By Ruth Longoria
Do you need an electrical or plumbing permit, but you don’t want to stand in line at City Hall? Are you curious about property information on a lot you’ve discovered on the Island? Or, do you want to make sure your neighbor has the necessary permits for a project they’re building? Does your son want you to sign him up for a Parks & Rec. sports class and your daughter wants the dance class offered, but you’re not sure if space is available?
Don’t get in your car and drive all over town just yet. All of these questions can be answered and activities accomplished with a little data entry and a few clicks of your computer mouse. After five years of organizing and coordinating data between nine Eastside cities, Island city staff unveiled the usefulness of the eCityGov Alliance’s Internet Web site with a demonstration during the City Council meeting Monday, July 18.
The site — eCityGov.net, which provides access to: MyBuildingPermit.com, MyParksandRecreation.com and NWProperty.net — offers information and standardized services beneficial to Islanders and residents of several cities within King and Snohomish counties.
Involved in the coalition of cities that make up the eCityGov Alliance are: Bellevue, Mercer Island, Kirkland, Sammamish, Bothell, Kenmore, Woodinville, Snoqualmie and Issaquah. Online subscription services were recently added for Redmond, SeaTac, Kent, Auburn, Des Moines, and Snohomish County. Fees paid by those cities will help recover the development costs for the partnership, staff said.
Island community leaders seem pretty excited about the prospects the Web site offers.
“This is a very powerful tool,” said Pete Mayer, director of the Island’s Parks & Recreation Department.
In addition to offering a way for Islanders to sign up and pay for, recreational programs, the Web site will enable folks to see how many are already signed up for specific classes within the program, so you can tell at a glance if space is still available. If the current technology isn’t enough to get your fingers typing, site visitors can access information and rent facilities in the future, such as through the school district, Mayer said.
The Web site offers ways for homeowners to initiate permits and get construction tip sheets or updated information about codes, said Kirsten Taylor, Mercer Island customer services director and construction liaison.
The process is handy for developers and contractors, who sometimes have had to drive from city to city to obtain information and permits for multiple properties within different jurisdictions. The site provides a newly developed, standard permit process for all of the cities within the alliance.
“Contractors can register and, within 48 hours of registering, they can get permits,” Taylor said.
Not all kinds of permits can be obtained through the site, just the over-the-counter ones that don’t require a plan review. However, homeowners and others can also set up (through the site) appointments for inspections after work is completed on a permitted job.
In addition to providing information on permits and what’s been processed or initiated, tax information, maps and lot information also can be accessed for properties within the city (or any of the cities within the eCityGov Alliance). That information is made available from the county.
Though it’s only been up and running for a short time, the eCityGov Alliance Web site has become a valuable tool for city departments. In 2004, about 7,000 permits were processed on the site, and now there’s about 10,000. About 45 percent of the Island’s permits processed in June were done through the site.
“It’s definitely meeting a need,” Taylor said.
Although the Internet access is meant to be a service for customers, rather than a way to save time or money for city staff, it’s expected to make life more pleasant for everyone involved in the permitting process, said Rich Conrad, city manager.
“This puts the tools of the Web in the hands of our citizens,” Conrad said. “No one else has done this before and we’re very proud of it.”