City Of Creve Coeur: Building Permit Task Force Recommendations For Permitting Process

Press release from the City of Creve Coeur:

November 29, 2021

Since it was established in November 2020, the Building Permit Task Force has been working to identify opportunities for improvement within the City’s building and permit inspection services to better meet the needs of the community. As part of this process, the task force has thoroughly reviewed the city’s Building Division operations, reviewed input received during public forums, and reviewed survey responses from contractors.

The Building Permit Task Force provided several recommendations to the City Council during the City Council meeting on November 8, 2021, including:

• Technical recommendations. The task force recommended several amendments to the building code that would make Creve Coeur consistent with the building code requirements in St. Louis County and consistent with the 2015 International Residential Code as published. These recommendations were reviewed and adopted by the City Council in September 2021.
• Efficiency recommendations. The task force recommends acquiring software that would allow permit applications to be submitted online, making the permitting process more convenient and accessible for citizens and contractors, as well as reducing workload for staff.
• Administrative recommendations. The task force also supports numerous administrative changes to streamline inspections and improve the permitting process experience for residents and contractors, such as allowing a limited number of re-inspections at no charge, consolidating inspections on small home renovation projects, and requiring only one inspection for a fence installation instead of two.
• Community and perception recommendations. As the recommendations are implemented, the City will continue to communicate the changes in code requirements and permitting processes through newsletters, social media and public forums with contractors.

In order to measure the results of the recommended changes, City staff will provide an update to the City Council on implementation and stakeholder feedback in one year. 

For more information about the task force’s recommendations, please contact Gregory Tate, Chief Building Official, at gtate@crevecoeurmo.gov.

This press release was produced by the City of Creve Coeur. The views expressed here are the author’s own.