturer's published guidelines, backfilled with non-cohesive material such as clean gravel or crushed rock, free of surcharge from parking, walkways, structural weight or sloping backfill, holding back no Class I, II or III-A liquid, and terraced no more than twice, with each terrace four feet or less and the terraces spaced apart by twice the wall height.
Loading the full checklist…
Sources
- retaining wall — permit rules ↗verified August 2026
Other permits Spokane publishes rules for
Listed because the city publishes a separate rule for each type — not because this project necessarily triggers one. Whether it does depends on your scope of work.
- Deck permit checklist
- Fence permit checklist
- Shed permit checklist
- Water heater permit checklist
- Re-roof permit checklist
- Electrical work permit checklist
- General building work permit checklist
BuildSpec is a reference, not the authority having jurisdiction. Confirm requirements with Spokane before you build.