Direct Answer: Monterey County now runs plan review through a digital plan room tied to its Accela permit system. The building code did not change. Only how drawings are submitted, marked up, and returned changed.
If you have a set of plans sitting in plan check right now, you probably heard the county switched systems and assumed the worst. Most homeowners hear “new permit system” and immediately picture another three months of waiting.
Here is the short version. Monterey County Housing and Community Development launched ePermitHub, a digital plan review platform tied into the county’s existing Accela permitting software, with a start date of September 1, 2026. It is a digital plan room, not a new rulebook.
Your plans did not change. The code did not change because of this. What changed is how drawings get submitted, marked up, and sent back to you. Below I will separate that from the two other county changes homeowners keep blending together, and explain what actually moves your timeline.
What the Monterey County Permit Plan Review Switch Actually Did
Before this, plan review in unincorporated Monterey County ran on a mix of paper sets, emailed PDFs, and phone calls to the Permit Center in Salinas. You submitted, then waited, then called to ask where things stood.
The county describes the new system as a way to speed up review timelines and improve communication between applicants and staff. In practice, that means markups and resubmittals live in one place instead of scattered across email threads. You can see the current version, the correction comments, and the status without calling anyone.
A few things that change on a practical level:
- Corrections come back as markups on the drawing, not as a separate letter you have to cross-reference
- Version tracking is automatic, so there is no confusion about which set is the live one
- Resubmittals go back into the same file, which keeps reviewers from comparing two unrelated PDFs
- Notices go to the account holder, whoever that is
That last one matters more than it sounds. Settle before submittal whether the homeowner or the contractor holds the account, because that person is the one who gets the correction notices. I have seen a week burn off a schedule simply because a notice landed in an inbox nobody was checking. The county’s online permit information page is the place to confirm current details.
Three Separate 2026 Changes People Keep Mixing Up
This is where I spend a lot of phone time. Homeowners comparing a bid written last winter against a quote written now want to know why the permit line item moved. It usually is not one change. It is three.
Code. All plan submittals must conform to the 2025 California Building Standards Code and local amendments, effective January 1, 2026. That affects what your drawings have to show, especially on energy compliance and electrical.
Fees. A new building and planning fee schedule took effect April 4, 2026. Permit and plan check fees are set by the county, not by your contractor. A bid written before that date may not carry today’s permit costs.
Process. The digital plan room started September 1, 2026. This one is administrative. It does not change what you are allowed to build or what the drawings must contain.
If you are holding an older estimate, the permit allowance inside it is the line to re-check first. Everything else in a bid, labor, materials, scope, is between you and your contractor. Permit fees are not. I walk through the code side of this in more detail in permits submitted after January 1, 2026 fall under a new code.
The Three Changes Side by Side
Here is the same information in one place, since these get confused constantly.
| Change | Effective Date | What It Affects | Who Sets It |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 California Building Standards Code and local amendments | January 1, 2026 | What your drawings must show and what the build must meet | State, with county amendments |
| New building and planning fee schedule | April 4, 2026 | Permit and plan check costs in your budget | County of Monterey |
| Digital plan review platform tied to Accela | September 1, 2026 | How plans are submitted, marked up, and returned | County of Monterey |
Confirm Which Agency Has Authority Over Your Parcel First
This is the single most common mistake I see on the Central Coast, and it has nothing to do with the new system.
A Salinas mailing address does not mean the City of Salinas reviews your project. Plenty of parcels with Salinas addresses sit in unincorporated county territory, which means Housing and Community Development handles them. It also runs the other direction.
And the jurisdictions do not share portals:
- Unincorporated Monterey County goes through the county’s system
- City of Monterey launched its own building permit portal effective January 7, 2026, which walks applicants through questions about scope of work, use, and valuation
- Salinas, Seaside, Marina, Pacific Grove, Carmel, and Gonzales each run their own process
- Santa Cruz County and San Benito County jurisdictions are separate again, with their own forms and fees
Filing in the wrong portal is a wasted week, sometimes two. Before anyone fills out a form, confirm the agency with authority over your parcel. Requirements and fees change, so verify current ones directly with that agency.
If your property sits in the Coastal Zone, add another layer. Coastal administrative permits run on their own track and get sequenced alongside planning, environmental health, and building. I have had homeowners in Pacific Grove and Carmel call assuming a garage conversion was a simple building permit, and it was not.
What a Complete Submittal Usually Includes
A new portal does not shorten plan check on its own. A complete first submittal does. This is the short list I check before anything goes in.
The New System Will Not Fix an Incomplete Set
One homeowner wrote to us saying they did not know where to start or how much they were allowed to build. That is a normal place to be, and it is also the exact spot where projects stall.
Plan check gets long for one reason more than any other: the first submittal is missing something. Each round of corrections adds time, and the clock does not care whether the gap was a missing shear wall detail or a site plan without dimensioned setbacks.
The digital plan room does help with one real problem, which is the back-and-forth of not knowing where things stand. It does not make a reviewer approve an incomplete set.
Two things worth knowing about the new workflow:
- File naming and formatting conventions matter. Resubmittals that do not follow them can bounce before a reviewer ever opens them.
- Each sheet has to stay consistent across versions. Dropping or renumbering sheets mid-review creates confusion that costs you a cycle.
If you are early in an ADU, it is worth reading what Monterey County reviews before an ADU permit gets issued and the piece on how SB 543 changed the ADU permit clock. Those two cover the review standards and the statutory timelines that sit underneath all of this.
Frequently Asked Questions About Monterey County Permit Plan Review
My permit application was already in review before September 1. Do I have to start over?
No. An active application does not get thrown out because the county changed platforms. How your corrections come back may look different, so check with the Permit Center on how your specific file is being handled during the transition.
Does the new system mean faster permits?
The county’s stated goal is faster review timelines and clearer communication. But a platform does not shorten the actual review. What consistently shortens plan check is a complete submittal the first time, with full drawings, a dimensioned site plan, structural details, and energy compliance documents.
Should I hold the permit account or should my contractor?
Either works, but decide before you submit. Whoever holds the account receives the correction notices and status updates. If that is the homeowner and nobody is watching the inbox, you lose days for no reason.
Did my permit fees go up?
A new building and planning fee schedule took effect April 4, 2026. Fees are set by the county, not by a contractor, and they vary by project valuation and scope. If your bid was written before that date, ask for the permit allowance to be re-checked against the current schedule.
How do I find out whether I am in the city or unincorporated county?
Your mailing address will not tell you. Check your parcel number against the county assessor or call the Permit Center and give them the APN. Doing this before you fill out a single form saves more time than anything else on this list.
Thinking Through a Project in Monterey County?
Permit work is a learning curve, and it is a steeper one when the systems change three times in a year. A contractor already working inside the county’s planning, environmental health, and building sequence absorbs most of that for you. If you have a project in the pipeline anywhere from Salinas to Carmel or out toward Hollister, our team is reachable at 831-682-9788 or through the contact page at aldridgeconstruction.biz.
