Woodfin – Reporting code violations in the Town of Woodfin is somewhat of a hassle. One either has to go down to the town hall and report it, or call and waiting on hold to speak to someone, and sometimes have to leave a message. Later, one must call back to learn the status of the complaint. The same goes for applying for certain permits with the town, such as signs and rezoning requests.
Well, residents of the Town of Woodfin have a couple of new online tools to use to report violations of the town code ordinances or to apply for certain types of permits.
The new tools can be found on the town’s home page (woodfin-nc.gov) and are clearly marked “Code Enforcement Portal” and “Development Permit Portal” and have only been up for about three weeks. Adriene Isenhower, Woodfin’s Town Planner, told the Tribune, “The town has been working on the new features for several months now” as plans to incorporate the new features have been in the works since last year.
Code Enforcement Portal
The Code Enforcement Portal allows residents to not only submit their complaints about a violation of the town code ordnance, but also enables them to see what complaints have been filed by searching for parcel number, parcel address, type of violation and date discovered.
One in the portal, users can do one of two things. The first is to search for code violations that have been reported. This is where you use the parcel number, parcel address, type of violation and date discovered to look for an infraction.
The other is to submit a complaint for the code enforcement officer to check into. Penny Sams, Code Enforcement Officer with the town, has been on the job since last October. She joined Woodfin from the City of Asheville and “She’s been pretty gung-ho about the job and cleaning up infractions of the ordinances,” said Isenhower.
Once the ‘submit’ button has been clicked, a form appears so that the complainant can enter the information along with pictures and then hit another ‘submit’ button at the bottom of the page.
“This is obviously a work in progress. We’re learning as we go, but we are definitely open for accepting complaints,” she said.
Development Permit Portal
“The permit portal allows you to go in and submit development applications completely online. Up load your plans and that includes everything from zoning applications to signs and variance applications,” explained Isenhower. It does not include building permits, which are still under the county’s purview.
In the permit portal, users have two choices; much like the code enforcement portal, you can search for permits by permit number, type or parcel address. Users can also apply for the permits mentioned earlier, along with special use, rezoning and conditional district rezoning.
When asked if residents began using the new system, Isenhower told the Tribune, “We haven’t had any complaints submitted online so far, but we’re interested in seeing if that picks up. We have had a hand full of permits submitted so far…We’d love to have people utilize these new tools.” She believes the new system will significantly benefit the citizens.