Medford, OR Building Safety: Plumbing Permits (2026)
Key Facts
- Adopted code
- Oregon Plumbing Specialty Code
- Governing section
- Medford Code § 9.200
- Reviewing official
- Building Safety Director ("Building Official")
- Fee basis
- Current City of Medford fee schedule
- Max penalty
- $5,000, or $1,000/day continuing
Summary
Medford enforces the Oregon Plumbing Specialty Code as its local Plumbing Code under Section 9.200, with the Building Safety Director acting as the "Building Official" for plumbing review. Plumbing permit fees run through the City's standard fee schedule, and unpermitted plumbing work falls under Chapter 9's civil penalty process.
The current version of the Oregon Plumbing Specialty Code and State adopted appendices as published and copyrighted by Uniform Plumbing Code, and as modified by the Director of the State Department of Business and Consumer Services is hereby adopted and incorporated as an ordinance of the City of Medford to be administered and enforced along with such further amendments as are contained herein, such code to be referred to as the Plumbing Code.
Official source re-checked September 8, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: current through Ordinance 2026-32, passed May 6, 2026).
Full Breakdown
" Subsection (2) clarifies that wherever the incorporated code refers to a "Building Official," that title means the City of Medford's Building Safety Director or a designee, centralizing plumbing review and inspection in that office. Subsection (3) sets plumbing permit fees by reference to "the current City of Medford fee schedule," the same resolution-based schedule used for building, mechanical, and electrical permits, so a plumbing job's fee scales with the schedule's fixture and project categories rather than a flat citywide rate. 100 sets for the Building Code.
Because the Plumbing Code is incorporated by reference rather than rewritten locally, contractors and homeowners pulling a plumbing permit are held to the Oregon Plumbing Specialty Code's fixture, venting, and connection requirements as modified by the state, with Medford's role limited to permit issuance, inspection, fee-setting, and enforcement.
Violations & Fines
Unpermitted or noncompliant plumbing work is enforced the same way as any other Chapter 9 code violation: the Building Official issues a Notice of Civil Violation and allows a correction period under Section 9.661, then may impose an administrative civil penalty of up to $5,000, or $1,000 per day if the violation continues, with appeal to the Unified Appeal Board within ten business days under Section 9.662.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Sources & Official References
Other rules in Medford
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