Rantz: Seattle’s celebrated new permit system doesn’t work

Well, this is embarrassing. The highly-celebrated, new online system to manage permits, licenses, and complaints in Seattle went live Monday. But there’s a problem: it still doesn’t work.

“Our new system is 100 percent electronic, which means that customers will submit applications and plans via the Seattle Services Portal,” the Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections proudly declared.

Yeah, well…

“I tried to upload information for a permit, [but] wasn’t able to,” an architect explained, “so [I] cannot apply for a permit through DCI. Was told everyone else is having the same issue and that ‘IT is working on it.’”

I have confirmed the system is having trouble handling document uploads. If you call their main number, you’re told that they’re aware of the problem.

All of Seattle’s permitting, licensing, inspections, and complaints functions were supposed to be available via this new system, which means this error has cost much in lost time, stalling work on new and current business.

Indeed, one architect alerted me via a source that he needs to upload documents for a construction permit to work on a project this week and is now wondering if he’ll be able to work on the project. Another local businessman who has work that needs to be done, told me “I had one of my team [members] at the city this morning and it is chaos.”

As of now, there’s no timeline on a fix that’s being shared to permit seekers and the longer this new system is down, the more significant impact this has on people’s businesses. You’d think that prior to going live with the system, they’d actually make sure it works, but I guess we’re a bit too demanding.

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