City opens new permit center to make development chain easier to navigate

With so many development projects taking off all around the city, it’s become increasingly important to streamline the permit process. The city decided to relocate the Permit Center from 3300 Central Parkway to 805 Central Ave., across the street from City Hall.
 
Now homeowners, developers, architects, small business owners, construction workers and others involved in the development and building permit process have a one-stop-shop for all things development-related. Last year, the city issued more than 9,000 building permits, and that number is expected to continue to grow.
 
The recently renovated 14,000-square-foot space in the Centennial II Building has modern building facilities and technological upgrades with more than 100 employees. The Permit Center now houses seven city departments: Cincinnati Fire Department, Cincinnati Water Works, City Planning, Department of Buildings & Inspections, Division of Transportation & Engineering, Health Department and Metropolitan Sewer District.
 
The Permit Center’s services include:

• A simplified and streamlined permitting process,
• One location to serve building construction needs,
• Pre-development consultation and
• Facilitation of development projects from approval decisions through final completion.

Cincinnati officials says the city will be able to provide plan review and building permit issuance on the same day for more than 50 percent of applying development projects.