White Rock’s planning department is seeing an “unprecedented” number of permit applications, resulting in long wait times for approval and “frustrated” applicants.
Speaking as a delegation at the Feb. 15 council meeting, property owner Sher Tejay said he has been waiting seven months after applying for a building permit for his Maple Street property, an approval he said should take no longer than two or three months.
“This is really frustrating for me. I cannot help wonder what is going on in this organization,” Tejay said, noting he knows of others in the city facing similar waits.
“If these people can’t do the job, there are so many reputable companies, it should just be contracted out, simple as that.”
In response to Tejay’s complaint, senior city staff pointed to a “significant” increase in building applications, as well as staff shortages in the planning department as reasons behind the backlog.
Karen Cooper, the city’s director of planning and development services, admitted the delays are “unacceptable,” and offered an apology to Tejay, noting the job required highly skilled planning staff to be carried out effectively.
“Review of building permits are more complicated now because of the size of homes and the kinds of things that are being provided in the very large and luxurious homes that are being built in White Rock,” she said.
“It’s not a simple task anymore to review a building permit application. It requires a significant level of expertise.”
Jacquie Johnstone, the city’s director of human resources, told council the planning-staff shortage currently faced by White Rock is a region-wide problem.
“Everyone is facing the same pressure of trying to find people to assist that are qualified to do this work,” Johnstone said.
Johnstone said she approached a local consulting company and was told they were also a year behind, and were “turning away two applications for every one they were accepting.”
A presentation by representatives of BC Assessment that same evening shone some light on the new construction numbers throughout White Rock over the past year.
Deputy assessor Bryan Murao told council that an estimated $158 million worth of new construction took place in 2015, representing an increase of 114 per cent from 2014.
Murao pointed to the town centre as an area of “some of the biggest change,” in the city, citing several big-ticket property sales that took place last year.
Among those transactions were the sales of a 2.5-acre parcel at 1454 Martin St. for $22 million; 1549 Johnston Rd. (currently the site of a dental office) for $6.3 million; and the three properties at 1554-1564 Johnston Rd. and 1563 George St. – where a seniors highrise complex is being planned – for a total of $12.4 million.
Cooper later told council that despite the property sales in the town centre, the city had yet to receive any development applications, but expects to receive two major applications “very shortly.”
The city has received a steady increase in the number of planning applications over the past two years, Cooper said.
The most significant increase has been in demolition permit applications, which have risen from 27 in 2008 to 107 in 2015.
“These require a significant amount of effort from the planning department,” Cooper said, noting they almost always lead to at least one building permit, sometimes several.
An online property database called Tempest is in the process of being integrated to the planning and engineering departments, which will allow the city to move away from its current paper-based system and pave the way for a more “efficient” process for staff and applicants.
City manager Dan Bottrill said the city still has “some work to do before it is configured and implemented,” noting when complete, applicants will be able to log in to view the status of their applications online.