Princeton IN Homeowner Hub: The Two-Mile Permit Rule

Princeton has a detail most homeowners here get wrong: the city’s building department covers construction, demolition and signs inside the city limits and within a two-mile radius beyond them. If you live just outside town and assumed you were county-only, check first — that two-mile band catches a lot of properties.

Permits in and around Princeton

The Building Commissioner issues permits for residential construction — storage buildings, garages and houses — as well as commercial projects, signs and demolitions. The department also handles variances, conditional use permits and zoning appeals. Commercial work needs both a city permit and a State Construction Design release; residential does not.

Building department phone is (812) 386-1333, fax (812) 385-0903. The office address and counter hours are not published on the city’s planning page, so call before driving over. City of Princeton planning.

Note that a storage building is on that list. A shed you order and have delivered still counts as residential construction in Princeton — worth a call before it arrives on a truck.

Gibson County clear-out days — one confirmed date

Princeton is the Gibson County seat, and Gibson is the one county in the Tri-State with a confirmed 2026 date on the books. Fall Household Hazardous Waste Day, Saturday October 17, 8:00 a.m. to noon, at the Toyota Family Medical Center, 4924 S Maple Tree Drive, Princeton 47670. Open to Gibson County residents only, no businesses. It takes medications, sharps, batteries, paint, oils and grease, household chemicals and pesticides, adhesives and sealers, fluorescent bulbs, electronics, televisions with a limit of three, residential propane tanks and regular recyclables.

Source and the rest of the county calendars: Tri-State Clear-Out Calendar.

Before you dig

Call 811 before excavation of any kind, including fence posts and deck footings.

Find a local contractor

Browse the Tri-State contractor directory by trade, or tell us what you need and we will hand it to one local contractor in your area. Free to you — contractors pay us, you never do.