TITLE
RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING COUNTY POLICY TO CREATE, PROMOTE, EXPAND AND FOSTER A MORE EFFICIENT, HOLISTIC, CUSTOMER FRIENDLY AND COORDINATED PERMITTING PROCESS; DIRECTING THE COUNTY MAYOR OR COUNTY MAYOR�S DESIGNEE TO ESTABLISH A CENTRALIZED ONLINE WEB-BASED PORTAL AND COUNTY FACILITY AND LOCATION TO ADDRESS PERMITTING ISSUES INVOLVING MULTIPLE COUNTY DEPARTMENTS, SYSTEMS AND REVIEWS AND OFFER SUPPORTING CUSTOMER APPOINTMENT SERVICES ACROSS PLAN REVIEW AND PERMIT TYPES; AND REQUIRING A REPORT

BODY
WHEREAS, construction and development projects in Miami-Dade County (the �County�) typically require approval from various divisions within the Department of Regulatory & Economic Resources ("RER"), which houses the majority of the land development and construction permitting process for the Unincorporated Municipal Service Area ("UMSA"), properties under County jurisdiction within municipalities, and certain municipal permit activities subject to County review; and
WHEREAS, the construction permit process is deliberately organized so that no building permit can be issued and later finalized (given its Certificate of Occupancy or CO) unless and until all other associated project elements are approved and constructed prior to CO; and
WHEREAS, prior to issuance of a building permit, applicants must demonstrate compliance with the structural, life safety, electrical, mechanical, and plumbing requirements of the Florida Building Code, Florida Fire Prevention Code, County land use and zoning requirements, applicable County environmental regulations, platting and public works roadway and right-of-way requirements including any necessary special assessment district approvals, verification of availability of water and sewer infrastructure and capacity, and payment of impact fees; and
WHEREAS, while less common, satisfaction of the above-referenced requirements may also require review and approval from multiple County departments and agencies outside of RER, particularly for larger development projects, including the County Water & Sewer Department (WASD), Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW), Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), Florida Department of Health (FDOH), School Board, Parks, Recreation & Open Spaces (PROS), Solid Waste (DSWM), Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (MDFR), Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) and Miam-Dade Aviation Department (MDAD); and
WHEREAS, RER�s Construction Permitting Division, which houses the building permit process, has historically provided coordinated plan review and customer appointment services across building permit plan review types at the County�s Permitting and Inspection Center, offering coordinated rework meetings for contractors and design professionals in the development industry, in addition to a Homeowner and Small Business Assistance Team that provides step by step, coordinated permit support and individualized appointments for residents and businesses; and
WHEREAS, although this staff continues to attempt to assist customers when building permits cannot be issued due to a project�s need for the above referenced less common but necessary approvals from departments and agencies outside of RER�s Construction Permitting Division by connecting them with relevant staff, customer service may inadvertently suffer due to the lack of structured, coordinated supportive appointment services for navigating these approvals; and
WHEREAS, the multiple departments and agencies processing and providing the requisite approvals for a permit or approval type may not be all located in the same physical location, may have plan review staff available for consultation at disparate dates and times, or may not have any regularly established consultation times for customers at all; and
WHEREAS, a permit holder may need to travel to or contact County personnel in multiple facilities, such as the Miami-Dade County�RER Permitting and Inspection Center�at 11805 SW 26th Street, Water & Sewer Department at 3575 LeJeune Road, and other County departments and agencies at the downtown Stephen P. Clark Government Center and Overtown Transit Village, among other facilities, to determine the approval stage of or address outstanding issues related to a particular permit; and
WHEREAS, forcing a permit holder to travel to or contact County personnel at different facilities located throughout the County is a burden to County residents and businesses, and there is no holistic customer service entity or structure within the County to assist applicants requiring these multiple approvals from different departments and agencies; and
WHEREAS, multiple County departments have deployed electronic portals and adopted electronic plan review processes that allow applicants to submit and track applications and plans on line, thus eliminating the need to physically drop off paper plans or call or visit facilities in person to monitor the progress of plan approval; and
WHEREAS, these portals were accompanied in some cases, but not all, with deployment of electronic appointment systems with supporting customer appointment services that allow applicants to make telephonic, virtual, or in-person appointments with specified plan review staff to address disapprovals; and

WHEREAS, timely and coordinated meetings with County staff, particularly when approvals require multiple departments and agencies, can save applicants valuable time in the overall process by bringing together plan review staff and applicants� design professionals to ensure that applicants and their hired professionals have a more comprehensive understanding of disapproval comments and are able to address them holistically and with fewer resubmittals; and
WHEREAS, this Board has consistently supported and adopted resolutions and policies to expedite and centralize the County�s permitting and plans review processes; and
WHEREAS, for example, in 2019 this Board adopted Resolution No. R-1078-19, sponsored by Commissioner Eileen Higgins, directing a multi-faceted analysis of the permitting process for housing developments, with a view towards shortening the timelines for affordable housing developments; and
WHEREAS, additionally, in 2022, this Board adopted Resolution No. R-1123-22, directing all County plan reviews and approvals of permit applications for construction and development projects, including but not limited to WASD Utility Development Division plan reviews and approvals, to comply with the procedures and expedited timelines set forth in section 125.022 of the Florida Statutes, as amended by chapter 2021-224, Laws of Florida (HB 1059) and directing even more expedited timelines for plans review and permit approvals for affordable housing projects; and
WHEREAS, adoption of a structured, holistic appointment system and accompanying customer services will enhance the permitting process by making various departmental staff available in a more predictable and coordinated manner across plan review types and disciplines, thus facilitating more timely approvals across departments and agencies; and


WHEREAS, such action will further this Board�s longstanding desire to promote an efficient, holistic, customer-friendly and coordinated permitting process for its residents and businesses where permitting issues and questions are addressed to the greatest extent feasible in one centralized physical location and facility and virtual online location,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, that:
Section 1. The foregoing recitals are approved and incorporated herein.
Section 2. It is the policy of Miami-Dade County to create, promote, expand and foster a more efficient, holistic, customer friendly and coordinated permitting process for its residents and businesses so that a permit holder has, to the greatest extent feasible, a centralized online web-
based portal and physical facility location to address permitting issues and resolve rework comments through a coordinated meeting where approvals involve multiple agency and County department reviews.
Section 3. In furtherance of this policy, the Board directs the County Mayor or County Mayor�s designee to establish a centralized online web-based portal that may collect information from source systems for each associated plan approval type where permit holders can easily access permit information relating to multi-departmental reviews and approval statuses, as well as access staff to resolve plan review comments and make appointments for rework meetings. These supporting customer appointment services should be offered both virtually and in person across all plan review and permit types required for the totality of the land development and construction permitting process. Additionally, to facilitate this enhanced service, this Board directs the County Mayor or County Mayor�s designee to move all County departmental reviews, multi-disciplinary
reviews, and permit approvals into one centralized County facility and location to the greatest extent feasible. This Board directs the County Mayor or County Mayor�s designee to utilize any budgeted and legally available funding to effectuate the policy and directives established herein.
Section 4. This Board directs the County Mayor or County Mayor�s designee to provide a report on all the actions it is currently undertaking and will undertake to effectuate the policy and directives set forth in this resolution. Specifically, the report shall include a description of the County�s current online permitting platforms that are available to the public to check the status of open permits and whether the current permitting platform(s) integrate information from multiple agencies, County departments and disciplines. The report shall describe what efforts, if any, the County Mayor or County Mayor�s designee are currently taking, if any, to create one centralized online web-based County portal for permitting approvals and plans tracking status, along with supporting customer appointment services across plan review and permit types, whether the County Mayor or County Mayor�s designee is planning to budget legally available funding to improve the County�s online permitting information systems and supporting customer appointment services for fiscal year 2023-2024 and the fiscal impact to the County of any currently planned improvements. The report shall also include what actions, if any, the County Mayor or County Mayor�s designee is taking to move all permitting approvals and reviews into one County facility and location and the fiscal impact of establishing a one-stop physical location for permitting approvals and staffing of supportive customer appointment services across departments. The report shall describe what a permit holder may currently experience in seeking information on his or her permit subject to multiple County department reviews and approvals and multi-disciplinary reviews and approvals, including but not limited to identifying the multiple County locations a permit holder may need to visit to address outstanding permit issues. The County Mayor or County Mayor�s designee shall provide the report to this Board within 90 days of the effective date of this resolution and place the completed report on an agenda of the full Board without committee review pursuant to rule 5.06(j) of the Board's Rules of Procedure.