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City councillors in Nanaimo, B.C., are looking at hiring an additional engineer as part of the city’s efforts to speed up its building permitting process and build more housing.
The possible addition is among other changes proposed by one councillor, who thinks more accountability is also needed after a recent consultant report was discussed at a governance committee meeting last week.
The report cites staffing shortages, a lack of accountability and a need for better technology as some of the reasons for the lack of discernible progress in the five years since the city commissioned a major review of its building permitting process.
“The industry’s message is clear: the biggest barrier today is not just costs. It’s time, uncertainty and delays,” said Kathy Whitcher, a director with the Vancouver Island Construction Association at last week’s meeting.
“When projects sit in the approval system too long, costs rise automatically through carrying costs, financing pressure, redesigns and inflation.”
Whitcher, one of four industry leaders who spoke to the committee about building permit delays, called those costs “an invisible tax on housing and business investment.”
Staffing issues, need for accountability
The report acknowledges ongoing challenges keeping the building permit department fully staffed. On Monday, councillors will vote on whether to add a full-time engineer to the department.
At that same meeting, councillors will vote on a motion put forward by Coun. Ben Geselbracht that outlines three suggestions to improve the efficiency of the building permitting system and reduce permit processing times.
The suggestions include a dashboard to track applications, providing the governance committee with regular updates and establishing target timelines for different permit categories.
Leaders in Nanaimo’s construction sector say permitting delays cost projects money. (Brittany Spencer/CBC)
“The motions are really just set to set an accountability framework,” Geselbracht told CBC News.
“Because at the end of the day, we do want to reduce the necessary delays and lower the cost and try to get more housing built in this community.”
Geselbracht says part of the problem is the increasing complexity of building codes and a lack of tracking where the delays are happening — whether it’s because paperwork is sitting on a staffer’s desk or because the applicant is waiting on an external consultant to move the project forward.
Impacts on housing: home builders’ association
Five years ago the city ordered a comprehensive review of its permit processing times as part of its efforts to build more greatly-needed housing.
The updated assessment presented at the governance committee last week says many of the recommendations were implemented, but with mixed results.
“It is not entirely clear, five years after the 2021 review, that permit turnaround times have improved,” the assessment report says.
Kerriann Coady, CEO of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association on Vancouver Island, told the governance committee last week that the cost of waiting for building permits is tangible.
“That cost isn’t theoretical. It shows up in delayed housing starts, projects have become financially unviable and uncertainty discourages investment,” Coady said.
“And ultimately those impacts are felt by people trying to access housing in this community.”
