Erin Hut, Director of Communications and Marketing ehut@spokanecity.org and Barry Alavi, Chief Operating Officer, Permittable Barry@permittable.ai
Thursday, October 8, 2026 at 1:34 p.m.
Updated 11/02/2026
The City of Spokane and Permavia are partnering to provide free permit pre-screening services to residents rebuilding homes following the August fires.
The fires damaged or destroyed roughly 577 structures, including 501 single family homes within the City, creating an extraordinary rebuilding effort for affected residents and increased demand on the City’s permitting system. Through this partnership, Permavia will provide its Intake Completeness service at no cost to Spokane residential applicants for one year.
The service allows homeowners, builders, and design professionals to review residential permit materials for missing documents, plan sheets, and other completeness issues before submitting an application to the City. The goal is to help residents navigate the rebuilding process, submit more complete applications and reduce avoidable back-and-forth as they work to return to their homes.
"Through policy and permitting processes, the City of Spokane has been working diligently to ensure the rebuilding process is as smooth and easy to navigate as possible. This partnership with Permavia gives us another tool to help those in our community who lost everything,” said Tami Palmquist, Director of the City of Spokane Development Services Center.
Permavia has already configured its platform so eligible Spokane residential projects can use the Intake Completeness service at no charge. The City and Permavia have also worked together to align the service with Spokane’s current residential submittal requirements.
"Rebuilding a home after a wildfire is hard enough without having your permit application sent back over a missing plan sheet or signature. We're a Washington company, and when we saw what Spokane families were facing, we reached out to the City to see how we could help. Our role is simple: help residents catch those gaps before they submit, so they can spend less time on paperwork and more time getting back home,” said Barry Alavi, Chief Operating Officer of Permavia.
Use of Permavia is voluntary and does not change the City’s permitting process. Applicants will continue to submit permit applications directly to the City of Spokane, and City staff will conduct the official review and retain full authority over permitting decisions.
The City will share information about the service through its existing wildfire recovery communications, permitting resources and other channels serving residents affected by the fires.
In Spokane
We All Belong
