How to conduct and complete a pre-consultation process

The applicant has submitted the pre-consultation request to the municipality's planning department. 

This article includes the following steps:

• Beginning the pre-consultation review
• Creating a pre-consultation meeting request and managing the process
• Creating a circulation request for the pre-consultation
• Adding internal notes to the pre-consultation workspace
• Creating a draft planning application for the applicant
• Completing the pre-consultation process 

Beginning the pre-consultation review 

1. Click "Begin Pre-Consultation" at the top of the pre-consultation request workspace.
2. You have started the pre-consultation process for the selected application. The request's step has changed to the "In Progress" step.
   

Creating a pre-consultation meeting request

1. Scroll to the "Meetings" section and click "Add Meeting." 
2. Fill out the required fields marked with a red asterix in the meeting request and click "Save Changes."
3. You have prepared a request for a pre-consultation meeting. Once the application is published (click "Publish"), the applicant and all stakeholders in the application will receive an email informing them of the date and time of the pre-consultation meeting.
4. The pre-consultation meeting request remains in the application workspace's "Meetings" section.

Cancelling a scheduled pre-consultation meeting

1. Select "Delete Meeting" to cancel the meeting. 
2. Confirm the cancellation by clicking "Yes."
3. Cloudpermit will not notify applicants or stakeholders of the meeting cancellation via email. To inform all parties of the meeting cancellation, use the "Messaging" feature. The workspace header link "Show messages" takes you to the "Messaging" workspace.

Marking the pre-consultation meeting as held

Following the pre-consultation meeting, it is important to close the meeting that has been held. Click the "Mark as Held" button in the meeting invitation.

The pre-consultation meeting is now closed.

Creating a circulation request 

The pre-consultation process does not necessitate circulation. Nonetheless, municipal departments may need to consult other organizations regarding planning and development plans before proceeding.

1. Scroll to "Circulation" and press the "Add Circulation Request" button. 
2. By default, the circulation is visible to municipal authorities and the designated stakeholders. If necessary, you can provide additional visibility to all stakeholders and applicants by selecting them in the circulation request (optional).
3. Fill out the circulation request form. 
4. Select the organization and the assignee (optional) to whom you want to send the circulation request in the "Add a new stakeholder" section. 
5. Click "Add New." 
6. You can request circulation from multiple organizations using the same request. In that case, repeat steps 4 and 5.
7. Click the "Send Circulation Request" button. The request will be routed to the chosen organizations.
   
8. The circulation request has been sent to the designated organization. The due date for the circulation process banner appears at the top of the workspace. It specifies for municipal authorities the timeframe when the circulation round must be completed.
9. When the circulation round(s) are finished, the municipal authority enters the results into Cloudpermit. To do that, click "Finish Circulation."
10. Select the circulation result from the drop-down list.
    
11. Enter the circulation comments and click "Finish Circulation."
12. Sometimes, the third-party organization may provide the circulation comments in a file. In that case, select "Comments are provided as an attachment" and upload the file. Click "Finish Circulation."
    
13. You've finished circulating the pre-consultation request and saved the results to Cloudpermit. The circulation result template includes your initials at the bottom.
    

Adding internal notes

The "Internal Notes" section allows municipal authorities to add notes about the process that will be visible to all municipal authorities working on the request. Read the support article here. 

Adding pre-consultation result

Municipal authorities keep track of pre-consultation outcomes in Cloudpermit. Once the pre-consultation phase is completed, the result will be made available to the applicant and other stakeholders. The applicant will also get an email about the pre-consultation results that have been saved in the "Results" section of the application workspace in Cloudpermit.

1. Navigate to the "Result" section in the pre-consultation workspace. Enter the pre-consultation result in the comment field. Cloudpermit automatically saves your text.

Creating a draft application

Before concluding the pre-consultation process, the municipal planning authority will prepare a draft planning application for each applicant. Applicants will use this application workspace to request approval for their planning plans. Once created, the draft application will appear in the "Application" tab next to the pre-consultation workspace in Cloudpermit.

1. Navigate to the workspace header and expand the "More Actions" drop-down menu. Select "Create application draft" from the drop-down list.
2. The "Application" workspace tab appears next to the pre-consultation workspace. Select the "Application" tab.
3. Scroll down to "Application Data." Choose the scope and proposed use from the drop-down menus. Cloudpermit will then generate the correct form for applicants to fill out under the "Waiting for Customer" tab.
    
4. Go to the "Attachments" section. This section includes a list of the required attachments for the application type. You can still add more required attachments to the application by clicking the "Add Required Attachment" button and choosing the attachment type from the drop-down list. Read more steps here.
5. You have now finished the draft planning application that appears in the applicants' "Application" tab.

Completing the pre-consultation process

1. Click the "Pre-Consultation" workspace tab. Navigate to the right top corner of the application and click "Complete Pre-Consultation."
2. Click "Yes."
    
3. You have now completed the pre-consultation process. The applicant has been notified of the results of the pre-consultation via email. Furthermore, the draft application is available to the applicant in the application workspace. 

   The application approval phase can begin once the planning application has been filled out and submitted to the municipal planning department.