Morrow County, Oregon Building Permit Guide

Morrow County has no building department of its own: it contracts with the City of Boardman, whose Building Department issues structural, plumbing and mechanical permits for the county and for Boardman, Heppner, Ione, Lexington and Irrigon. Electrical permits and inspections come from the state Building Codes Division in Pendleton. Before either, rural sites need a county zoning permit from the planning office in Irrigon and, on septic, approval from UCo Health in Pendleton.

What requires a building permit in Morrow County?

The county’s 2026 permit checklist sets two different size thresholds. County zoning wants a zoning permit for any structure over 120 sq ft, while a building permit from Boardman is needed over 200 sq ft. A shed of 150 sq ft therefore needs the county zoning permit but no building permit, provided it meets the state exemption.

The exemptions are chapter 1 of the 2026 Oregon Residential Specialty Code, mandatory since October 1, 2026. Farm buildings can avoid the building permit through the county’s Farm Agriculture Exempt Permit, which costs $150 on top of the zoning permit and the recording fee.

What the county decides and what the state holds

Building, plumbing, mechanical and electrical rules are state codes, so the county and Boardman administer them without local changes. The county sets its own zoning and planning fees, its manufactured home siting standard (Article 4, Section 4.110 of the zoning ordinance) and its road access rules; Boardman sets the building fee schedule; and the state keeps electrical work entirely in its own hands here.

Morrow County building department: who handles permitting

Three agencies share the work. The county’s own building page says only that it contracts with the City of Boardman, and the Building Codes Division’s directory fills in the detail: Boardman provides structural, mechanical and plumbing permits for the county, Boardman, Heppner, Ione and Lexington; Irrigon has its own listing with the same building official; and the division issues electrical permits throughout. Boardman’s building page adds that its office also issues Irrigon’s permits, and Gilliam County’s.

Zoning inside each of the five cities is that city’s job; county planning handles land outside them.

Permit types and the order of approvals

Residential permits

Boardman’s residential intake checklist asks for local planning and zoning approval, any water district, erosion control and DEQ, septic or sewer approval, then a site plan and two complete sets of construction documents: foundation plan, floor plans showing smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, cross sections, elevations, wall bracing, floor and roof framing, design calculations, truss drawings stamped by an Oregon-licensed engineer, and the energy measure chosen from the state table. A manufactured home sited outside a park must have been built no more than ten years before the county receives the siting request and must carry the state insignia of compliance.

Building or remodeling a home here? Alliance handles residential permit filing, so the crew isn't waiting on the counter.

Commercial permits

The commercial checklist covers site, floor, framing and foundation plans, elevations, sections, structural calculations, specifications, mechanical plans, accessibility measures and exit and fire alarm electrical. An architect’s or engineer’s stamp is required over 4,000 sq ft or 20 ft in height, citing ORS 671.030 and 672.020. A commercial or industrial zoning permit from the county costs $250 for new construction or a change of use, or $100 after a conditional use or land use decision.

For tenant improvements and new commercial builds, Alliance handles commercial permit expediting through issuance. More on this: commercial building permits explained.

What comes before the building permit

The county lists the sequence for a dwelling on a new site:

• Zoning permit from County Planning ($50; preapplication review is $100 and recommended for partitions and conditional uses).
• Sanitation approval from UCo Health for an onsite septic system.
• Access permit for the road approach from Morrow County Public Works in Lexington.
• Rural address from County Planning.
• Well, where there is no water system: the checklist lists the area watermasters for water rights and well logs, in Pendleton (Umatilla watershed, 541-278-5456), Condon (Willow Creek, 541-384-4207) and Canyon City (Lower John Day, 541-575-0119), plus the West Extension and Columbia irrigation districts.
• Building permits from the Boardman Building Department, then the manufactured home set-up permit if the house is manufactured.

Farm and forest zone dwellings need a land use decision first; a non-farm dwelling review costs $1,500 and most other farm or forest dwelling decisions $600. Every land use application also carries a 10 percent long range planning surcharge.

Fees

Building fees are set by Boardman’s Consolidated Fee Schedule. Valuation uses the City’s valuation tables, as the state requires, multiplied by the square footage, or the applicant’s stated value if that is greater. For a contractor job the value is normally the bid, including profit and overhead; for owner-built work the city doubles the cost of materials to account for labor.

Boardman prints the 12 percent Oregon surcharge and the 1 percent seismic fee as separate lines, so the table amounts exclude them. The page labels this table for commercial buildings. Its $50,001 to $100,000 base of $367.99 does not chain from the band below, which works out to $367.90 at $50,000, so the example stays in the top band.

Worked example (commercial, $150,000): $562.90 plus 50 × $3.25 = $725.40; plan review adds $471.51, the surcharge $87.05 and the seismic fee $7.25. New-house plumbing on the same schedule is $210 for one bathroom and kitchen and $275 for two, and a furnace up to 100,000 Btu adds $13.25 on a mechanical permit with a $20 issuance fee and $45 minimum.

Trade permits and who may pull them

Boardman’s fee page says it plainly: all electrical permits and inspections are administered by the Building Codes Division out of its Pendleton office. Buy them online through Oregon ePermitting or on the division’s paper application, and schedule the electrical inspections the same way. The county’s 2026 checklist groups electrical with the Boardman permits; Boardman’s own page and the state directory both say the state issues them, and the same checklist lists the Pendleton office for “Electrical Standards.” Plumbing and mechanical permits, including gas piping, are Boardman’s.

• Contractors: a CCB license is needed for paid work. For a manufactured home, the county checklist says the party doing the work signs the set-up permit application, and any contractor or dealer setting up the home needs CCB registration.
• Owner electrical work: ORS 479.540 exempts an owner from licensing for installations on their own residential or farm property, or a family member’s, that is not intended for sale, exchange, lease or rent; the state permit and inspection still apply.
• Owner plumbing: ORS 447.060 keeps plumbing licensing off work not done for hire.
• Permit statement: under ORS chapter 701 each applicant states a CCB license number or the basis for an exemption.

How to apply

Review, corrections and what causes delay

The usual hold-up is a missing upstream approval: Boardman’s checklist puts zoning, water district, erosion control and septic approval at the top, and the county checklist puts the zoning permit ahead of the rural address. A second source of delay is filing the electrical permit with Boardman: it has to go to the state.

Inspections

Boardman’s inspectors handle building, plumbing and mechanical work; its building line is 541-626-7011. Its residential checklist runs: building setbacks, footing, foundation, underfloor before decking, bracing or portal frame, framing, insulation, sidewalk and final; for plumbing, underfloor, underground before cover, top-out, sanitary sewer, water service and final; and for mechanical, rough-in, gas test and final. Commercial jobs add reinforcing steel, slab, gypsum board where needed, special inspections, storm sewer, medical gas and process piping.

Electrical inspections are the state’s and are scheduled through ePermitting or the Pendleton office. Septic systems are inspected by UCo Health before cover.

Code editions and flood maps

The codes in force are the 2025 Oregon Structural Specialty Code, the 2026 Oregon Residential Specialty Code (chapters 2 to 44 may still follow the 2023 edition until April 1, 2027), and the 2026 electrical and plumbing codes in effect since October 1, 2026. All five cities and the county itself take part in the National Flood Insurance Program, according to FEMA’s Community Status Book, and Boardman’s commercial checklist asks whether the building is in a floodplain.

Oregon’s building code and its exemptions are the same in Morrow County as everywhere in the state, and an exemption from the building permit is not an exemption from zoning, land use or a trade permit. Site snow, wind and seismic values come from the state’s Oregon Design Criteria Hub. How Oregon’s statewide code works

Morrow County building permit FAQ

Who issues building permits in Heppner?

The City of Boardman’s Building Department, for structural, plumbing and mechanical work; electrical permits come from the state in Pendleton.

Do I need a permit for a 150 sq ft shed?

No building permit if it is a one-story, nonhabitable building under the state limits, but the county wants a zoning permit for structures over 120 sq ft.

Where do I get my electrical permit?

From the Building Codes Division, online through Oregon ePermitting or at 800 SE Emigrant Ave., Suite 360, Pendleton (541-276-7814).

Who approves septic systems?

UCo Health has handled onsite septic permits in Morrow County since May 3, 2019. DEQ still permits high-strength waste systems and those over 2,500 gallons a day.

How is my building valued?

By Boardman’s valuation tables times the floor area, or the stated value if higher; owner-builders double their materials cost.

Can I talk to county planners before I apply?

Yes. A preapplication review costs $100; the county recommends one before a partition, subdivision or conditional use and requires one for plan or zone changes and energy projects.

What is the county zoning permit fee?

$50 for most zoning permits under the schedule effective January 22, 2026, $25 per unit for duplexes and multifamily buildings, and $250 for a new commercial or industrial use.

Permit search and official resources

Building, plumbing and mechanical permits for the county are filed with Boardman, which runs them through its Citizenserve portal; ask the Boardman Building Department for an address history. Electrical permits are state records and can be found with the Building search on Oregon ePermitting. Septic records are kept by UCo Health, which takes public records requests at Health@umatillacounty.net.

• Morrow County building department contract with Boardman
• City of Boardman Building Department
• Boardman consolidated fee schedule, Building Department
• BCD electrical services in Morrow County
• Morrow County Planning Department
• Morrow County planning information and processes
• Morrow County planning fee schedule, effective January 22, 2026
• Morrow County permit process checklist 2026
• UCo Health septic approvals in Morrow County
• DEQ onsite septic agents by county
• BCD Local Building Department Directory
• Oregon ePermitting
• BCD adopted codes
• Oregon Construction Contractors Board

Simplify Morrow County permitting with Alliance Permitting

Alliance Permitting is a permit documentation and submission company in Oregon. We prepare your paperwork, file it correctly and coordinate with the permitting authority through issuance. We are not a contractor and we do not perform licensed plan review or inspections; that work stays with your licensed team and the jurisdiction.

This guide is provided by Alliance Permitting for general information about Morrow County permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.