June 02, 2020
Monitoring Permit Office Status during COVID-19 Outbreak
Permitting and Inspections Moving Beyond COVID-19
In order to slow the spread of the coronavirus, most jurisdictions across the region have closed their buildings to the public, cancelled in person reviews, moved strictly to electronic submissions/reviews and switched to conducting virtual inspections only. Arium has been monitoring the continual status changes at each of these jurisdictions for over 2 months to ensure that our client’s projects are moving forward in the review process.
As we move from a Stay at Home order to a Safer at Home advisory, we are seeing an uptick in business activity. While there have been a variety of challenges in each jurisdiction, typically we have seen an exceptional level of effort from reviewers continuing to work hard remotely and maintain a resemblance of normalcy during this unprecedented time.
Since the pandemic has forced most jurisdictions to speed up the implementation of their electronic submission/review/permit issuance systems, we predict that we will see an accelerated adoption of these systems and processes. Generally this is great news. However, in jurisdictions that have same day permits, one main draw back to the electronic system is that, unlike with in-person reviews, permits will not be issued the same day. If this “trial period” is deemed to be successful, we may see more adoption of all electronic submissions. For each jurisdiction, this move would reduce in-office traffic and relieve paper storage concerns. For design teams, applicants and owners, the new complexity of digital submissions now makes an understanding of each jurisdiction’s idiosyncrasies and having a personal connection to the reviewers and staff members that much more important. When things are changing, the last thing you want is to be just another permit number in the system.
Arium AE’s in-house permit expediting team is actively monitoring regional permit jurisdictions. Please utilize the links below to access the most current up to date information from each jurisdiction.
Jurisdiction Website Links
Please feel free to contact Arium AE with any questions.