The City’s Development Service is setting new improved standards for the
City’s processing of building permits. According to Kevin Fabino, Director of
Development Services, “Our Performance Efficiency
Team spent the long winter overhauling many of our building and planning permit
processes. This was a comprehensive overhaul geared toward consistency and
timeliness. We used a collaborative
approach to design the solutions by working with our local architects,
engineers, surveyors, designer’s contractors and neighboring jurisdictions.”
First, we’ve developed a self-certifying submittal checklist for all
project types to ensure every applicant knows what to expect before submitting
their application. Every project application submitted to our Permit Center now
must be accompanied by the appropriate checklist. These checklists let
designers and contractors know what is expected for a “complete application”,
which in turn will expedite the approval process and avoids costly delays.
Next, the Department established measureable and timely goals for the
City’s staff to process applications. According to John James, Building Official,
“We will provide the first set of
correction comments to the contractors within 30 days of receipt of their
application. Another part of the new standard is a 10-day turnaround for review
of corrected plans. We now give priority to those resubmitting their corrected
plans. This is a significant systematic change from the one-in-one-out
production model to prioritizing based upon readiness. We recognize the constraints
of time and want to do everything we can to help contractors maximize their
building season. ”
The Department believes these new standards will provide certainty and
consistency for our design and construction industries.
Another aspect of the newly adopted standards is accountability. We have
developed a new internal tracking system to make sure we are tracking and
measuring our performance at every stage of the process. Dave Walker, Deputy
Building Official, said “We will be able to inform applicants in real time
where their project is in the process.”
The last aspect to improving customer service was putting together a
transparent system for scheduling construction inspections. The Department
developed a new process for scheduling an inspection, which has been integrated
into the conversation with applicants and/or contractors at the time building
permits are issued and will include providing estimated time of arrivals for
inspections.
“These changes are a huge
step forward toward the City’s goal to improve the permitting process and customer
service for our community. We thank the many community members, customers, and
local partner agencies in helping to design these standards and look forward to
meeting or exceeding our new standards,” Kevin Fabino, Development Services
Department Director.
For additional
information, or detail related to the new standards, contact Kevin Fabino,
Director at
530-542-6025, kfabino@cityofslt.us, or John James,
Building Official at 560-542-6015, or jjames@cityofslt.us.