The county's Division of Building Safety adds a service that will save residents time and effort

In an effort to increase providing quality customer service, the Jefferson County Building Safety Division, in conjunction with the Planning & Zoning Division, is making it easier for citizens starting small home improvement projects to complete the approval process and begin work.

Information is available online for residents to learn how to start the zoning approval process, as well as guides for how to ensure projects will be in compliance with county standards.  In addition, citizens can download applications from the county's Website prior to coming in at http://jeffco.us/building.  Once they have completed their applications, it can be brought to the Planning & Zoning and Building Safety offices for a compliance review.

Applicants start with a review by Planning & Zoning.  Once that review is completed, they can take their permit over to Building Safety.  While the person is at the office, the plans examiner can request additional detail or missing information and enter the project into the county's system.  What used to be a multi-day process for county customers can now be narrowed down to, typically, less than an hour's time.

"We saw there was an opportunity to make things easier for people who have small projects they wish to complete," said Tim Carl, the county's Planning and Development director.  "One of our goals within the county is to provide quality customer service and we feel this service will offer a positive personal experience to our citizens."

Community members working on basements, garages, decks and other similarly small projects are encouraged to go online to start the process and then visit the Planning & Zoning and Building Safety offices between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to review their applications with office staff.  In the future, both the Building Safety and Planning & Zoning Divisions hope to be able to conduct more of their business online, making it less time consuming for citizens. 

For more information in this service and other issues, please contact the Building Safety office at 303-271-8260 or the Planning & Zoning Division at 303-271-8700.