Pima County’s “all document types for one project” search excludes Improvement Plans—Historical. If an old improvement drawing is missing, return to the County’s Approved Development Project Drawings page and choose that separate category. A project-wide search and a historical-improvement search are different routes; an empty result in the first does not establish that the drawing is gone.
This guide concerns the County’s development-document collections. For a building permit, inspection history, or a jurisdiction check, use the separate Pima County permit-search guide. A drawing, permit card, issued permit, final inspection, and certificate of occupancy answer different questions.
Choose the document family before the search key
The County’s drawings page groups documents into categories, including development permits, plats, landscape documents, addressing building plans, and historical improvement plans. “Historical” is not one common archive: historical plans and approvals listed under development permits are distinct from Improvement Plans—Historical. Read the category name against the document you need before entering a project number.
- Several development-document types for one project: Follow the County’s all-document-types link, keeping its historical-improvement exclusion in mind.
- An older improvement-plan set: Use Improvement Plans—Historical directly, even if another project document appeared in the broad search.
- A building permit card or completion document: Follow the permit or records-information route rather than expecting a development-drawing result to supply it.
The all-project search and historical-improvement search are separate County-linked OnBase views. These are retrieval links, not our own address-lookup tool. The County guidance does not publish a single earliest year or completeness guarantee for every category.
Match the identifier to that document family
Use the County’s sample search values to interpret the field for the selected collection. Its DS-ProjNum examples omit dashes. A development-project reference, a subdivision book/page, and a plan name are different keys; do not force a parcel number into a project-number field. The examples explain formatting, not the contents of a particular property file.
Where the selected search uses the documented name matching, start with a shorter supported name rather than every word on a drawing cover. The County’s examples use a trailing asterisk for a partial name. Apply that instruction to the category for which it is given; it is not evidence that every OnBase view accepts the same wildcard or identifier. This review did not confirm an APN input in those views.
For example, suppose a fictional project folder contains a development approval and refers to an older improvement plan. Finding the approval establishes only that one document is retrievable. Next search the separate historical-improvement category with that plan’s reference, retaining the project reference as context. Do not describe the approval as the missing plan or as evidence that all related work passed inspection.
When the search is inaccessible or the file is still missing
During this review, the County’s published category and formatting instructions were readable. The all-project OnBase view presented a browser security check; the linked search shells did not supply a verified individual result. No challenge was completed, property was queried, or document set retrieved. A security check or failed interface is an access problem, not a finding of zero records.
Keep a short retrieval note: current and former address if known, confirmed jurisdiction, document category, project or plan reference, approximate date, exact terms attempted, and the problem observed. Ask County staff which collection holds that specific document rather than requesting “everything” without identifying it.
For residential or commercial building records, the County’s records-information request page directs requests through a Permit Gateway account and lists 520-724-9470 for building-record questions. Confirm that the County handled the property; the page accepts one address per request and notes that some pre-2007 residential plans may not have been retained. That limitation concerns building plans and must not be applied to every development-document collection. For a historical improvement drawing, ask which department or collection should receive its specific reference before treating a building-record request as the correct channel.
If staff cannot locate the file, preserve their explanation of the collection and search limits. Missing online material does not by itself establish unpermitted work, an unsafe building, or destruction of the underlying record. The old-permit lookup guide helps separate a search gap from a conclusion about the property.
Official County guidance checked October 5, 2026 (UTC). Document routing was reviewed; no individual project search or records request was completed.