Development Permit Revisions and Deferred Submittals

Note: The Department of Planning & Development is only accepting electronic submittals, as paper plan sets cannot be reviewed at this time.

Permit revision submittals may need to be submitted or processed as new permit applications. Refer to the information below and reach out to the permit center if you have any inquiries.

1. Log in to the Public Permit Portal and Create Development Application.
   1. Select “Application Request” and submit:
      1. A completed development (building and grading) permit application form. Be sure to reference the original permit number and the scope of the revision.
      2. Digital revised sheets which must have all changes clouded and must comply with digital submittal requirements. 
         Note: If the revision includes additions or changes to architectural features to original permitted scope of work, a planning clearance, new title sheet, rebuild calculations, and additional review fees may be required.
      3. Any applicable supplemental documents such as calcs, spec sheets, or any additional supporting documents.
2. A Permit Technician will verify completeness of submittal and provide access to the invoice for payment of review fees associated with the revision or deferred submittal within 2 business days.

Additional notes

• A public user account in the Public Permit Portal will be required to complete the application process, to make payment and upload documents.
  • To create a user account, see County of Santa Clara Public Permit Portal User Manual. Note the public user account email on the Intake form.
• Documents must comply with the building submittal requirements, digital submittal requirements, and naming conventions.
• If a notification is not received within 2 business days from the time the application was e-mailed to us, please email us at [email protected].
• Be sure to monitor your spam and junk folders for emails from @accela.com.
• This process is subject to change as improvements are implemented by the Department.

Major and minor revisions

A building permit revision allows you to submit plan/project changes to a building permit after the permit is issued.

There are two types of revisions: major and minor.

A major revision typically needs to be reviewed by multiple reviewers in addition to a building plan check engineer, and often requires the submission of a new building permit application and additional plan check fees.

Examples of major revisions include, but are not limited to, the following:

• A substantially modified architectural design
• Addition of a new story
• Changes in type of construction (i.e., manufactured home ⇋ site-build, wood-frame ⇋ steel)
• Changes in occupancy (i.e., garage to ADU, residential use to non-residential use)
• Relocating the structure on the site
• Adding new square footage to the structure
• Substantial changes to the structural design
• Adding scope to an online permit such as water heater, roofing, etc.

A revision may be deemed major at the discretion of the Building Official or their designee. To accommodate and simplify the building inspection process, major revisions may be processed as a revision, but the review timeframe and applicable fees are determined and assigned similarly to a new building permit.

Revisions that don’t meet the aforementioned criteria are typically considered minor and may proceed with the revision application process.

Criteria to apply for revision

• You can submit revisions if the permit has not expired or has not been finalized.
• Revisions can neither be emailed to individual staff nor be uploaded to the current active DEV record. You should apply through our portal.
• Revisions must also include an application form. See link above. This assists our team in quickly processing your request.

How much does it cost?

Major revision permit fee is determined based on the valuation of the proposed changes.

Minor revisions are charged at the hourly rate per our fee schedule with a minimum charge of one hour for residential projects and two hours for non-residential projects. If multiple disciplines are involved in the review, multiple hourly fees with be incurred.

View fee schedules

How long does it take?

For major revisions, our goal is to complete the initial review within 6 weeks. For minor revisions, we aim to complete the initial review within 2 weeks. The duration for obtaining the final permit is contingent upon the complexity of your project and the number and nature of the corrections, if any. Our department will contact you once the revision has been approved to collect the balance payment and issue the Revision permit.