Best practices book - Flipbook - Page 489
Program Description
Please provide a brief description of the program, i.e., Commercial Plan Review; Residential Inspection; How-To
Guides; etc.
With new development occurring in almost every neighborhood in the City, there’s been a steady
increase in requests at the City of Port St. Lucie Building Department. On average, the City approves
48,000 permits a year, 4,000 permits a month and 200 permits a day. As of September 4, 2020, the
City has issued 36,624 permits this year.
To improve customer service, reduce wait times and streamline the permitting process, the Building
Department opened the first in the Nation Drive-Up Facility on October 2019. The City’s innovative lane,
provides the public and contractors the ability to pick up permits and public records, drop off inspections,
plan reviews and various departmental paperwork without having to leave their vehicle.
The drive-thru window has enabled us to better serve our customers quickly with the knowledgeable
friendly service they have come to expect from the Building Department. In August 80% of our
customers reported their wait times in the permit lobby to be between 5 and 10 minutes. Our service
goal is for 100% of our customer’s wait times in the permit lobby to be less than 9 minutes and, with
this new drive-thru, we feel that we can meet that goal. Our number one task is ensuring top-notch
accuracy, customer experience, and, to the best of our abilities, timeliness of service.”
Customer service is paramount at the City’s Building Department and staff is continually improving
the process to eliminate wait times and traffic in the permit lobby. Even though the customer will not
be able to apply for a permit through the drive-thru window, they can apply either in person at the
Building Department lobby or on- line at www.cityofpsl.com/building.
On January 27th, 2020, the Building Department extended its Drive-Thru hours to better assist its
customers. Currently, the drive-thru is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and
p.m. Wednesday 7
a.m. to 4 p.m.
Costs / Benefit
Please provide a paragraph or two elaborating on the program, its estimated costs in human or financial resources,
and the program benefits. Benefits may include public safety, cost-recovery, legal protection, etc.
The cost of the program, with exception of the actual construction of the drive-thru, is zero dollars.
The activity at the drive-up facility is, on average, 100 customers per day. Staff still interacts with the
same total number of customers and many prefer to use the drive up. The benefits of having a drivethru are:
1. Shorter wait times in our lobby.
2. Less people in the building, which is especially beneficial during the current pandemic.
3. Convenience to the customers who no longer have to park, go into the building, check in and
wait to drop off a submittal, pay a fee or pick up a permit. They can stay in their vehicle, swing
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