Dear Community Development Department customer, 
Welcome back, construction! This last year we have seen a substantial increase in development interest and construction in Bend. As a result, the Bend Community Development Department is temporarily unable to maintain typical review times with the growing permit demand.  
Construction activity was steady through the spring and we experienced a fast start to the summer construction season, as evidenced by the high volume of permits that have been submitted. Permit intake continues to outpace the number of permits issued per week, resulting in increased processing times. We recognize the impact this has on you, your customers and clients, and your ability to schedule jobs with any degree of certainty.  Therefore, we feel it is important to keep you informed on the activity levels and its impact on review time.   
Current average building permit turnaround times and number of permits (as of 7/6/15):

Residential applications:
• Average days to issuance: 39 calendar days from submittal. 
• 300 applications are currently “in review.” 
Commercial/Industrial:
• Average days to issuance: 36 calendar days from submittal.
• 94 applications are currently “in review.”
Miscellaneous permits: 
• Average days to issuance: 17 calendar days from submittal.
• 185 applications are currently “in review.”

Note:  that the issuance time period includes not only staff review time, but applicant response time as well. In addition to building permit issuance, Private Development Engineering and Planning are also experiencing increased permit activity that has also led to increased permit turnaround times in those divisions. In conjunction with increased permit activity, our permit center is experiencing a high volume of walk-in counter activity, general inquires and phone calls. The combined demand is creating a significant amount of activity for the Community Development Department.

Our goal is to provide you the best customer service possible and we apologize if you’re experiencing increased delays or any inconvenience. We will continue our practice of evaluating our process for efficiencies and make changes where we can to enhance turnaround times and communication tools.

Should you need additional information please view our website at www.bendoregon.gov. If you have any questions or feedback please feel free to contact Craig Chenoweth at (541) 388-5563 or cchenoweth@bendoregon.gov.