The Cloudpermit Land Use Permits product augments the "Planning" product by providing online land use planning permits for builders and local government planning authorities. As many building permits require a land use permit to be issued first, the Land Use Permits product helps bridge the gap between the land use permit and building permit processes.
Cloudpermit's Land Use Permit product includes zoning, special use, and conditional use permits. Municipal planning departments can accept and issue each application type through Cloudpermit for a seamless end-to-end process.
Zoning Permit
Zoning laws or ordinances help to regulate how land is used and control what structures are and are not permitted to be built on the land.Citizens who want to change how they use a specific piece of land, such as by creating new off-street parking, installing signs, or modifying or demolishing it, must apply for a zoning permit.
Special Use Permit
Special use developments in specific zoning districts may benefit existing land uses. Special use permits may be issued when a proposed development is not permitted "as of right" but is complementary to existing land use and helps mitigate potential adverse effects. As a result, special use permits may be subject to conditions.
Conditional Use Permit
A conditional use permit is a type of permit that allows for a limited exception to a zoning ordinance under certain conditions. The jurisdiction over which the land falls imposes a number of requirements before granting these permit applications. When a property owner wants to run, for example, a home-based business operation in a residential district, it may violate zoning laws, which can negatively impact the neighborhood.
The Land Use Permits product includes the following features to enhance your user experience in the application process:
Circulation
Municipal authorities solicit comments and approvals for the application from internal and external third-party organizations and agencies, such as fire, water, and sewerage departments. i.e., the application is in circulation. The authority fills out the circulation request and submits it to the selected third-party organization in the application workspace's "Circulation" section, where the circulation outcome will be saved and published for all stakeholders in the application.
Application Review
Municipal authorities evaluate each land use application and its plans after submission. The application review may contain circulation rounds for third-party organizations, like fire or gas departments, arranged through the "Circulation" workspace.
If the application requires additional reviews, such as architectural plans or zoning reviews, municipal authorities request them in the "Reviews" workspace and assign them to available reviewers. The trusted reviewer evaluates the land use application's forms and attachments and enters the review outcome into Cloudpermit. A change request will be used to request changes to forms and attachments in the application.
Committee and Council Meetings
Committee and council meetings are part of the municipal planning process. They follow a strict municipality-based protocol and are held to decide on planning applications following local government policies.
Municipalities can use the Cloudpermit "Committee and Council Meetings" feature to add land use permit approval applications to upcoming meetings, create and share agendas and other meeting-related documents, and better manage committee and council meeting dates, agendas, and meeting packages.
Public Notice
The council is required by law to provide public notice of certain types of planning applications and other planning matters by placing an advertisement in a local newspaper.
The "Public Notice" feature allows municipal authorities to manage information and tasks related to public hearings and notices of specific land use permit applications online. The "Public Notice" feature allows municipal authorities to do the following:
- Utilize the radius of the buffer zone feature to locate properties and their owners.
- Manage the citizen mailing list and receive updates on the decisions on applications.
Citizens can also self-register for the Cloudpermit "Public Notice" feature via a link or QR code to receive application decisions.
Conditions
Municipal building and planning authorities may impose conditions on special use and conditional use types of permits in Cloudpermit.Conditions can improve development quality by mitigating the adverse effects and allowing development to proceed where it would otherwise have been necessary to refuse planning permission.
The workspace for land use permit applications includes a "Conditions" section for municipal authorities to impose conditions for the project. The applicant will be notified of the condition of the application. Before the application workspace can be closed and archived, the planning department must sign off on the conditions.
Permit Issuance
After reviewing and acknowledging the received application payments, municipal authorities prepare the permit for issuance. The downloadable permit PDF is saved in the application's "Permits" section after the permit is issued.