For a building project in Long Beach, California, start with the City’s Permit Status / Records page and choose the search that matches the document you need. Plan Review Status tracks an application under review and requires its project number. Permit Status/Permit History lists projects and issued permits with description and inspection-final dates. Permit Records looks for archival construction documents by project address. One search does not stand in for the other two.
Pick the record before entering a search
- Waiting on a plan check? Open Plan Review Status with the City-assigned project number. The detailed City page says a number is created on application submittal; its status stages include later screening and review. Its “Permit Issued” stage is later than plan review.
- Tracing a permit or final inspection? Choose Permit Status/Permit History from the City’s search page. The City describes a three-column view with project number, project description and inspection-final dates for new applications and issued-permit history. Match the project description and number to the work in question; an issued entry alone does not establish a final inspection.
- Looking for a certificate, plot plan or report? Choose Permit Records on that same page. The City calls this its historical or archival construction-document search and requires a project address. Its examples include Certificates of Occupancy, plot plans and reports. A permit-history row does not guarantee that one of those documents is attached or available.
If you have only a street address but need plan-review progress, the plan-review page says to use the assigned project number; do not treat an address-only attempt as proof that review never began. Conversely, an archive search by address answers a document question, not whether a current plan check passed. Our permit lookup by address guide explains how to keep those search keys separate.
Read the result for the stage it actually shows
Long Beach’s plan-review explanation distinguishes a review marked “Approved,” a Permit Issued stage, and a project marked Completed after the construction project is finalized. A review approval is therefore not the same finding as permit issuance; issuance is not the final construction outcome. On the permit-history side, look for the inspection-final date associated with the matching project rather than inferring it from the existence of a project row. Our final inspection status guide helps frame that last check.
For archival documents, first note exactly which document is needed and what the Permit Records search actually returns. A Certificate of Occupancy, plot plan and report answer different questions. The City’s records page gives no complete historical start-year promise for the archive search. A missing document leaves the record request open; it does not prove no permit or document ever existed.
When the document is not online
The City’s records page directs readers to its Public Records Act request route if the search options do not find the document. Give the Building & Safety Bureau the project address, any project or permit number you found, and the specific record type, such as a Certificate of Occupancy or plot plan. Ask which City file or request process can supply that item. The page lists 562-570-PMIT (7648) for questions.
Architecturally drawn plans have a different access limit: the City says they are not available online. It directs readers to the Permit Center Resource Center, 411 W. Ocean Blvd., second floor, to view its Laserfiche database, with a separate Plan Duplication Application available on request. Viewing a drawing there and obtaining a copy are separate steps; the online archive search should not be taken as a complete plan inventory.
Getting copies of building plans in Long Beach
Plans aren’t treated like other permit records. The City’s Request to Duplicate Building Plans (FORM-024) applies California Health and Safety Code sections 19850 and 19851. You need two sign-offs before staff will copy a set:
- Get written authorization from the original or current owner. For a condo or other common interest development, the association’s governing body signs.
- Get authorization from the licensed professional who signed the original plans, or that person’s successor. The form also accepts a court order or a state agency instead.
- Attach a notary acknowledgment or another accepted way of verifying signatures, and sign the affidavit agreeing to use the plans only for maintaining, operating and using the building.
- Return the forms to the Permit Center, 411 W. Ocean Blvd., 2nd Floor. The form lists a $55.00 processing fee, an $11.63 flash drive and $5.34 in surcharges ($71.97 total), but says the exact cost is set when the forms come back. Plans are usually ready about 48 to 72 hours after payment. Plan-copy questions go to 562-570-5237.
Search tips and the stop statuses
The Permit Status/Permit History search asks you to leave out fractional address numbers and any street direction, prefix or suffix, and the City says not all addresses or statuses appear there yet. Plan Review Status takes a project number in a format like BNEW123456, as shown in the City’s status definitions. Those definitions list five statuses that can stop a project at any step. Hold and Locked projects are still active. Expired and Abandoned ones are no longer active, and Void means the record was created in error. For anything else not online, the City takes Public Records Act requests at longbeach.gov/PRA.
Official City of Long Beach Development Services pages checked October 20, 2026.