Platte County demonstrates new online permitting portal to speed applications and inspections

The Platte County Commission heard a demonstration Feb. 3, 2025 of a new online permitting and workflow portal county staff say will let residents apply for building and land-use permits, pay fees, schedule inspections and download certificates of occupancy without coming to the office.

County Administrator Wes Mender showed the portal during the commission's announcements and explained that the system creates an applicant dashboard tied to each user account. “Once you sign up ... you can see all the permits you've submitted, the cases that are open, licenses and payment history,” Mender said during the demonstration. He said the public-facing dashboard will show only the user's own permits while staff see internal-only items such as codes-enforcement cases.

Mender demonstrated how an applicant can search by address, upload construction plans and supporting documents, and pay fees online. He described the back-end workflow: submitted → pending payment → approved → certificate of occupancy, and the automated email alerts that notify applicants and staff at each status change. “One of the biggest frustrations is when you have this inspection ticket—now it's emailed to the owner and the contractor,” Mender said, describing a reduction in lost or misplaced inspection notices.

Mender said the portal has been used internally for about six months in a soft-launch and is now active for some public-facing applications. Current public functions include building permits, planning and zoning applications, licenses (for example tow or liquor licenses) and the senior tax freeze application (SB190). He said parks reservation tools and right-of-way, utility and driveway permit workflows are coming soon.

On staff efficiency, Mender said inspectors can now update inspection results in the field (including photos) and the system sends those results automatically to applicants, eliminating the previous paper-handling steps of returning to the office to scan tickets and update files. He also demonstrated a daily-inspection dashboard that maps routes for inspectors and shows scheduled inspections.

Mender acknowledged the county has absorbed software bugs during the soft launch but said public feedback so far has been positive and the county is supplying mobile devices to field crews to improve access. He described the portal as an investment in transparency and operational efficiency that should reduce in-person visits and administrative time.

The commission did not take formal action on the portal at the meeting; commissioners offered praise and asked staff to continue rollout and internal training.