Building official seeks public hearing on permit fee changes and new permit software

Nottoway County’s building official, Nick Bowles, told supervisors June 26 that proposed permit‑fee increases and a reorganization are intended to move the position’s cost into the building‑inspection budget and to improve code compliance.

Bowles asked the board to advertise a public hearing on fee changes that would cover a permit technician position moved from administration into building inspection. The nut graf: Bowles said the fee adjustments are intended both to ensure the building department’s operations are funded by users of the service and to tighten verification of contractor licenses by moving from a universal permit to individual trade permits; he cited Title 54.1, chapter 11 of the Virginia code as the authority requiring license verification.

Bowles said staff are implementing IGIS permit software that will allow customers to submit applications and documents online over time; near‑term changes will streamline scheduling and inspection reporting. He told the board that, under current software, inspections return as pass, fail or reschedule and that 170 inspections had 68 failures (about a 40 percent fail rate) in a recent period; he said a future software update could allow a partial‑pass result to improve clarity.

The board moved and approved advertising a public hearing in July on the fee schedule and will receive projected revenue estimates before the hearing. Bowles said projected revenue would be used to cover the new permit‑technician position but cautioned that totals depend on construction activity.

Ending: County staff will circulate revenue projections in advance of the July public hearing and the building department will add a fee for work that begins without a permit per the board’s request.