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County staff demo online building-permit portal used for ~90 applications since October
Summary
Planning and Building Services demonstrated a new online building-permit portal that allows applicants to create accounts, submit over-the-counter permits, upload required forms, pay fees online and schedule inspections; staff said simple permits are often approved same day and roughly 90 applications have been processed via the portal.
Planning and Building Services staff demonstrated Lassen County's online building-permit portal, which has been in limited use since last October and has processed about 90 permit applications.
Galen Orr and portal staff walked supervisors through account creation, address/parcel lookup, owner-builder designation, and required uploads such as the state-required smoke- and carbon-monoxide detector documentation for projects exceeding $1,000 in value. Staff showed how applications are routed for completeness review, then to planning and back to building for final approval, and explained that email alerts notify applicants at each stage.
Staff said many simple over-the-counter permits are approved the same day or within a couple of days. The portal also supports online scheduling for inspections and supplies inspection results and disapproval reasons in the applicant's portal so corrections can be made and reinspections requested. Payment uses a third-party processor and issued permits are sent via DocuSign for signatures; signed permits are retained for assessor records.
Board members asked whether the portal will provide site-specific criteria (for example snow-load maps) and were told the current rollout supports general permit types (mechanical, electrical, plumbing, roofing, siding and cargo container permits) and that plan-required permits (design review, snow-load-specific) will still require plan submission to the building department. Staff said they plan to expand the portal to additional permit types and that the planning and building services portion of the county website will include maps and resources to guide applicants.
Supervisors praised staff for the effort and encouraged continued outreach to contractors and residents, especially in outlying areas, so more applicants know the portal is available.
