City Manager's Annual Report 2017 | A Year In Review | Page 31

C U S T O M E R
S E R V I C E
2.
BUILDING
DEPARTMENT
CHANGES

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The City of Port St. Lucie Building Department has made
several key changes to make their customers’ experiences
easier – some even allow customers to skip the trip to City
Hall.
The Building and IT Departments have successfully created
an online permitting procedure for single-family permits. This new process will
allow a contractor to sign documents and submit a permit application and all
required submittal documents electronically. Contractors can pay all required
fees, including impact fees that are pre-programmed into the system. Email
notifications are sent to the contractor following each step in the process.
Online permitting for single-family houses saves contractors both time and
money upon submittal, expedites the internal routing of the permit between
divisions and provides real-time notifications of all activities as they occur.
While single-family homes is a significant category, the department offers online
permits for many other types of permits. In 2017, the department also added
online permitting for residential air-conditioning units and residential water
heaters. This was an important addition because the department issues more
than 800 permits for these two categories each month.
Additionally, a new, entirely paperless “Express Permits” process is now in place
for builders of multiple single-family homes. These Express Permits are the result
of the cooperative efforts of the Building Department, Public Works Department
and the Utility Systems Department and results in permits for single-family
homes being issued faster than ever before.
In fact, those who “skip the trip” to City Hall also save money. The City Council
has adopted a 15 to 20 percent fee reduction for those who obtain their permits
online.
CITY OF PORT ST. LUCIE

A N N U A L R E P O R T 2017