City of Bend to launch new, updated permit system

Published 4:25 pm Tuesday, November 24, 2020

The city of Bend will launch a new online permit center as a part of a greater effort to modernize the city’s outdated software and systems.

Starting Monday, Dec. 14, the online permit center will be the service center for business registrations, building and engineering permits, land use applications, special event and fire permits, code complaints, room tax remittance and other specialty licenses, according to a city press release.

The idea behind the update is to provide the public and builders with a convenient, user-friendly online experience, said Community Development Director Russ Grayson.

An online permit center also provides customers with a contactless option for payments, submissions, and project tracking in the time of COVID-19.

“We’re jumping up to 10 generations of technology from our old system to our new system,” Grayson said.

Right now, people wanting a permit have to fill out a PDF form, send it in, and then the city has to put that information into the system, Grayson said. Then the city sends back a notification letting customers know they can upload their planning documents.

The new system will be all online and more streamlined, Grayson said. This new system will replace “eplans,” which is the online database the public can use to track projects.

“It’s a lot more interactive,” he said, and will offer more information about where the project is in the development timeline.

Inspections are also expected to be more efficient, he said. Currently, people schedule an appointment through an antiquated phone tree or online system. Then those requests come in, get printed and hand sorted, Grayson said, before they are given to inspectors.

Inspectors then have to come back to the office to process those inspections. With the new system, it will all be done online, and applicants can know whether they passed an inspection or not in real time while the inspector is still on site.

While the city will continue to process requests for inspections, the city will not process new applications or payments, no permits will be issued, and no plan reviews will be conducted until after Dec. 11, Grayson said.

The delay is to give the city time to move over 3,000 active applications from the old system to the new system, and to allow city staff to go through the projects and make sure they are marked appropriately, he said. For example, if a project is still being reviewed, it needs to be marked as such.

“We understand its impactful, but there’s not a lot of options here,” Grayson said. “We just need to get through it…and hopefully we’ll be in a much better place for us and the customers moving forward.”

More information about the new online permit center can be found at www.bendoregon.gov/permitcenter.