Since January, the City of Vancouver has more than halved processing times for most single-family construction permits, according to a recent staff report.
In January, Vancouver council directed staff to tackle red tape through a review of regulations. Specifically, the review was aimed at reducing the turnaround time for a home building permit to six weeks.
The report found that as of March 27, the city’s turnaround time for “outright” construction permits – less-complex applications, accounting for 80% of single-family applications – had dropped to between six and eight weeks. Previously, it was between 15 and 18 weeks.
Vicki Potter, the city’s director of development services, said city staff achieved the gains by dissecting how city departments tackled aspects of the applications.
“By dissecting the work, we’ve been able to ask critical questions like: Do we need that step at all? Is the step in the right sequence and/or can it be done in parallel? Is the right work group doing the work, or can we find efficiencies by having fewer administrative touches?” she wrote in an email.
Potter said a key improvement involved blocking out dedicated project review time, during which supervisors were available “to make critical decisions to keep projects moving.”
Beyond that, she said the city has made sure staffing levels matched the application volumes and that training and support were available to staff.
Potter said that thus far, turnaround times for the more complex “conditional” permits and laneway housing permits remain pretty much the same as they were in January. But she added that city staff are seeing application volumes spike beyond even last year’s decade-high volumes.
“So we’ve managed to do more volume in the same amount of time,” she said. “A small victory.”
She said staff will be employing some of the same efficiency techniques to the conditional stream, which are currently processed within six to seven months.
“We are looking to shave about two months off that.”
Potter noted that the conditional permit process requires neighbourhood notification as well as a review of the project against design guidelines.
Coun. Tony Tang, who put forward the motion, said he’s encouraging staff to continue tackling the conditional stream – which he said is the mechanism to achieve more renovations and more architectural variety in Vancouver’s older neighbourhoods.
“Personally, I encourage renovation, and I encourage conditional design because conditional design would bring out more architectural flare.”
Peter Simpson, president and CEO of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association, said his association welcomes the city’s efforts, but it’s too soon for the homebuilding industry to feel any reductions in red tape.
“If it’s not working well, I’m sure we’ll hear about it,” he said. “I haven’t heard anything on either side of the argument right now.” •
