Electronic Submittal

My local county likes the original submission for a land division submitted on a sealed plat (5 bond copies). I'm still waiting for that original one to be approved on the first submittal, likely never will see the day. 😉

However they will accept a pdf of all re-submittals, that won't bear an original seal. Once finally approved, they need original signed mylars that eventually get recorded.

Thats just the survey dept. My guess is for site plans & construction docs it's about the same in Eng and P & Z. They're just being practical, plus it saves them time by not having to scan things. So its a win win for everybody.

I think our recorders office will accept e-files from a title company for recordation, but they have some digital thing on file for authenticity. But that won't work for normal surveys because they need to be original mylars

Mylar had it's place, at one time, but I think it is an outdated media. I doubt anyone can tell the differance between the scan of a paper or mylar drawing. The only reason you might still want mylar would be that it might last longer, in an archive.

PALS has a new look. You can navigate this site fairly easily and see what they are doing.

LTSA in BC has an e-file system, but theirs is a little different. Their land divisions are permited through a planning department but the filing is now handled through the LTSA.

Interesting. I'm going to delve into those sites a bit more. It could make for a good topic at our next chapter meeting.

I know it was a couple years ago the recorders office started thinking about it. Some of the problems are at the state law level (mylar surveys), so there is only so much they can do. But I'm pretty sure they have all the routine recordings available for e-file.

But why submittals for county approval can't go that route is likely due to ineffeciency built into laziness of staff and department heads, and obvious budgetary issues.

Tarrant County allows electronic submittal of deeds and such for recording in the official public records.

Fort Worth said they going to start allowing electronic submission (pdf) of plats about 10 years ago … but the concept never seemed to materialize. Several of the cities around here allow electronic resubmissions of plats after your initial paper submission. Almost all of the cities require an electronic CAD file be submitted during the plat approval process.

I wish.
One of local municipalities requires 10 copies per submittal.

I'm still required to provide mylars to the BIA/BLM for restricted deed easements, but otherwise electronic submittals work with everybody else (not so "Bureaucratically Challenged"

(tongue firmly in cheek)

-JD-

When my local Register's Office began scanning plats I noticed that the scans of my maps looked like hell. I first thought it had to do with the resolution or compression they were using but it turned out to be the design of their scanner. As a test I printed two identical plats, one on paper and one on mylar, and asked the register to scan and print both. The difference was amazing. The mylar produced a blurry copy where as the paper was almost as clean as the original. Something to do with the translucent nature of the mylar and the location of the light source and image pick-up in the scanner causes mylars to produce lousy scans.

City and County of Denver, Colorado prefers electronic on-line submittals for many survey and engineering related documents. They then do their reviews in pdf's of your documents and send you the redlines & comments electronically as well. Once you go to final, you send them an electronic of the final in conjunction with the required stamped & signed hard copy documents. Very slick and efficient process- they have put a lot of thought into it and it works very well.

Chuck

> I wish.
> One of local municipalities requires 10 copies per submittal.

Mountain Brook, Alabama requires 17 copies.

Thank you Chuck, for your input here.

How long has this been implemented?

Is there still a process for hard copy submittals, for the people who still hand draft?

Can you put me in touch with the people that manage this system?

douglasATcasementlsDOTcom

Thanks again,

Doug Casement, PLS