An important change will be the concurrent review of plans by the Fire and Building Departments, which will decrease the length of time necessary to approve projects and issue permits.
The most notable change will be the increased direct contact between the applicant and Community Development Department personnel. Our outside plan review consultants will no longer contact applicants when plan check corrections are ready or when plans have been approved. Applicants will be notified directly by a City staff member when plans are ready to be picked up for corrections or are available for permit issuance.
Applicants will also re-submit projects at the Community Development Department, at which time any outstanding items for approval and issuance would be identified.
A benefit of this change to the applicant is that a responsible staff individual will assist in tracking the status of any project as it progresses towards permit issuance. Another benefit will be that as each project moves through the approval process, regular status updates are provided. Example, as plans are re-submitted after corrections are incorporated, a staff member will identify outstanding items necessary for permit issuance. Another example would be upon approval of the plans, staff will notify the applicant that plans would be ready to issue when certain items are provided, such as school fees.
Applicants will have a better opportunity to manage their projects through the review process due to the availability of status updates that include all approvals necessary for a project to go forward.
Another notable change will be the way multiple permits or projects are handled. To more effectively serve all of our customers we will no longer process "over the counter" projects such as pools and signs when there are more than three such applications. We will process these types of multiple submittals away from the counter within twenty-four hours, contact the applicant with a fee total, and schedule a time for the permits to be issued.
This procedure will minimize the time our customers spend at City Hall not only when applying for permits, but at the time of permit issuance. The appointment will allow a staff individual to prepare the permits prior to the arrival of the applicant, saving additional time at City Hall.
The last change in our conducting business at the permit counter will be the use of appointments for the issuance of any tract permits. As with the above multiple permits, the use of appointments will dramatically reduce the amount of time spent at the counter. The appointment and issuance procedure is the same as for multiple permits. A permit technician will contact applicants when permits are ready to issue, as well as schedule an appointment to sign for, and pick up permits.
We are very excited to announce that in addition to city staff members "guiding" our applicants through the plan approval process, plan check status will be made available on this web site. The status of any project pending city review and/or approval will be tracked and updated daily. We believe this can save developers time monitoring the progress of projects submitted for review.
The Plan Check Status page will show the submittal date, permit number, address of the project, applicant, and the anticipated date the plan review will be completed. Of course, applicants are welcome to contact a city staff member at (951) 693-3981 for the status of a plan review.