In December 2013, Miami-Dade County extended an invitation to all county municipalities to participate in the Electronic Plan Review Program. The Town of Miami Lakes served as the pioneer working with the county over the past few months to implement the program. To date, the town has processed over 100 applications.
The program offers a streamlined process for businesses when submitting plans for review and approval in electronic file formats. Reviews, markups and changes can be exchanged electronically between the town and county regulatory agencies including the Fire Department, Department of Economic and Environmental Resources (formerly D.E.R.M.), and the Water and Sewer Department, thus improving efficiency and creating faster turn-around times.
Currently applications for commercial and residential new construction as well as commercial build out projects are being turned around on average in 3-4 business days, a vast improvement from the previous time frame of 3-4 weeks.
“Miami Lakes has always been committed to enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of our service delivery,” said Mayor Wayne Slaton. “The Electronic Plan Review Program is a great example of this commitment and a step in the right direction.”
Throughout the Strategic Planning and Community Survey process, the number one concern of business owners was the lengthy and time consuming process of couriering large sets of plans from one agency to another. Miami Lakes hopes this program will address those concerns and is committed to assist in the streamlining of regulatory processes, recognizing that these types of activities are essential to encourage and assist new business owners and prospective developers to choose Miami Lakes as their home.