Permits & licenses in Riverside.

Inside the Riverside city line the building permit, the plan review and the inspection belong to the city. California writes one code for the whole state — Title 24, the California Building Standards Code, republished by the Building Standards Commission every three years — and state law hands its enforcement to local government: the city's department inside the line, the county's on the unincorporated land outside it. Hospitals answer to HCAI and public schools to the Division of the State Architect, not to either building counter.

• The Building & Safety Division, inside the Community & Economic Development Department, collects fees, issues building permits, performs plan review and conducts building inspections under the California Building Standards and Title 16 of the Riverside Municipal Code; applications, electronic plans, fees and inspection results run through the Public Permit Portal on the POSSE Land Management System.
• Planning Division clearance comes ahead of Building & Safety submittal on most building permit applications, and Public Works, Fire and the Health Department can each hold an approval on the same file.
• Fire plan review is a separate file with the City of Riverside Fire Department's Fire Prevention Division.
• Outside the city line, the Riverside County Department of Building and Safety, part of the Transportation and Land Management Agency, holds plans review, permit issuance and building inspection, through PLUS Online, the public portal to the county's Public Land Use System.