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County reports progress on permit streamlining, HS Cloud permitting portal and CZU rebuilds; board moves to semiannual updates
Summary
County staff reported measurable improvements in plan-review timelines, development of SOPs and the Camino pre-application guide, a postponed HS Cloud go-live pending fixes, and progress on CZU fire rebuild tracking; supervisors approved moving Streamline updates to a semiannual cadence.
Santa Cruz County staff told the Board of Supervisors on April 28 that the Streamline Santa Cruz County work plan is producing measurable improvements across permitting functions, while noting technical and reimbursement challenges on some parallel projects.
CDI Director Matt Mashado and Unified Permit Center Manager Brian Rubin highlighted progress across 12 Streamline projects: 100 standard operating procedures created (about 85% complete), the Camino rules-based pre-application guide (95% complete) to help applicants identify permit needs early, and process changes that reduced median plan-check time from roughly 80 days to 66 days. Rubin also reported 87% of applications are now processed in two or fewer review cycles and post-appointment satisfaction averaged 4.8/5 (18% response rate), while post-permit surveys reflect lower response rates and a greater emphasis on regulatory complexity rather than staff performance.
Environmental Health Director Andrew Strader described deployment of HS Cloud as the program ata-management system and public portal where residents can create accounts, apply for permits, pay fees and track status; the planned first-phase go-live was postponed after user-acceptance testing revealed issues. The department said the portal will include translation capabilities, an inspection library and PowerBI reporting dashboards to increase public transparency.
On CZU fire rebuilds, Unified Permit Center staff audited 94 parcels and reclassified inactive cases, resulting in re-engagement and progress on many sites; staff reported 177 parcels reconstructed, 105 under construction and 94 in "conditionally not cleared" status, with a remaining group of parcels the county continues to try to reach. Supervisors asked for more granular dashboard metrics (percent reviewed on time by permit type and measures of application completeness); staff agreed to provide more detailed breakdowns by the August update. The board accepted the Streamline report and moved to biannual reporting, with a directed August update on CZU rebuilds and code changes.
