The City Of Doral Implemented A Mobile Permit Service.

This program is available for veterans, senior citizens and individuals with physical disabilities.

By: Edda Pujadas

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DORAL, FL –  The City of Doral has implemented a Mobile Permit Service to assist veterans, senior citizens and residents with limited mobility. Through this service, the residents with special needs will be able to process permits for minor repairs from the comfort of their home.

This was informed by Maggie Santos, Communications and Protocol Manager for the City of Doral. She explained to us that the idea for this service is to help these residents processing their permits from their own home, without the need to go to the city’s facilities.

“To achieve this, our staff members will go to the house of the resident requiring the service, and they will provide information on the process and paperwork,  according to the type of permit that the resident requires. We will also provide them with advice on which is the best way to process such permit,” states Santos.

It is important to clarify that this service will only be available for minor repairs such as kitchens, bathrooms, fence installations, minor changes, exterior flooring, doors and windows, shutters and alarm installation, for example.

It is very easy to request this service. The only thing that the resident needs to do is to call the City of Doral at 305.593.6725, ask for the Building Department and request to contact the program coordinators. They can also be contacted via email at Carlos Diaz – carlos.diaz@cityofdoral.com  or Claudia Herrera – Claudia.herrera@cityofdoral.com and schedule an appointment to meet at their home in order to apply for and obtain a permit.

Santos emphasized the fact that the purpose of this program is to assist residents for which it is complicated to get out of their homes frequently, but that need to conduct these processes to improve or repair their residential properties.

ASSISTING EVERYONE

While this Mobile Permit Program is only available to veterans, senior citizens and/or disabled residents, Maggie Santos reminded us that the Building Department of the City of Doral offers a wide array of services to help the residents, business owners, and developers with their permit needs and with all aspects of construction and development.

The Building Department is responsible for the revision, processing, issuance, and inspection of permits that can guarantee that construction within our city complies with the dispositions of the Florida Building Code, the Code of Ordinances of Miami Dade, the City of Doral Ordinances and all applicable legislation.

Taking this into account, one of the main services that the Building Department provides is the advice to help in getting all the paperwork and processes done most effectively and quickly possible. “Our staff understands that they need to be expedited in the revision of applications, same as with the importance that it has that contractors are up to date with their construction timelines and the most important, the need that the companies can start operating as soon as possible.  So for this reason, they try to provide as much help as possible.”

Among the services that the Building Department of the City of Doral provides are pre-construction meetings, inspections of plans, review and processing of plans in an expedited way, plans for DERM (fire and environment), digital permits revision, early start permits, request of inspections out of the normal schedule, and temporary permits (TCO) or final permits (CO).

While not all permits are the same, in general terms, the City of Doral requires for the processing of permits: two copies of the drawings or plans for the project, two copies of the review and legal description of the property, two copies of the HOA or Condo approval (if it applies), and two copies of any other relevant document.

The applicants for the permits must present the application form together with the following information: name of the owner or tenant, contractor information, type of permit, type of improvement, folio number, actual use of the property, description of the work to be performed, estimated value, area and contact information of the person that is running the process.

The application form for the permits and the general information about all the different types of licenses can be found in the Building Department page of the City of Doral website, under the permit section: https://www.cityofdoral.com/all-departments/building/permit-information/ You can also call 305.593.6700

Together with the processing and approval of permits, the Building Department is also responsible to identify, register and inspection all the boilers; inspection, monitor and determine if there are any unsafe structures (abandoned properties, expired permits or those that have been damaged in some way) and to review the inspection reports presented by engineers and that certify the structural strength of those buildings with over forty years old, among other activities.

In case of a natural disaster, they are responsible for conducting a city-wide inspection to evaluate possible damages; to reduce any loss due to floods through the application of the appropriate local and federal regulations; to gather information from flood plains and to keep the records of the community; to promote the information about flood insurance; to provide information about elevation and flood zones; provide advice regarding flood insurance and to manage the Flood Protection Assistance Program.