Orange County Public Works, Santa Ana CA

A big thanks to the two women in permits/recording department. They were polite, professional and knew how to take care of business.

I requested for them to clean up all the illegal dumping the Chapman Village apartments are doing at the West Street basin and they delegated the work to Garden Grove public works who do not manage the west street basin. Whoever is running OCPW should be fired. They have no ethics and show no respect for the Garden Grove residents. They’re just cashing a paycheck.

OC public work seems to have no motivation to help you get a building permit. Their online submittal and web portal is overly complex and has glitches. Grading permit for a single family home took 14 months to get approved. I need 12 permits for one 3000 sf house. There is no staff directory or flow chart of who is in charge. A supervisor told me I had to change the permit number because the scope of work changed from a remodel to a new house. It was confirmed i didn't need to update to the new code. It took 2 months to review the new permit number. At which time they told me I needed to update to the new code. The supervisor had retired and they would not honor the written direction he gave me. I had to go back to the old permit number.
The chief building official thinks that their process is easy. He has never had to navigate it.
The great news is the customer service staff are terrific and will give you a lifeline when you are drowning.