News Details

BARTOW, Fla. (June 1, 2023) – Ever wonder how Polk County’s Building Division keeps up with the demands of a rapidly growing population? Well, as division director Benjamin Dunn might say, the answer is in the cloud(s).

“Polk is one of the fastest growing counties in Florida and it’s the fifth fastest growing county in the country,” Dunn said. “We have to adapt to deliver quality, timely services.”

The Building Division is on pace to issue more than 34,000 building permits and perform more than 220,000 inspections this year. The division uses cloud services from Accela to help handle the workload.

Accela is an online tool that allows people to skip the face-to-face process of applying for a permit or getting an inspection. Before Polk County transitioned to Accela, less than 10 percent of permits were handled online. Now about 75 percent are done online.

Here are a few of the online Building Division services available to make life easier for Polk County residents:

• DigEplan. This electronic plans review system integrates into the permitting system.
• Virtual inspections. Residents and contractors can schedule a live virtual inspection.
• Develop Polk. This interactive tool guides customers through projects.
• SelecTXT. This tool allows users to schedule inspections and obtain results via text messaging.

To check out Accela, visit https://www.polk-county.net/using-the-accela-portal.