Santa Cruz County Environmental Health Service files

Welcome to the Santa Cruz County Environmental Health Service (EHS) files. What can you view/download here? Permits, inspections, reports – just about every document produced by EHS!

EHS has over 300,000 documents available here (blank forms are not here but may be found on other areas of this website). Generally the documents are “filed” (indexed) by a number of characteristics (business name, address, APN) and by the programmatic nature (food facility, hazmat, pools, general complaints, etc.) of the document.

To view our documents, you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your device.  To get this free reader, go to:  https://get.adobe.com/reader/

The following queries are the same ones found at our customer service counter PCs:

All Documents – Includes Documents from All Categories

Food Facility Documents – Includes Inspection Reports and Permits

Hazardous Materials Documents – Includes Permits, Inspection Reports and More

Pools & Spas Documents – Includes Inspection Reports

Septic System & Well Documents  - Includes Permits, Plans, Drawings, and Reports

NOTE:  Be sure to Include dashes in APNs - 012-345-67
 

Query Selection: If the document you are looking for falls into Hazmat, Food Facilities, Pools & Spas, or Septic Systems/Wells areas then there are specific queries to focus on those areas. Otherwise you should start with the “All Documents” query. Click on the appropriate link above for the specific query you want to use.
 

Query Value: A web-page will open with a Prompt and a place to enter the Query Value. More information in the Query Value field will find less documents, too little information will return too many documents (e.g. “Soquel” finds over 15,000 documents!). For those searching by address a good first search is the street number followed by the first 3 letters of the street name – use 701 oce to search for 701 Ocean St., Santa Cruz.  Capitalization does not matter.

NOTE: Be sure to Click on the Submit Button

Frequently Asked Questions:

How do I print and/or save a copy on my computer?

From the list of documents returned by your query, one document at a time, open each document that you want to keep a copy of. Depending on your Internet Browser the controls to save or print the document will be different.

Apple Safari Users:  Hovering near the bottom of the viewing page you should see a floating tool bar. Click on the picture of the floppy disk to copy the document to your device or the picture of the printer to print the document to your printer.

Chrome Users:  At the bottom of the page you should see a tool bar.  Click on the picture of the floppy disk to copy the document to your device or the picture of the printer to print the document to your printer.

Internet Explorer Users: Hovering near the top of the viewing page you should see a floating tool bar. Click on the picture of the floppy disk to copy the document to your device or the picture of the printer to print the document to your printer.

Mozilla Firefox Users: In the top right hand corner, above the document you will see the Adobe Acrobat Reader Controls.  Click on the picture of the floppy disk to copy the document to your device or the picture of the printer to print the document to your printer.

Opera Users:  Hovering near the bottom of the viewing page you should see a floating tool bar. Click on the picture of the arrow to copy the document to your device or the picture of the printer to print the document to your printer.
 

 I can’t find a document I believe should be there.

The document may be pending addition to our records, may have been determined to be Confidential, we not have received it, or you may need to use different search criteria. Please contact the clerk for that program at (831) 454-2022 for more specific assistance.
 

What documents are not available?

Documents not available by law to the general public: well driller logs, hazardous materials site maps, trade secrets, complaints showing complainant identity (often a copy with the identity redacted is available), HIPPA (personal medical information) protected documents, EHS Personnel & County Counsel documents, septic & well working files, temporary documents (used for data entry then destroyed), and draft documents.

Are my searches tracked in any way?

Not by Santa Cruz County Environmental Health.
 

How is the web version different from the version at our counter?
Other than somewhat different appearances the counter version allows you to open and/or print multiple documents at the same time while the web version only allows you to open or print one document at a time.

What if I need more help?

            Please call our office at (831) 454-2022, Monday thru Friday, 8-12 & 1-5, & our staff will endeavor to assist you.