Digital Plan Room Help Center

• Plans
• Building Plans
• Calculation
• Elevation Certificate
• Engineer Letter/Affidavit
• Fall Down Radius Certificate of Tower
• FEMA Flood Proofing Certificate
• Final Elevation Certificate
• Final Plat
• Floodway Construction Certificate
• Landscape Fill Certificate
• Letter of Mitigation
• Lighting Plan
• Limited Geotechnical Exploration Report
• Master Drainage Plan
• Survey*

Manatee County has provided a general Guide to Digital Signatures. This guide is not intended to be a legal interpretation and we encourage you to also review F.A.C. Rule 61G15-23.003 yourself.

For more information on signing and sealing Engineering Documents please refer to the Florida Board of Professional Engineers. 

*Building & Development Services recommends that Surveys being submitted be digitally signed which will validate the authenticity of the document.  Surveys not digitally signed will require additional staff review to validate the authenticity of the document.  

General documents

• All files must be in PDF file format
• Maximum file size is 500MB
• Do not use encrypted or password-protected files
• All layers in the PDF will need to be flattened (including seals, signatures, notations)
• Please do not combine supporting documents in the same PDF file with any plan sheets - they will need to be uploaded as separate files
• Documents that are typically uploaded as a different file type, such as CAD files or Legal Descriptions, may still be accepted if they are not a PDF
  
  

Plans

• Arrange plans in a landscape page view
• Title block must be in the lower right-hand corner -our system will be reading your sheet numbers
• Make sure sheet numbers are unique and consistent for each version of submitted plan pages 
• All layers will need to be flattened (see below for tips on how to do this)  
• Generate plans to scale (e.g.1/4" = 1’, 1/8” = 1’ or 1:10)
• Any annotations in the PDF will be removed during the submission process 
• When possible, please include a table of contents when exporting/publishing to the PDF index page (ex. Include “Create bookmarks”) setting in AutoCAD* 
• Include sheet titles within a table of contents when possible*
• You can upload multiple files, including plans, at the same time
• When submitting revisions, please do not resubmit the entire plan set, only upload the sheets containing changes from the previous submission* 
• Leave the top left corner of plan sheet blank for the approval stamp to print without covering any content

Supporting Documents

• You can submit supporting documents as individual files or as a single file with multiple pages
• Document files may be oriented in either landscape or portrait view

Attachments

• Certain document types can be uploaded at any point in the review process, and are not required to be PDF. Below is a full list of these exceptions:
  • Attachment
  • Aerial Photo
  • Application Checklist
  • Application Worksheet
  • Completeness/Sufficiency Extension Request
  • Business Plan/FEIN Number
  • Change of Contractor Letter
  • Contractor Removal Letter
  • Criteria for Compliance
  • Easement Encroachment Form
  • Energy Conservation Form
  • Engineer of Record Letter
  • Envelope Leakage Test Report
  • Final Survey
  • Flood Insurance Requirement
  • Flood Plain Review Checklist
  • GIS File Submission
  • Inspection Affidavit
  • Insurance
  • Letter of Map Change(LOMC)
  • Locate Documentation
  • Longshoreman Insurance
  • Meter Sizing Form
  • Notice of Commencement
  • Owner Builder Disclosure
  • Owner Letter of Permission

When submitting plans or completed PDF forms, please be sure to flatten all layers (seals, signatures, notations) in the PDF. Otherwise, those layers and fields will be eliminated and not visible for the reviewers.

The easiest way to flatten a PDF is to "Print to PDF." To do this, please follow the steps below:

1. Open the PDF file
2. Select File
3. Select Print
4. From the drop-down menu of Printer options, select Adobe PDF
5. Click Print
6. Specify the location to save the printed, "flattened" version of the document or form
7. Select Save

Issues

Issues are items that will need to be fixed prior to plan approval. Once a reviewer has opened an issue, it must be responded to in the Plan Room in Online Services, and it may require an updated plan sheet or document to be uploaded in the new review cycle.

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Conditions

Conditions are stipulations that may require action by the customer, but they do not need to be resolved prior to Plan Approval. 

• For Planning applications, Conditions are synonymous with Stipulations of Approval.
• For Building permit applications, Conditions may be open while the project is in the construction phase, but will need to be satisfied before the Certificate of Occupancy or Completion is issued.

If you need assistance using the Digital Plan Room, this is a great place to start!

VIDEOS: 

Building Applications Customer Training

Development Applications Customer Training

Uploading Plans and Documents

Submitting Your Review Package

Reviewing Issues, Conditions and Notes

Uploading Corrected Plans and Documents

Downloading Approved Plans and Documents

Submitting Permit Re Reviews

Documentation:
Re-Review Submitting a Change Record - Add Delegate