Technology ends document fee in Peachtree City

Anyone needing a replacement building permit or certificate of occupancy in Peachtree City no longer has to pay a $30 fee. The City Council voted 5-0 at its June 4 meeting to eliminate the former requirement from its fee schedule.

Planning & Development Director Robin Cailloux explained in a memo that new permitting software implemented in recent years has expedited the document retrieval system, allowing staff to send duplicate PDF copies as email attachments in less time. Digitization of those and other historical documents means providing replacements can take fewer than 15 minutes to process; Georgia’s Open Records Act requires that the first 15 minutes of staff time spent fulfilling records requests is free of charge to those who request them.

The city said abolishing the fee will have little or no budgetary impact.