Gatesville adopts new fee schedule, considers vape shop rules
Gatesville adopted a new fee schedule and kept moving on vape-shop rules, with permit costs, inspections and retailer oversight now in play across town.
Gatesville adopted Ordinance 2026-09 on June 23, putting a new fee schedule into effect immediately and setting a fresh price tag for a wide range of city services. The schedule reaches beyond one line item: it covers building permits, certificates of occupancy, reinspections, solar panels, animal-control charges, airport hangar rents and livestock or fowl permits on smaller tracts, so the biggest impact lands on homeowners, builders, property owners and small businesses that need city approval to move work forward.
Under the prior fee schedule that took effect Oct. 1, 2025, Gatesville charged $250 for certain commercial building permits up to 1,000 square feet, $785 for residential permits up to 1,500 square feet, $150 for a certificate of occupancy, $100 for general stand-alone permits, $160 for solar panels and $75 for the first reinspection. The June 2026 revision was folded into the city’s broader effort to line up its charges with other Central Texas cities and to account for state law changes that affect what cities can still charge locally.
One of those changes is House Bill 2844, which created a statewide mobile food vendor license and blocked cities from stacking duplicate local licensing fees and inspections on top of that system, except for special-event fees. City staff also moved the fee discussion ahead of the usual budget-season timing because of Senate Bill 1202, which changes the timing for local development documents and inspections, including a 48-hour approval-related step.
At the same meeting cycle, Gatesville also continued work on Ordinance 2026-10, a draft measure that would amend Chapter 32 of the city code and add a new Article X for vape shops and cannabis-related shops. The measure would spell out where these shops can operate and what rules will govern them.
The June 23 notices followed a longer review that started May 26, when the council discussed zoning ordinance revisions, fee-schedule amendments and the vape-shop proposal. A June 9 agenda showed Ordinance 2026-09 on second reading and Ordinance 2026-10 on first reading, while the zoning rewrite was still moving through changes to articles that had not been updated since 1995. One of those zoning revisions added corrugated metal to the approved fencing list.
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