The City of Syracuse held an online training session on March 11, 2026, to introduce the new online application portal (branded as Camino/Clarity) for permitting and licensing. The session covered account creation, application submission, file uploads, payment, and status tracking. Staff members Jessica, Sarah Paolo, and Paul presented the system features and conducted a live demonstration.
I think we are gonna go ahead and get started. If some folks join us here in the next minute or so, I think that's okay. So I just want to welcome you all to our online application portal training. Um and thank you all for joining us today. We're excited to have you all here and talk about Clarity. Um just really quickly, I'm gonna talk about uh why we've chosen the system and why we're we're so excited to have it. Um we started working with Clarity a handful of years ago. Um the reason that we chose this system is because many, many reasons. But um, first of all, it's it's a cloud-based um platform, um, which is great for us and our users and accessibility. Um, but we we also chose to partner with Clarity because they are um their goal is to continue to grow this system. Um, and and what you're going to see is um not always the same thing. Um we're we're excited. We we chose the system because it's one that will continue changing and growing with us. Um they're constantly and consistently adding new features and new bells and new whistles that make it both easier for applicants um but also easier for us internally. Um so we feel like this system is um not just great at what it does, but it has a lot of potential for the future. Um, and we're really excited to partner with a company who wants to continue to grow the system and continue um to build on it and make it better, um, not just for Syracuse, but for all municipalities that are using it. Um, so I just a few a few house cleaning items for you all. So this is an informational setting where we're gonna show you the portal. Uh, we're gonna talk about um how you how you get logged in, um, how you apply for these applications. Um if you have any questions throughout this session, please feel free to plug those into the chat. We do have a staff member who is dedicated to just responding to those questions that you have. But yeah, we we hope that you you guys find this all very informational. Um we will have uh we have resources on our website. And of course, above and beyond uh this informational setting, if you if you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out to any of the permitting staff. Uh, we're super happy to answer those for you. Awesome. Thank you, Jessica. Um, I'm gonna jump in here. My name is Sarah Paolo. I'm the public information officer that supports neighborhood and business development. Um just a couple of clarifying things. So you heard Jessica mentioned Clarity. Um, you'll also see Camino um mentioned as well. Like, well, what is that? Um basically that's the software that we use um for the online um applications. So um that's the system that we chose. Um, and we're calling it just for public facing purposes, the online application portal. Um, and so um you'll see though that the email um to send uh questions to us about um any of the applications or troubleshooting that you might have while you're um using the system is Camino at SYR.gov. Um and so that's just why we wanted to kind of help clarify like some of the naming conventions that you're going to um see. But the uh front facing um word that we're using is just the online application portal. Um and so on our website, that's what you'll see. Um if you go to SYR.gov slash online applications. Um that's going to be the place on our website that brings you directly to the portal and then also provides um some more information about how to sign up, steps to apply, as well as resources that you can access. So I'm just going to jump in here real quick so that you can um get a little bit more uh familiar with our website. Um this is access from the central permit office page, or if you just search in um the search bar online application portal, it will show up. It gives an overview and provides a direct link that will bring you right into the login page. Uh it also provides an overview of exactly what you will find on the portal. So if you're curious, um what types of applications are on there, it lists what those are, um as well as some tools and guides. We have a zoning and application discovery tool that allows you to find out more information about zone districts. We have meeting registration forms, which are specific to commercial projects.