Linn County announces a new one-stop permitting process for new home construction in unincorporated Linn County that will save time for residents and contractors. The new process reduces the number of departments an applicant has to visit from three to one.
The new process is a result of collaboration among several county departments, including Planning & Development, Public Health, Engineering & Secondary Roads, and the Information Technology department.
Before a new home can be built in unincorporated Linn County, separate permits are required for the building, road entrance (including E-911 address assignment), and well and septic permits. The new process creates a one-stop application process where an applicant can apply for each of these permits at one location. The information will then be available to each department for review through an integrated permitting system.
Prior to the new system, a customer had to visit three different county departments in three different locations to get all of the required permits. Now, applications for all permits required for building a new home in rural Linn County can be applied for in person at Linn County Planning & Development, 935 Second St. SW, Cedar Rapids.
“We listened to our customers and created a more streamlined process that allows them to apply for all of the required permits for a new house at one location. Each department will still issue their own permits, but this will eliminate the need for a customer to make applications at multiple locations and pay multiple fees,” said Les Beck, director of Linn County Planning & Development.
This improved permitting process is an example of how Linn County is working to implement a customer-centered culture and use transformation strategies, such as Lean processing, to improve customer satisfaction.
“Customer satisfaction is one of our primary goals in our new strategic plan. Throughout our departments, we are putting ourselves in our customers’ shoes to better understand their experiences and use that understanding to improve and innovate Linn County products,” said Ben Rogers, chair of the Linn County Board of Supervisors.
For more information about the new permit process, call the Linn County Planning and Development Department at 319-892-5130 or visit www.linncounty.org/NewHome1StopShop.