The Portland Permit Metric Dashboard provides permit customers with a brief overview of the lengths of different phases of the permit review process. This gives customers a sense of how long it may take to receive a building permit. The dashboard highlights the average number of days residential and commercial building permits were in different phases over the past 20 business days. The data is updated each Monday.
Application Submittal to First Scan: This illustrates the average number of business days from the submittal of a permit application in Development Hub PDX (the City’s online permit application portal) to when it receives its first scan for completeness by City staff.
Application Submittal to Permit Setup: This indicates the average number of business days from the submittal of a permit application to when a permit is set up for technical screening by zoning and structural reviewers. The permit moves to “Under Review” status upon the payment of intake fees by the applicant.
Application Submittal to Approved to Issue: This highlights the average number of business days from the submittal of a permit application through the completion of all required reviews. Once a permit achieves “Approved to Issue” status, it awaits final payment of permit fees by the applicant before the permit can be issued.
Application Submittal to Permit Issuance: This illuminates the average number of business days from the submittal of a permit application to when the permit is issued, including payment of all fees. The issuance of a permit allows construction to begin.
The dashboard also illustrates the average amounts of time taken throughout the permit process from when a permit applicant pays their initial fees to when a permit enters a final quality control review before final fees are assessed:
- Intake Fees Paid to Final Review: This illustrates the average number of business days from the time a customer pays the initial permit intake fees through the completion of all mandatory reviews and when a permit enters the final review process.
Final Review to Approved to Issue: This shows the average number of business days it takes for the final quality control process to be completed and a final bill to be calculated and provided to the applicant for payment.
The dashboard also provides year-by-year comparisons, since 2021, of the numbers of residential and commercial building permits set up each year as well as the number of permit application submittals through Development Hub PDX that are still in pending status.
“This tool is an important step in bringing greater predictability to the City’s building permit process,” said Commissioner Dan Ryan, who previously oversaw the Bureau of Development Services and co-chaired a Permitting Improvement Task Force with Commissioner Mingus Mapps. “I often hear from designers and builders that uncertainty in the permitting process adds time and costs to their projects. This dashboard will help them know what to expect, and I look forward to further improvements that will bring greater transparency to our processes.”
In 2023, the dashboard will expand to illustrate the average time taken by individual teams within the City’s seven development review bureaus to process permit applications. Future work will consider incorporating metrics such as the average time customers take to respond to requests from City development review staff for updated plans or additional information.
View the Portland Permit Metric Dashboard
Have suggestions on how to improve the dashboard? Please submit your ideas here.