Multi-family, commercial and industrial building permit applications are labour intensive files for City employees to process in a timely manner. (Ian Holmes/nanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

building permits

City poised to address building permit backlog

Mar 25, 2021 | 5:37 AM

NANAIMO — Relief appears to be on the way to address delays in processing building permit applications in Nanaimo.

City councillors endorsed a draft report from a consultant whose seven key recommendations to streamline building permit applications feature hiring two additional staff members.

Consultant Allan Neilson recommends the City develop a new building inspection system staffed by a supervisor and building official to fast track low-risk residential and tenant improvement projects.

“By pulling out those smaller applications that are kind of mucking up the system right now it really allows the existing unit to focus on those bigger issues,” Neilson said.

He told this week’s government and priorities committee meeting the City does not have the staff resources to come close to its approval targets.

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Building permit applications in Nanaimo typically take as little as a few weeks to months to process.

Neilson interviewed dozens of City staff and officials in Nanaimo’s construction industry after being hired last fall during a continuous building boom in the Harbour City.

While residential building permits compound the backlog, Neilson said commercial, industrial and multi-family projects are more labour intensive files to deal with.

“The biggest need for change is in that latter group where we’ve got high volumes, high values and we’ve also got a lot of overtime.”

Overtime cost savings and potentially increasing building permit fees are financial benefits referenced in Neilson’s report.

Other pending changes to processing building permits at City Hall include a user-friendly online application tracking dashboard tool for permit applicants as part of a package to bolster technology.

Neilson said Nanaimo is not unique in missing its building permit targets, citing a tight market for qualified building officials as another factor straining many communities.

City manager Jake Rudolph said adding two new employees to the City’s building inspection section would be discussed at an upcoming finance and audit committee meeting.

Permitted values of all construction projects in Nanaimo in 2020 were above average at $243 million, following a record a year of $445 million in 2019.

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ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes