The City of Bradenton in Florida has integrated electronic plan review with its online permitting system, replacing a process that required municipal staff to work across several platforms.
Bradenton has deployed the ePermitHub Digital Plan Room from Accela, a US-based provider of cloud software for state and local government agencies. Connected to the city’s existing Accela Citizen Access portal, it allows applications and plans to remain within the same system throughout the review process.
Bradenton consolidates permit review
Under the previous arrangement, staff had to sign in separately and repeat actions to keep plan reviews aligned with permitting records. The Digital Plan Room automates some of those steps, while reviews take place within the permitting platform already used by city teams.
“After our previous experience, we were looking for a solution that truly worked with our permitting system, not alongside it,” said Dana Winters, building manager for the City of Bradenton. “It reduces extra steps, eliminates duplicate work and makes the process much easier for staff to understand and manage.”
Representatives from Bradenton’s information technology, building and planning teams worked with Accela on the implementation.
The city serves approximately 58,000 residents. Its building department received 4,367 permit applications during the 2022–23 fiscal year, according to Bradenton’s building permit and inspection utilisation report. It issued or approved 4,120 permits over the same period.
The report also recorded 17,071 inspection and reinspection requests. A total of 14 personnel were dedicated to building code enforcement, permit issuance and inspections.
Applicants can track plans online
Bradenton’s applicant guidance says users can file permit applications and upload plans at the same time. They can submit revised sheets during review, see digital mark-ups and comments from city reviewers and check the progress of their application online.
Approved and stamped PDF plan sets can be downloaded from the portal once a project has passed review.
Bradenton continues to accept paper plans from applicants who cannot provide digital files. City staff can scan the documents for a fee, which applicants can avoid by uploading their plans electronically.
Applicants submitting revisions are instructed to upload only the sheets that have changed rather than the entire plan set. Feedback classified as an issue must be addressed before plan approval. A condition does not prevent plan approval but must be met before final approval is granted.
Deployment follows Accela acquisition
Accela acquired ePermitHub in April 2025, adding the Digital Plan Room and COMET Version Engine to its Civic Platform. The products support electronic submissions, plan mark-ups and version tracking within Accela’s permitting software.
When it announced the acquisition, Accela also set out plans for AI-assisted plan review. Proposed functions included flagging deficiencies before submission, helping interpret construction codes and analysing large plan sets.
