City of Chicago Expands E-Plan Review Process to Standard Plan Review Projects

According to a recent letter from the City of Chicago Department of Buildings, the City of Chicago will be offering E-Plan to their Standard Plan Review projects beginning June 4, 2012, and will fully implement E-Plan for all Standard Plan Review and Developer Services projects on July 2, 2012. After July 2nd, design professionals will only be able to submit electronic plans for these projects.
The city began a pilot program of the E-Plan system in January 2012 for Developer Service projects. The Department finds that the pilot was effective and, through feedback from those involved, is prepared to roll out the service across the board.
According to the press release, “E-Plan will offer enormous benefits to the design professional community and [their] clients.” Unlike the current paper system, E-Plan will allow for several cost and time-saving efficiencies including:
Submission of plans electronically from anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week;
FitzGerald has participated in the pilot program with five Developer Services projects through the E-Plan system, and though there were the inevitable “hiccups” to be expected with any change to a long-standing process, we have generally found the system to be comprehensive and easy to use. We look forward to realizing the cost and time savings the City describes, and stand ready to implement this new process for our clients.