An Albuquerque address can have a planning project number, several planning case numbers, and separate building permit records. The numbers answer different questions. If you are reconstructing work at one site, begin with the City’s Building Safety Resource Page for permit reports and its linked search tool. Use the Case Tracking, Case Research & Case Records guide when you need to connect older land-development decisions to that site. A planning case gives context for a permit search; permit issuance appears in the building record.
Follow the building record’s own date route
The Building Safety Resource Page divides its public report links into three periods:
- September 26, 2016 to present: Use the All Building Safety Permit Search Tool.
- June 2008 through September 25, 2016: Use the KIVA report links.
- Pre-June 2008: Use the older permit-report links.
The page offers application and permit reports in several categories, including commercial, single-family and multifamily work. Those headings describe the City’s report routes; some permits or documents may sit outside them.
Keep the street address and the type of work you are investigating beside the report. Choose a building-permit report rather than an application report when the question is whether a permit was issued. If a record number is known, keep it exactly as displayed; if the search comes up empty, try the neighboring report category or period before treating the search as complete. The City’s information-versus-records FAQ also identifies the Building Safety Division as the contact for construction permit and inspection information. The City-linked current search opens a dynamic self-service portal.
Find Albuquerque project and case numbers in the Advanced Map Viewer
For a planning decision, the City directs readers to its Advanced Map Viewer, with the Case History layer turned on. Locate the property by address or map navigation and use Identify to bring up the related project and case identifiers. The City says a project number generally follows a location, while a case number identifies an application type; some cases lack a project number. Write down both fields if they appear, together with the decision or application label. A planning “approved” label stays in the planning column.
The prefixes help you decide where to look next. The City says ABQ-PLAN has tracked Planning cases since January 2025; POSSE/MESA covered 2018–2025 with PR project numbers; Kiva covered 2008–2018 and Cognos 1999–2008 with seven-digit 100XXXX project numbers. Earlier files can have letter prefixes such as Z, ZA, DRB, S, SV or V. These are Planning Department case-system periods; Building Safety permits follow the report periods above. The map viewer was updated in February 2026, so use the City’s current viewer link rather than an old saved map address.
Search OnBase Land Development and Certificate of Occupancy collections
The City’s case guide links to the OnBase Public Web Portal. For Land Development Case Records, the City instructs searchers to enter an address, project number or case number. If one number field comes up empty, try the other: the City says those identifiers are sometimes captured in either field. With an address, start with the street number and street name; the guide says less is more. Narrow a crowded result set with another field only after finding the right record family.
OnBase’s public Building Safety – Certificate of Occupancy search is a different collection. Its documented inputs are street number, street name and quadrant, or a CO permit number. The City explicitly says building permits are not publicly available in that OnBase route, although a related certificate of occupancy may be searchable there; the separate Building Safety search still covers permits and applications. A CO record answers an occupancy question, while the permit, inspections and approved plans hold the work history. Our certificate-versus-permit guide explains the distinction.
Older Albuquerque project numbers on microfilm
The City says many Planning project numbers with older letter prefixes may only be on microfilm. As of its summer 2026 guidance, the City Clerk was still scanning those records into OnBase. An absent OnBase hit therefore calls for a records inquiry. Before asking, note the exact address, any quadrant, candidate project and case numbers, approximate years, the archive search fields tried, and the document wanted. If you have only an address, our old-permit lookup guide offers additional identity checks.
For copies of permits, drawings or case documents, use the City Clerk’s public-records route. The City asks for the exact address, a useful date range and a description of the documents. For an answer without copies, ask the relevant Planning division; Building Safety handles construction-permit and inspection information. State whether you need a Building Safety permit/inspection file or a Planning land-development case. The Clerk’s page also identifies an in-person Planning records location at Plaza del Sol. A missing online result doesn’t prove the absence of a building permit. To check whether an issued permit passed final inspection, see our final-inspection guide.
For subdivision streets, drainage and other infrastructure built under an agreement, the completion record is a different document; see Albuquerque IIA certificates of completion and acceptance.
Official Albuquerque sources checked September 28, 2026.