Reviewing an application
A reviewer is someone outside the land use office whose opinion the town wants before it decides: the fire chief on a site plan, the road agent on a driveway, a department head on a building permit. A reviewer reads the documents the clerk shares, writes comments, and signs off when the review is done. A reviewer cannot issue, approve or deny anything.
Reviewers use the same staff site as the land use office but see only what they have been assigned. This page describes that view.
How a review reaches you
A clerk assigns you to an application. You receive an email that a review has been requested. Your administrator sets the wording of that email under Settings, so yours may differ from another town's.
Sign in the way the town set up for staff. If the reviewer role is the only role you hold, signing in opens Your reviews directly. If you hold other roles too, you start on Today, and Reviews is a page in your menu.
Your reviews
Your reviews lists the applications assigned to you, with the comments due soonest first. Open a review to read the documents, comment and sign off.
The list has these tabs:
| Tab | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Open | Reviews you have not signed off, on applications that are still going. |
| Signed off | Reviews you have finished. |
| Closed | Reviews you never signed off, on applications that ended without you. |
Each row shows the application number, the project, your status and the date comments are due. Click a heading to sort. Your status is Pending until you add a comment, Commented after your first comment, and Signed off when you finish.
If you have nothing waiting, the page says No reviews are waiting on you. New assignments show up here.
A review
Choose an application. The page is called Review and the application's number. It has three parts.
Key facts, on the side, give your status, the Comments due date (or No date set), a link to the application and a link to the parcel.
Documents lists the files the clerk has shared with reviewers. Each opens in a new tab. If none have been shared the page says No documents are shared with reviewers. A document reaches you only when the clerk has ticked Assigned reviewers for it, so ask the clerk if a file you need is missing.
Your comments shows the comments you have written, each with its date and time. Write in the Comment box and choose Add comment. You can add as many as you like until you sign off. The first one changes your status to Commented.
The application link opens a short page of the record. It shows the project summary, any board hearings, the plan documents shared with you and your review. It does not show fees, staff notes, other reviewers or the rest of the office's work.
Signing off
When your comments are in, choose Sign off in the side panel. Your status changes to Signed off. A sign-off cannot be undone and you cannot add comments afterward. Chiban tells you that you have already signed off if you try, so add any comment that still matters first.
When every reviewer assigned to a building permit has signed off, the Reviews signed off requirement on the application is met, and the clerk can record the decision. If the application ends before you sign off, for example because it is withdrawn, the page says This application is finished, so the review is closed. and the review moves to the Closed tab.
What the clerk sees of your review
On the application, the clerk sees your name and whether your review is Pending, Commented or Signed off. The application's history records that you commented and signed off. The text of your comments is not shown on a standard application page. On a board application that goes to a Technical Review Committee, the comments are gathered into the summary prepared for the board. If your comment needs the clerk's attention before you sign off, tell them directly as well.