Hamilton County to switch building, zoning and stormwater permits to online EZTrac system

Hamilton County commissioners heard a presentation Feb. 11, 2025, on a planned migration of the county’s building, zoning, stormwater and related permitting services from a legacy system into an EZTrac digital permitting platform and were told the go-live date is Feb. 18, 2025.

County officials said the migration will move application intake, plan uploads, partner routing and inspection scheduling to a web-based system developed through the CAGES (Cincinnati Area Geographic Information System) consortium. “This has been a process in the making, but one which is a transformative process for our customers,” James Noyes, director of planning and development, said during the presentation.

County leaders said the change matters because it lets residents, contractors and developers start applications and check project status from any internet-connected device, reducing trips to the courthouse and staff time spent scanning and routing paper documents. Noyes said the legacy PermitsPlus system is about 35 years old and will be retained as a read-only archive after the migration. Staff and county speakers emphasized that the online rollout will be supported by in-person help for residents who prefer or require it.

James Noyes said the new EZTrac portal will allow customers to…