Grant used to enable online permitting

Contractors can now apply for building permits online in seven Berkshire County towns, a step made possible by a $111,000 state Community Innovation Challenge grant that the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission received in 2012.

The towns – Becket, Dalton, Lee, Lenox, Monterey, Richmond and Sheffield – used the grant to hire Boston-based Full Circle Technologies, whose online permitting system includes chat rooms that link contractors, homeowners and town officials online.

According to Becket Building Inspector William Girard, the chat-room transcripts can serve as useful documentation. If there is a missing piece of information in an online application, he will send the contractor or the homeowner a transcript of the chat. The person involved is asked to scan in the missing information and attach the file to the online application.

Plumbing, electricity and gas permits also can be obtained online in each of the seven towns.

According to Girard, completing building permits online is not just convenient for contractors, who can avoid the time and expense of driving to a town hall. The system also can provide ample online storage space, reducing the number of documents that need to be kept in town buildings.

“There’s just too much paper involved in the permitting process,” Girard said, noting that the building plans have to be kept in drawers to protect them from sunlight. “We end up with big rolls of plans. But if it’s stored in the cloud, you can just keep a record that you issued a report.”