Hillsboro, OR Building Safety: Building Permits (2026)

010 adopts eight specialty codes 'enforced by the City': the Oregon Structural Specialty Code (OAR 918-460-0010 to -0015), Mechanical Specialty Code (OAR 918-440-0012) with its fire and life safety provisions (OAR 837-040-0140), Plumbing Specialty Code (OAR 918-750-0110), Electrical Specialty Code (OAR 918-305-0100), Residential Specialty Code (OAR 918-480-0005), Manufactured Dwelling and Park Specialty Code (OAR 918-600-0010, with April 1, 2005 amendments), Manufactured Dwelling Installation Specialty Code (OAR 918-500-0510 to -0590), and Energy Efficiency Specialty Code (OAR 918-460-0500), all as adopted in 2014. Because Hillsboro adopts these state codes wholesale rather than writing its own building chapter, the specific triggers for when a permit is required, and the exemptions from that requirement, live inside the referenced Oregon Structural and Residential Specialty Codes themselves, which the City's building official applies.

020(A) sets the clock: if inspection approval has not occurred within 6 months, the permit is void and no further work is allowed at the premises until a new permit is obtained. Subsection B extends the permit automatically another 6 months whenever an inspection approval occurs (running until final approval or occupancy, if sooner), and lets the Manager grant one additional 6-month extension on written finding that the permittee could not proceed for reasons beyond their control, provided the request is filed before expiration and an inspection occurs during the extension period.

Subsection C allows one renewal of a permit lapsed 6 months or less, conditioned on unchanged plans, a post-expiration inspection approval, and payment of a renewal fee equal to 50% of the initial permit fee; anything lapsed longer cannot be renewed. 030 gives the Council authority to set permit fees by resolution, letting the Manager adjust fee tables for state-mandated valuation changes without further process, while any other fee change requires 15 days' public notice, a newspaper publication, and written findings responding to public comment. 160 from permit fees (though the permit itself is still required), with no exemption for later modifications that don't involve new alternative-energy equipment.