Flood Control District Right of Way Permits Application

About the Program

Category: Information Technology (Best in Category)

Year: 2017

Flood Control District of Maricopa County (FCD) is responsible for reducing the risk of flooding to people and property. FCD builds/maintains structures, identifies floodplains, issues permits for development within floodplains, operates flood warning systems and conducts flood hazard studies to identify risks and provide flooding solutions. Development throughout the County can adversely impact flooding risk. Development within any FCD Right of Way (ROW) requires issuance of a ROW permit to ensure the development doesn’t adversely impact FCD structures or its ability to maintain those structures. Developers and applicants previously submitted ROW Permit Applications and multiple paper plans for review by several divisions throughout FCD. Based on the type of plan submitted, the divisions reviewed and either approved parts of the plan or rejected it and provided comments addressing revisions and re-submittal. When a plan required re-submittal, the arduous process would repeat until approved. Each time plans were submitted for review, permit specialists would deliver paper plans to each division responsible to review. The permit specialists also ensure that different division reviews weren’t conflicting and, then, coordinate all comments into one letter for the developer to respond. Although FCD staff has always embraced customer service, there is a natural apprehension about change. In the Kaizen, which was done to improve process, customers participated actively/honestly because they trusted the staff. Apprehension became enthusiasm as staff interacted with customers, resulting in renewed appreciation of the other’s business. The process of manually submitting copies of plans was costly for the developer and time-consuming for staff. The manual process was prone to mistakes and created a heavy paper trail requiring storage. Plans are large documents. By documenting, refining processes and implementing the Online ROW Permit Application and Electronic Plan Review, FCD has decreased cost and permit review time, increased transparency and provided online 24/7 submittals.