Start a McKinney permit-history search at the City’s Citizen Self-Service portal (CSS), reached from Development Services. Use the public record route for property research. If you are already a project contact and your own permit has disappeared, check the date filter before assuming the City deleted it.
Public search and an applicant’s workspace are different
The City’s CSS FAQ describes public information access without registration and distinguishes it from eReview, an applicant-and-staff workspace for submittals and comments. Do not treat access to a permit summary as a promise that every associated plan or review document will be visible to any visitor.
A buyer researching a property and a contractor managing an application need different access. Begin with the record you can identify publicly. If a document is unavailable, ask for that existing document through the records route below. Do not seek to add yourself as a project contact solely to investigate someone else’s permit.
Development Services also links a short CSS video, Searching for Records, and a Development Snapshot with monthly and historical development activity. The snapshot shows activity across the city; it is not a property file. Use it to check whether a type of project was being permitted in a given period, then return to CSS or a records request for the specific address.
Diagnose the missing item before changing the search
- The address will not match. The CSS FAQ advises street number and street name without the suffix. The City’s common-questions page also suggests removing directional prefixes or suffixes and selecting the property on the map when an application address is not located.
- Your own older permit is missing. For inactive records in My Work > My Permits, the common-questions page says to change Last 1 Year to Specified Date Range and widen the dates.
- The record exists but details are hidden. That page explains that noncontacts cannot see all details. A current verified contact must request a contact change through City staff.
The date-filter instructions concern the signed-in My Permits view. They do not establish a one-year retention period for the City’s records. Keep the permit number and the dates you searched so staff can distinguish a visibility problem from an unsuccessful property lookup. The City’s FAQs do not describe a parcel-number search, so keep any parcel identifier for a staff request.
Recover the result behind an inspection status
Project users can open Inspections on the permit, select the failed inspection, and read its Checklist tab, according to the common-questions page. Compare any later result with that inspection’s scope.
For example, if you can identify a permit number but cannot see the checklist, request the inspection results and checklist for that number. Describe the missing attachment; do not ask staff to confirm that the whole property is compliant.
Read a plan’s approval, permit issuance, individual inspection and final or occupancy evidence separately. They answer different questions about the work. The final-inspection guide helps organize those records without turning an intermediate result into proof of completion.
Ask for an older file with enough context
Development Services lists Building Inspections at 469-617-4800. Confirm City custody and ask about the missing record or document. The CSS guidance links a planning-resources map for City-limit and zoning information; a mailing address alone should not decide the permitting authority.
The City’s Transparency page links Open Records Requests. Use that official route for existing documents unavailable through public lookup. The City’s FAQ notes that open-records charges vary with the request, so ask for an estimate if the file is large. Include the address, approximate work dates, complete record numbers and specific files needed. Explain whether the problem is an inaccessible screen, a date filter, or a missing attachment.
No comprehensive earliest online year was established by the sources reviewed. An older home may therefore require a targeted file request rather than a different assumption about CSS coverage. The older-permit guide helps assemble earlier addresses and document references. An unresolved lookup does not prove illegal work or current safety.
Frisco, next door, uses eTRAKiT and posts monthly permit and certificate-of-occupancy reports; see Frisco permit records in eTRAKiT.
City of McKinney Development Services, CSS and common-questions pages checked October 20, 2026.