Rezachek & Associates'
Energy & Environmental Resources

Energy Facility Siting and Permitting

Permit Process Facilitation/Streamlining

1996-97 California Permit Handbook Available in HTML and Acrobat formats (736k). A Streamlined Guide Containing the Most Often Required Permits, Plus Special Aids to Help You Launch a Successful and Environmentally Sound Project.

Business Permits Made Simple CalGOLD provides businesses with information on permits and other requirements of California agencies at all levels of government, including addresses, telephone numbers, and links to agency Internet web pages.

California Office of Permit Assistance In recognition of the complexity of the permit process, the Legislature and the Governor of the State created the California Office of Permit Assistance (COPA) which is part of the California Trade and Commerce Agency. The primary mission of COPA, which is a single point of contact for state agency permits, is to provide permit assistance and information to the public and government agencies, and to help businesses comply with environmental regulation.

EPA02: Streamline EPA's Permit Program Streamlining and simplifying the permitting process will increase stakeholder participation and credibility as well as EPA and state level administrative costs savings. Increased state partnerships will improve performance and increase stakeholder participation in the permitting process. Establishment of a permit clearinghouse will improve customer satisfaction by reducing paperwork and other administrative burdens. Development of a permit tracking database will expedite the permit process, target risk assessment, and provide information for emergency responses to environmental mishaps.

Ideas That Work The City of Superior Special Area Management Plan (SAMP) was designed to preserve vast areas of wetlands and other natural and scientific areas, while reducing the cost and time involved in the wetlands review process. It has also enhanced the level of communication between government and regulatory agencies. The project is voluntary and is locally financed without assistance from outside grants. The project abandons the previous wetland review process which looked at each individual permit request on a case-by-case basis. The program identifies wetlands in the area that need protection and those that are generally suitable for development, providing no other alternatives are available. SAMP has assisted developers by streamlining the permit process in certain areas and has also given assurances to environmental interests that cumulative impacts of development on wetlands have been analyzed in the context of broad ecosystem needs.

Local Government Permit Streamlining Strategies These strategies are a blueprint local jurisdictions could follow in streamlining the permit process which would result in certainty, clarity and consistency to permitting in California.

Permit Assistance Ombudsman The Office provides information, technical support and central services to the general public, businesses, other units in the agency and other state and federal agencies. In addition to providing these services, this office also serves as a focal point for developing and implementing new initiatives with the goal of improving the delivery of services related to the environmental permitting process.

Recommendations for Improving the ISTEA Transportation Project Planning Processes This document contains seven issue papers developed by the AASHTO Projects and Planning Processes Improvements (PPPI) Task Force. Obtaining improvements to the federal project planning processes is one of three major priorities identified by AASHTO President David L. Winstead and adopted by the AASHTO Board of Directors at the AASHTO Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah in November, 1997.

Regulatory Streamlining A report on California's efforts to streamline the permitting process.

Regulatory Streamlining Case Study Companies were increasingly engaged in time-based competition. They needed regulatory and permitting processes that moved as fast as Valley businesses did. They needed to reduce the duplicative "paperwork" overhead associated with permit compliance.

Smart Permitting Shortening ‘Product Cycle Time’ and project costs are also directly effected by outside factors such as construction contractors, vendors, architects and the building departments permit process. The primary goal with Smart Permitting is to help reduce the ‘bottleneck’ in the permitting process. Smart Permit is a unique public/private project sponsored by Joint Venture: Silicon Valley. Smart Permit is aimed at improving the quality and efficiency of the building and development process in Silicon Valley. The project involves Permit Streamlining (streamlining the permit process in each City), improving Permit Processing Software used by local government agencies, Internet-enabling the Permit process and a variety of related processes and initiatives.

Streamlining the Regulatory Process The Hanford Site is and should be regulated. The cleanup is required to comply with existing laws. However, the interactions between those carrying out the cleanup and the regulatory community must focus on the mutual goal of effective, efficient cleanup; they must add value to the cleanup process.