Saturday, December 11, 2010

Electronic Plan Review


The City of Springfield (Oregon) Development Services Division is in the process of developing a system for electronic plan review.

Submitting electronic permit documents for review and approval by the City of Springfield could offer significant benefits for all parties involved. These benefits include the potential for greater efficiency, accuracy, and clarity. In addition, a complete history of the plan review process could be readily archived. The City is committed to supporting and developing this process, and looks forward to collaborating with the local design community to make it the best it can be.

Plans would need to be submitted to the City in a pdf format. Many CAD programs have the option of saving the drawing as a pdf file. Submitted in this format, reviewers can add comments and notes without changing the underlying drawing. An added benefit is that electronic submission of plans could save customers hundreds of dollars in printing costs, not to mention more than a few trees.

Many other municipalities across the country have already adopted electronic plan review. For example, Bend, OR and Mercer Island, WA have implemented such systems.

The City of Springfield is currently defining the policies and procedures for this process, and would like to have a mailing list or other means to keep the design community informed of developments. It plans on comparing the electronic and traditional permit application processes by conducting parallel reviews of simple single-family dwelling or small commercial projects.

If you’re interested in offering your views about the prospect of electronic plan review at the City of Springfield, contact Chris Carpenter at the City of Springfield. The City would welcome your input regarding communications and process development. Chris’ contact information is below:

Chris Carpenter
Plans Examiner
Springfield Community Services
225 Fifth Street
Springfield, Oregon 97477
(541) 744.4153
(541) 726.3676 Fax
ccarpenter@ci.springfield.or.us
http://www.ci.springfield.or.us/

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I'm really glad I found this. One of my friends keeps telling me about ez bid where you get this kind of service. I'm not too familiar with it so your post helped clear it up for me. How much does it cost?