Online Structural Notice of Intent Program

About the Program

Category: County Administration and Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2018

San Diego County’s Pesticide Regulation Program (PRP) receives more than 18,000 “Notices of Intent” (NOIs) to fumigate residential and commercial structures each year. These fumigations provide a valuable service to the community by controlling wood destroying and other pests, but they also use dangerous pesticides that are highly regulated. Fumigation companies are required to submit NOIs to the County at least 24 hours before fumigating. For years, the County had received NOIs by email and fax and saved them in digital and paper folders. County staff spent lots of time sorting through emails and faxes to create inspection routes. In addition, County staff also had to sort through these files to help law enforcement agencies, which have increasingly asked to see notifications of fumigations taking place in their jurisdictions because fumigated homes were being burglarized. All of this sorting was inefficient and time consuming. The County solved this by creating the Online Structural Notice of Intent Program —a voluntary, industry-supported program that lets companies submit NOIs online, rather than by fax or email, and which then saves all NOI information in a database that allows PRP staff and law enforcement to be instantly notified of scheduled fumigations.