Most town permits follow the same path from application to permit. This guide walks through each step and what to put online first.
Which permits this is about
This guide applies to the permits a clerk, parks or public works office issues: burn permits, block parties, special events, right-of-way and street openings, and temporary food permits.
Building permits and building inspections often run in a separate system, kept by the building department or the county, with plan review and code rules of their own. Find out who owns that system before you plan. You may only need to link to it.
Keep intake separate from what follows
A permit has two halves. Intake is getting a complete application and the fee. The lifecycle is everything after: review, corrections, inspections, issuance, renewal and expiry.
They are different projects. Intake is mostly a form and a payment. The lifecycle touches several departments and their rules. Treat them separately and you can put intake online in weeks.
Intake: what to collect
Start from the paper form and the questions staff ask when it arrives incomplete. Each of those questions is a field the form is missing.
Most permits need the applicant and their contact details, the location (an address, a parcel or a stretch of street), the dates and times, a description of the activity and the documents the permit type requires. Those can be a site plan, a certificate of insurance, a traffic control plan or a food handler's certificate.
Ask permit-specific questions only for that permit. A burn permit applicant should never see questions about street closures.
Intake: completeness checks
An application should be complete before anyone reviews it. Check what a form can check: required fields, required uploads, dates in the future and far enough ahead to meet your notice rule.
Tell the applicant at the moment of submission what is missing, in words they can act on: "A block party needs signatures from the households on the block. Upload the signed petition to continue."
Record the date the application became complete. Many permit rules count review time from that date, and it is the date the applicant will ask about.
Intake: fees
Decide when each fee is paid: at application, at approval or at issuance. An application fee is often kept if the permit is denied. A permit fee is often charged only on approval. Write down which applies to each permit type.
Take payment to the town's own merchant account, and record each fee against the application it belongs to, so finance can match it to the deposit.
Review: corrections, resubmission and conditions
Review is where applications wait. Give each permit type a list of who reviews it, and let each reviewer record a decision: approve, approve with conditions, request corrections or deny.
When a reviewer asks for corrections, the applicant should see exactly what to fix and be able to resubmit in the same application. Keep every version. A reviewer needs to see what changed.
Conditions belong on the permit itself. "Fire must be extinguished by 10 p.m." or "Barricades supplied by public works" are part of what was approved.
Inspections with checklists
Some permits need an inspection before issuance or during the activity: a food booth before it opens, a street restored after a right-of-way cut.
Give each inspection type a short checklist, recorded item by item with a pass or a fail and a note. A failed item should create a follow-up inspection, so nothing depends on someone remembering.
Inspectors work in the field, so the checklist must work on a phone, with photos attached to the item they show.
Issuance and the permit document
The permit is a document the holder may have to show: to a neighbor, to an officer, to a fire crew. It should carry the permit number, the holder, the location, the dates it is valid, the conditions and the issuing office.
Issue it as a PDF the holder can print or show on a phone, and keep a copy with the application. The holder should be able to download it again later without calling.
Renewals, expiry and suspension
Annual permits such as food permits need renewal. Send a reminder before expiry with a link to renew, prefilled from last year's application, so the holder confirms what changed.
Every permit should have an end date the system enforces. An expired permit should show as expired everywhere, including the verification page.
If your rules allow suspension or revocation, record it with the date, the reason and who decided. The status should change the same day.
A public way to verify a permit number
A short public page where anyone can enter a permit number and see whether it is valid saves your staff calls from neighbors, contractors and officers.
Show only what the public needs: the permit type, the status, the dates it is valid and the location. Leave out the holder's phone, email and payment details.
What to move online first
Start with intake and status: an online application with completeness checks and payment, and a page where applicants see where their application stands.
That removes most counter visits and status calls, and staff can keep reviewing the way they do today. Move review, inspections and issuance online next, one permit type at a time, starting with the one you issue most.
Questions to ask any vendor
Ask each one, and ask to see it working:
- Can we set up a new permit type ourselves, with its own fields, fees and reviewers?
- Can an applicant resubmit corrections in the same application, with every version kept?
- Do fees settle to our own merchant account?
- Do inspection checklists work on a phone, with photos?
- Is there a public page to verify a permit number, and can we choose what it shows?
- How have the applicant screens been tested for accessibility, and against which standard?
- Can we export every application, document and decision if we leave?
Where LFW fits
The LFW Platform covers the whole path: online and counter applications, review with corrections, a signed decision with conditions, inspections on a phone checklist, the certificate, renewals and a public way to check a number. Send a written setup request, and we reply within one business day.
Leland Fiegel