Manatee County Launches New Electronic Plans Review Option

MANATEE -- Manatee County today launched Autodesk Buzzsaw, a cutting-edge software that has the potential to save the private sector money, time and paperwork when submitting plans electronically.

Manatee County today began offering applicants submitting for a building permit or land development review the option to submit plans electronically. Those who choose this option can do away with costly paper-based method of submitting 17 sets of documents. The new software prompts the applicant to upload plans to the Buzzsaw website, then to send an e-mail notification to the County for an initial completeness review.

”It will save applicants thousands of dollars on every land development application,“ says Manatee County Planning Director John Osborne. ”It will also free up some staff to do other work. It’s going to save time for the applicants, review staff and County design staff with the review of internal engineering design work.“

Steve Kollar, Transportation System Modeler and Buzzsaw Administrator with Manatee County Public Works Department, said the new online review system will save the private sector on reproduction costs and it has the potential to significantly speed up review times.

”Eventually we’d like to go entirely paperless,“ Kollar said. ”That’s the ultimate goal.“

”The Building Department is excited to announce the implementation of Buzzsaw which will enable contractors and design professionals to access and share data electronically,“ added Erin Gostkowski, Senior Permitting Tech with Manatee County Building Department.

King Engineering staff helped Manatee County test the new software.

”County staff is now able to make comments directly on the plans which more clearly communicates the issues to us and allows us to respond appropriately,“ said Misty Servia, King’s Planning Department Manager. ”It’s definitely going to be a big time and money saver for our clients.“
 
The new AutoDesk Buzzsaw software will enable Planning, Public Works and Building departments to cut down on paperwork and to increase efficiency by delivering their projects faster and more economically. The new software is the latest in a series of steps Manatee County has taken to improve customer service and response time and to become a more environmentally friendly organization.