Online Permit Center Portal Help

The Online Permit Center (also known as the Portal) is the application and plan review software for the City of Bend. The Portal is the customer interface for submitting applications, tracking status, paying fees, requesting inspections, and more.

The Online Permit Center Portal is the tool customers use to:

• Apply for permits and licenses
• Register businesses
• Submit Code Enforcement complaints
• Schedule inspections
• Submit records requests
• Look up information on properties
• And many other items related to the City of Bend’s Community Development department

The following are just a small sample of the multiple advantages City of Bend customers benefit from by using this system:

• Streamlined online submittals, payments, reviews and inspection scheduling
• Ability to determine project status quickly and easily
• Receive real-time inspection results from the field
• File and track Code Enforcement complaints 100% online

The following programs conduct business via the Online Permit Center Portal:

• Business Registrations
• Business Specialty Licenses (Short Term Rentals, Marijuana Businesses, Vehicle for Hire, Sidewalk Café, Sidewalk Vendor, Portable Signs, etc.)
• Building Permits
• Planning/Land Use Applications
• Engineering Permits
• Sign Permits and Temporary Sign Registrations
• Development Agreements and System Development Charges (SDCs)
• Special Event and Noise Variance Applications
• Fire Prevention Requests and Inspections
• Code Enforcement Complaints
• Contractor Registrations
• Pre-Qualified Contractor Program Applications (for performing work in the public right-of-way)
• Room Tax and Franchise Fee Remittances

No. All applications are now submitted through the Online Permit Center Portal. City staff are available by email, phone, and in-person at the Permit Center counter at City Hall to help customers navigate the Portal system. If you’re experiencing challenges using the system, please reach out and our staff will be glad to assist.

Yes. However, the ePlans system is read-only. It can be used to access old records. Via read-only access customers can print and download documents that are stored as part of the record. Read-only access to the ePlans system.

The City is unable to accept files or plan sets with unflattened layers, and will return these to the applicant to be corrected before plan review may occur. To make sure your files are flattened before uploading, check out our helpful How To Flatten AutoCAD Files guide.

The City of Bend only accepts payment of fees for permits, registrations, and licenses via the following methods:

• Through the Online Permit Center Portal.
• At the Permit Center counter in City Hall.
• Via USPS mail.

If you have questions about your statement of fees, please contact the City of Bend Permit Center at 541-388-5580.

Yes! Customers can pay online within the Portal for any permit, license, inspection and/or planning application fee. There are multiple options for payment including Credit Cards, Debit Cards, electronic check (EFT), PayPal, and Venmo.

When using credit cards, debit cards, PayPal, and Venmo the card and/or financial institution charges an additional 3.25% processing fee. The City of Bend does not keep this fee. It, rather, goes directly to the financial institution to cover the processing fees.

Yes! There are two ways to avoid paying for the service fee:

1. Electronic Check (EFT). In the Online Permit Center Portal you can pay using electronic check (EFT). This option does not include a payment processor service fee
2. Paper Check. You can pay via a paper check in-person at our Permit Center at 710 N.W. Wall St. in Downtown Bend in City Hall. Or paper checks can be mailed to 710 N.W. Wall St., Bend, OR 97703

No, the payment processor service fee goes directly to the third-party payment processor.  

City Council decided in November of 2018 that all payment processor service fees would be passed to applicants. Again, the City does not keep any of the fees, they are passed directly on to the financial institution.

Online Payments

• Electronic-check (EFT) – No payment processor service fee
• Credit and/or debit card – Payment processor service fee of 3.25% of the total, $1.95 minimum
• Paypal – Payment processor service fee of 3.25% of the total, $1.95 minimum
• Venmo – Payment processor service fee of 3.25% of the total, $1.95 minimum

Phone Payments

• Credit and/or debit card – Payment processor service fee of 3.25% of the total, $1.95 minimum
• Electronic-check (EFT), Paypal, and Venmo are not options for phone payments

In-Person Payments

• Checks – No payment processor service fee
• Credit and/or debit card – Payment processor service fee of 3.25% of the total, $1.95 minimum
• Electronic-check (EFT), Paypal, and Venmo are not options for in-person payments

Mail

• Checks – No payment processor service fee Checks can be mailed to: City of Bend, Attn. Permit Center, 710 NW Wall St., Bend, OR 97703
• Electronic-check (EFT), Credit and/or debit card, Paypal, and Venmo are not options for mail payments

Options include:

• Pay online with a credit or debit card, electronic check (EFT), Paypal, or Venmo
• Pay in-person with a check or a credit or debit card at the Permit Center at City Hall in downtown Bend
• Mail in a payment by check to 710 NW Wall St., Bend, OR 97703
• Pay by phone with a credit or debit card

In order for clients to pay fees online using the Online Permit Center, they will need to be registered for a Portal account. After athe client has completed their Portal registration, please reach out to City staff and they can add the client as a contact to the appropriate project(s). They will be able to see payable fees in their My Items page to add to their Shopping Cart.

It’s simple! We have a short video guide or written step-by-step guide to help.

Online payments are processed using Invoice Cloud.  Invoice Cloud uses the highest standards in internet security.  Account information displayed within the payment portal is truncated to protect confidential data.  Any information retained, such as Invoice Cloud store names, mailing addresses and/or email addresses, are not shared with third parties.

Yes.  Invoice Cloud will safely store your financial information using Payment Card Industry (PCI) Compliant systems.  This include truncating (abbreviating) account numbers so that even City staff do not see your complete account information.

Yes, if you want to…

• Submit an application
• Track application and/or project status
• Pay online
• Request inspections
• Make corrections or revisions to an application
• Upload new documents
• Add other contacts to my project
• Submit a code complaint
  
  

No, if you want to…

• Search for property information
• Search for current development activity
• View current land use application documents and project information

Registration is free, and just takes a few minutes to complete. You’ll need a valid email address to register for an account.

We offer the following short video guide as well as a written step-by-step guide to help walk you through completing your registration.

Businesses: you may also be interested in checking out our email guidelines for businesses before you get started. Our system allows for multiple users to have access to projects.

Create your account using a legitimate email address that you access frequently. All communication on applications will route through this email address. Once you have submitted your account registration, the system will send an activation link to your email address.

If you are a business, you may also be interested in checking out our email guidelines for businesses before you get started. Multiple users may have access to projects in our new system.

To request an inspection, use the Online Permit Center Portal: check out our short video guide or written step-by-step guide for instructions.

NOTE: You will need to be listed as a contact on the permit you are requesting an inspection for. If you are not currently listed as a contact on the permit, the person who applied for the permit can add you as a contact, or City staff can add you as well. Contact us at: permitcenter@bendoregon.gov for assistance.

Yes! Our system allows for multiple users to have access if they are added as a Contact. Contacts are able to pay fees, view and upload documents, view additional status details, and request inspections.

• For detailed information and step-by-step instructions, check out our How Applicants May Add Contacts to Projects guide.
• Applicants may add contacts from the Business Address Book to their project at any time using the Edit Details link on upper right corner of the Application Status page. 
  *If you are the Applicant, and do not see this option on a project that was migrated from our legacy system, reach out to City staff to make an adjustment for you. See more details in the How Applicants May Add Contacts to Projects guide.
• Applicants may request that other individual people with Portal accounts be added as contacts to their project as well. This request may be made during initial application submission using Additional Contact fields, or by emailing that request to City staff. See more details in the How Applicants May Add Contacts to Projects guide.
  

The Address Book is populated by businesses who have one of the following:

• An active business registration
• An active contractor registration or qualified contractor license
• An active specialty license

The top of this page contains multiple help resources on a wide variety of topics to assist you with using the Online Permit Center Portal.

Contact staff at permitcenter@bendoregon.gov with additional questions or needs.

Yes, many! The Online Permit Center Portal will walk customers through each step. Look for blue question mark buttons that include more information and links to submittal documents to make it easy for our customers to navigate the process.

Check your junk/spam folder in your email program to ensure the email didn’t end up there. If it did, be sure to add the Online Permit Center to your safe sender list so you’ll receive important emails and project notifications in the future.

It is semi-common for email addresses to be mis-spelled when registering in the Portal. If there was an inadvertent typo on the email address when registering the activation email will not be sent to the correct email address. To verify if this was the case for you, try and register again for a Portal account again using the same email you registered with previously. If there were no typos the system will give you a prompt to resend the activation email. If you do not get this prompt, then there was most likely a typo and you can proceed with completing the registration using the correct email address.

The Portal Home page is divided into service areas. The title of each service area will provide some information about the types of applications you will find in each.
We want to help you find the correct application type to get you started on the right path the first time. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, or are not sure which application to submit:

• For planning and land use applications – please contact the Planning Division at planning@bendoregon.gov.
• For building applications – contact the Building Division at building@bendoregon.gov. 
• For engineering applications – contact the Private Development Engineering Division at engineering@bendoregon.gov. 
• For other application types or if you’re just unsure where to start – contact the Permit Center at permitcenter@bendoregon.gov.