Cape to spend nearly $400,000 to speed review of development plans

The city of Cape Girardeau plans to spend nearly $400,000 on a computer system to streamline review of development plans and allow plans to be submitted online.

Anna Kangas, the city's building and code-enforcement manager, said the system could be in operation in early 2018.

"I am pretty excited about it," she said.

The City Council earlier this month approved an agreement with Avolve Software Corp. for the purchase of online plan-submittal and plan-review software. Kangas said the software will cost the city about $250,000.

Kangas said city officials decided not to request proposals but negotiate directly with Avolve after discovering the company's software was the only one that was compatible with the city's existing online data system.

New computer software and off-site backup data storage for the plan review program will bring the total cost to more than $392,000, according to Kangas.

"Digital plan review software will save in printing costs and delivery of plans to city offices," Kangas wrote in an agenda report to the council.

City staff plans to hold several meetings with developers and design professionals to provide an overview of the software and step-by-step instruction on its use.

Kangas wrote, "In lieu of waiting on the postal service, other delivery service, or their office staff to deliver plans to our offices, the uploading of plans to the website will be instant."

She said the online system will allow developers and design professionals to send plans at any time day or night.

It also will allow city staff and its development-review partners -- the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center, the county assessor's office and the city's stormwater consultant -- to more easily review development plans.

"This software will reduce our paper storage needs and will reduce our need to climate control an area that doesn't serve any people," Kangas wrote.

The move should lessen the amount of time it takes to review development plans, Kangas said.

Not only will staff be able to review the plans online, but needed changes can be made online, she added.

Chris Koehler of Koehler Engineering said the review process currently takes from two to 10 weeks, depending on the size and complexity of the project.

"It varies a great deal," he said.

Koehler said he is looking forward to the online process. He said he hopes it is "beneficial" in cost savings and the amount of time it takes for plan reviews.

Local developer Kenny Pincksten said the online system "will speed things up" and eliminate the cost of paying an engineer or architect for multiple sets of plans.

"I haven't seen any negatives at all," he said. "This is definitely a step in the right direction."

Midamerica Hotels Corp. vice president Joel Neikirk also welcomed the city's move.

"Having the ability to submit plans digitally will be beneficial in getting the plans to multiple agencies/reviewers quickly," Neikirk wrote in an email to the Southeast Missourian.

"On our end, it will save some time and money on having multiple sets of plans printed, especially for a large project. In addition, the review notes being submitted back can more easily be forwarded with images to multiple individuals on the submission side," he said.

But Neikirk said "it is not clear" the online system will speed the review process at city hall.

Kangas said the city has one full-time plan reviewer and is looking to hire a part-time plan reviewer.

In addition, several other members of the development services staff are involved in plan reviews.

Neikirk said even with an online plan review system, "it all still comes down to having enough staff at the review level to keep up and eliminate the backlog."

mbliss@semissourian.com

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