After nearly two years of planning, the Town of Wilton is ready to roll out a new online permitting system that officials say will save time, reduce frustration and eliminate much of the paperwork involved when it comes to building permits.
The new online platform will go live on Tuesday, Oct. 15. Officials are encouraging applicants to be mindful of the timing of the transition, with a deadline of Thursday, Oct. 10 at noon for filing applications under the current paper-based system.
The new system will allow online application submissions and tracking; emailed notifications and updates; document uploads; and secure fee payments.
“This is almost two years in the making,” said Town Administrator Matt Knickerbocker, who was tasked with overseeing the transition earlier in his tenure.
“Wilton was a little bit behind the curve in starting down that process… so we’re excited to finally get this thing to the finish line,” he said.
Knickerbocker explained that the paper process now in use can be cumbersome, especially when multiple town boards or departments — such as Inland Westlands or the Health Department — have to sign off on a project.
“Let’s say you want to build a garage… and say your garage is going to be near a sewer line or a septic field — that paperwork goes from one department to another, and it could be time-consuming,” Knickerbocker said.
He noted that homeowners often don’t realize how many departments must weigh in on even a small project.
“Most people don’t really know how complicated it is [and] they’re usually rather unhappy about how much time it takes. So this is going to be a tremendous improvement,” he said.
Developers and contractors will also benefit from the convenience of submitting applications online. Later in the rollout, architects will be able to upload their specialized files.
“It makes the whole process so much easier and so much more straightforward, even, for the professionals,” Knickerbocker said.. “Again, it’ll speed up the review process tremendously,”
Knickerbocker sees archiving as another key benefit — not just for new applications going forward, but for the possibility of converting old files to the new system.
“Instead of having basements full of tens of thousands of sheets of paper, all of the materials related to an application [could] be converted to PDFs,” and integrated into the new system, he said.
Knickerbocker says archiving will relieve some of the burden on Town staff, with time-saving advantages when it comes to the frequent need to retrieve or refer to past applications.
“If somebody needs a copy of something, or there’s an FOIA request, it will be retrievable very easily,” he said.
With town inspectors equipped with right technology, future stages of the rollout could also include “real time” building or health inspections, for example.
“90% of the paper processing will go away,” Knickerbocker predicted.
A link to the new system will be available on the Town website. Residents should also note all Town offices will be closed on Monday, Oct. 13.