Beginning January 6, 2025, the “OWNER” licenses (OWNER-PLUMB, OWNER-ELEC, OWNER-STR/MECH), that were configured for homeowners to use to apply online on Citizen Access for building permits, will be retired and no longer available for homeowners to use.  They will be replaced with a new “Homeowner Path” for the online Building application process where the user must certify that they are the homeowner by entering contact information and uploading a Homeowner Acknowledgement Form for every online application.  The new Homeowner Path is available in our Staging environment for you to preview.  This new process should be more user-friendly and streamlined for homeowners!  More important notes:

• All participating OSM jurisdictions are required to allow homeowners to apply online using the new homeowner path.
• Homeowners will only be able to apply online for the following residential permit types.  Commercial property owners will need to apply over the counter since this new online application process only applies to residential homeowners.
  Note: These are only available to homeowners if your jurisdiction already offers them online.
  • Residential – 1 & 2 Family Dwelling
  • Residential – Electrical
  • Residential – Mechanical
  • Residential – Plumbing
  • Residential – Structural
  • Residential – Manufactured Dwelling Placement
  • Residential – Demo

 

• Homeowner applications will always be submitted with a status of App Submitted; they will never auto-issue, even when there is no plan review.
• Fees will be assessed but not invoiced.
• There will be no changes to the online building application process for licensed professionals.
• This does not apply to any other module; it only applies to the Building module.
• Homeowners will not be required to enter a licensed professional on their online account or on the permit application.
• There is a newly revised Homeowner Acknowledgement Form that was created as a joint effort between the Building Codes Division and Construction Contractors Board.  It can be found here: https://www.oregon.gov/BCD/epermitting/Documents/aca/homeowner-acknowledgement.pdf.
  
  

Please prep for this change by:

• Removing any published documentation for the current owner application process that uses the OWNER licenses by January 6, 2025.
• Consider replacing the current CCB Owner Affidavit Form with the new Homeowner Acknowledgement Form.
  
  

Homeowner User Experience:
These are the high level steps a homeowner will take to submit an online Building application.
New training documentation for homeowners can be found here: https://www.oregon.gov/bcd/epermitting/howto/homeowners/Pages/index.aspx

1. Create online registration on Citizen Access without adding a licensed professional.
2. Click Apply > search for their address.
3. The homeowner will only see residential permit types to apply for.

4. Once the permit type is selected, the homeowner will have a new screen where they will certify that they are the homeowner by 1) adding their contact information; and 2) uploading a copy of the Homeowner Acknowledgement Form.

• The jurisdiction now has the opportunity to review the online application and move it through the permitting lifecycle like normal.
• Aside from the above, homeowner applications will display and function the same as any other record or online application.

Changes to Citizen Access Wrapper:
A new main navigation button will be added with information that is specific for homeowners:

At any point in time when withdrawing a record, it is important to consider what to do with any new or outstanding, unpaid fees.  Just because a customer has withdrawn their application or permit does not mean they don’t potentially owe on any fees. They could still owe for completed services such as plan review, inspections, or other departmental fees that should be collected. If the fees assessed are no longer due, then delete them if NEW or VOID them to credit if invoiced and unpaid. If fees are already paid, consider if a refund is due based on the circumstances of the withdrawal. 

Withdrawn is an available status on all Workflow tasks – this result status will close the record and update the Record Status to ‘Withdrawn’. Check that no other Workflow tasks remain open after withdrawing – if any remain active, use Supervisor mode to set them to Active = NO and to remove any user assignment (note, Department must remain selected as a requirement, only the User can be rolled back to -Select-). Don’t forget to SUBMIT to save your changes, CANCEL to leave Supervisor mode.

There are standard Model reports and Filters that can assist in identifying any records that are withdrawn but still have outstanding fees and/or assigned tasks.

Permit process in ePermitting:

1. Applicant applies for a Commercial or Residential Structural permit, they will be required to enter the submitted job value for the project (note, this valuation entry may or may not be considered ultimately depending on the install type – prescriptive or non-prescriptive).
   
   
2. Category of Construction (CoC) would be the structure type the system is being installed to. The Type of Work (ToW) would be related to the structure’s status – if the structure is being newly constructed, Type of Work = New – but if the structure already exists, Type of Work = Alteration (and if the system is being installed along with a newly constructed addition, then Type of Work = Addition). Solar is not considered as ‘Other’ under CoC or under ToW.
   
   
3. Fees – fees will be automated for a standard Structural permit based on the submitted job value that was provided by the Applicant. Automated NEW fees should be reviewed and assessed based on the Solar/PV system type.
   
   
   1. If the system type is non-prescriptive, all automated fees should be selected and deleted. Then, go to Fees > ADD > add ‘1’ each of Non-Prescriptive Photovoltaic fee and ‘1’ each of Structural Plan Review > Submit. The system will add the Non-Prescriptive Photovoltaic fee item, Structural Plan Review, and State Surcharge – the fees for non-prescriptive systems are valuation-based structural fees, just like the standard structural permit fees, but using the named fee in this case assists greatly in reporting, specifically on solar install data.
      
      
   2. If the system type is prescriptive, all automated fees should be selected and deleted. Then, go to Fees > ADD > add ‘1’ each of Prescriptive Photovoltaic fee > Submit. The system will add the Prescriptive Photovoltaic fee item and State Surcharge – the Prescriptive Photovoltaic fee already includes plan review, so plan review is not separately charged with this system type. Use of this required named fee again assists greatly in reporting, specifically on solar install data.
      
      
4. Plan Review and Issuance – both prescriptive and non-prescriptive qualifying installs both require plans to be reviewed. Workflow is initiated as with any other structural application, moved though plan review to Completeness task. Issuance fees are collected at issuance and the permit is issued.
   
   
5. Inspections – appropriate and required inspections are then scheduled by the Applicant and inspected. Once final inspection is approved – the permit is finaled. No Certificate of Occupancy (COO) is indicated for Solar/PV installs – however, a Certificate of Satisfactory Completion (CSC) is best practice and can be very helpful in providing formal documentation that the install project has met requirements and is complete.  Go to Summary tab > Reports dropdown > generate the CSC – this report will automatically attach to the record Documents tab. The Applicant or other parties associated to the permit are then able to download the CSC report, or any other attached documents, online through ACA at BuildingPermits.Oregon.gov.
   
   

Follow this link for more information: https://orepermittinghelp.kayako.com/article/163-how-to-permit-for-solar-pv-installs.

The permit types that are available to public users when they are creating an online Building application is dependent on the licensed professional (LP) requirements that are configured in Accela, as well as the license associated to their public user account.  The ePermitting team found that Driveway, Commercial Sign, and Residential Sign permit type LP requirements were incorrect.  The following corrections have been made across all jurisdictions.
Note: no changes were made to how these permit types function in the back office.
 

• Driveway
  • Record Type = Building/Driveway/Access/Comprehensive
  • Previous LP requirement = none
  • New LP requirement = CCB or Engineer

 

• Commercial Sign
  • Record Type = Building/Commercial/Sign/Comprehensive
  • Previous LP requirement = (PB) Plumbing Contractor
  • New LP requirement = CCB

 

• Residential Sign
  • Record Type = Building/Residential/Sign/Comprehensive
  • Previous LP requirement = none
  • Less than 20 Residential Sign records were ever submitted online across all jurisdictions, so we made the decision to remove the ability to apply online for this permit type across all jurisdictions.

During the first half of 2025, ePermitting will be phasing out the IVR (telephone) inspection scheduling system, which also includes SelectText inspection scheduling.
We are phasing these out because the usage is very minimal, and those users that try IVR often struggle to successfully schedule their inspections.

The phase out will happen over the course of the next six months:

1. We will be removing all information concerning IVR from the inspection brochure; then,
2. Online IVR training materials will be removed from ACA; next,
3. We will start modifying reports to remove references to IVR; and, lastly
4. IVR will no longer be available for inspection scheduling.

We anticipate that IVR will no longer be available by Summer, 2025 but will send out updates as we proceed with this project. 

With the sunset of the IVR Inspection scheduling option, customers can still schedule online thru ACA directly or using Easy Scheduling, and/or through the ePermitting app.


Also, if you would like to have Jerod Broadfoot conduct contractor training on how to schedule inspections using the app and the website, please contact him at:  [email protected].

City of Clatskanie - Go live Spring of 2025
City of Jacksonville - Go live Spring of 2025
City of Lafayette - Go live Spring of 2025
City of Lakeside - Go live Spring of 2025
City of Oakridge - Go live Spring of 2025
City of Vernonia - Go live Spring of 2025
​Dunes City - Go live Spring of 2025

Join us in welcoming the City of Fairview, City of King City, City of Lowell, City of Ontario, and City of Sherwood who joined Oregon ePermitting in the Fall of 2024.