Accelerating processing times for development permit applications has helped put the City of Vancouver on track for $2.2 billion in building permits this year.
That’s the second-highest total building permit value the city has ever rung up and would generate 12,000 direct and indirect jobs, according to a city formula that’s similar to the one that the Greater Vancouver Home Builders Association (GVHBA) uses.
“Processing times have been improving,” said GVHBA CEO Peter Simpson. “I don’t think anybody is out there dancing in the streets at these improvements yet, but it takes time to put new systems in place.”
He noted that B.C.’s $3.8 billion home renovation sector is pleased that Vancouver’s building permits processing times are now about three weeks, which is a couple of weeks faster than they were last year. Building permits for complex projects still take more than six months, but the city has reduced the turnaround time for less complicated applications, which account for 80% of single-family applications, to between six and eight weeks. Previously, it was between 15 and 18 weeks.
Developers, such as Cressey Development Group, now expect that their projects will get permitted within eight weeks, in part because they hire outside consultants to do the city’s work.
“We haven’t experienced an 18-week wait in a long time,” Cressey vice-president Hani Lammam told BIV. “A lot of our code compliance gets done by an outside consultant who we hire at our cost, and they essentially do the city’s work.”
For example, Lammam said that B.R. Thorson Consulting Ltd. owner Barry Thorson vets drawings and ensures compliance with city codes. He added that the city then relies on Thorson’s sign-off on requirements in order for city staff to essentially tick boxes faster and give final approval to an application.
Cressey plans to use an outside consultant to expedite its development permit application for its planned five-storey, 52-home Arbutus Ridge development on the site of the 60-year-old Ridge Theatre at the northwest corner of West 16th Avenue and Arbutus Street. That project, which will also have 210,000 square feet of retail space, passed a city urban design panel in August.
City figures show that the $1.1 billion in building permits in 2012’s first half is a 39% increase over the same period last year and 16% higher than in 2008.
Vancouver building permits peaked at $2.6 billion in 2007 before dropping to $1.6 billion in 2008 and $1.3 billion in 2009 – the lowest total since 2003’s $1.1 billion.
