County Institutes Plan to Simplify the Subdivision Process

Missoula County Officials, seeing a problem in getting subdivisions approved quickly, have instituted a new policy to streamline and simplify the process called the Survey Tracker, according to Shyra Scott, Recording Director for the Missoula County Clerk and Recorder’s office.

“We had recognized a need over the past few years to streamline our review process that process,” said Scott. “Prior to the subdivision tracker, all of our reviews for divisions of land were done linearly. So the reviews and the documents were just passed from one department to another.”

Scott said there were many unnecessary redundancies in the old system of granting subdivisions.

“When there was an issue with the approval process or perhaps another document was needed, the individual proposing the division would have to submit that, and the process would start all over from the beginning which really dragged out the approval timeline for subdivisions,” she said.

Scott described how the Survey Tracker will streamline and simplify the process for developers.

“With the Survey Tracker, we can all look at the same documents at the same time,” she said. “Now, we can upload documents into the tracker, which allows us to handle version control, so we all ensure that we're looking at the most recent document. If something changes, departments can jump in and just look at that what's changed and it doesn't have to get kicked all the way back to the beginning of the process.”

Scott said the Clerk and Recorder’s Office is already seeing the benefits of the new Survey Tracker.

“We've really experienced some decrease in those approval timelines and just less work for those who are seeking these approvals,” she said. “They're not having to pass documents around because they're all in one location and available for all departments all the time online.”

Call the Missoula County Clerk and Recorder’s office for details at 258-4752.