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Building Permit Delays Persist Municipalities Urged to Engage Registered Code Agencies
July, 2008
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This article is in reference to: Ontario's Building Code Act |
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Recent reforms to Ontario's Building Code Act have instituted new procedures and schedules for the building permit process. A study commissioned by the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario draws the following conclusions:
1. There has generally been no significant streamlining of the building permit process:
( The business model under which most Greater Toronto Area (GTA) municipalities staff their building departments - based on the peak demand levels - is costly and inefficient. However, the past municipal practice of accumulating a backlog of applications in periods of high activity and working to reduce the backlog in periods of low activity is no longer feasible given the legislated timeframes that require a consistent level of service for all applications to be maintained.
( The rise and fall of construction activity affects all municipalities in the GTA. For this reason, qualified fulltime staff are in short supply across the GTA during construction booms. In slower periods staff workloads are likely to drop considerably. Synchronizing staffing levels with economic and seasonal fluctuations in building activity is a difficult challenge especially within the municipal employee contract environment.
( There are no comprehensive measures of municipal performance with respect to permit processing. The Toronto Area Chief Building Officials Committee (TACBOC) does collect some related statistics and they were made available for this study. However, the statistics are not readily available to the public nor does TACBOC currently measure municipal performance with respect to processing timeframes.
( Notwithstanding the lack of statistics, it is clear that meeting legislated timeframes for making decisions on permits remains a challenge for many GTA building departments. Resource allocation and investments in staff and resources have improved processing times in some municipalities. However, few if any municipalities are meeting all the prescribed timeframes for complete applications.
( It is essentially impossible for municipalities to meet the 30-day timeframe for making decisions on permits for complex buildings. As a result, ad hoc arrangements have been developed between municipalities and builders for dealing with permits relating to such buildings. While some builders accept this arrangement, it is not a satisfactory situation since it can cause unpredictable delays for construction schedules.
2. Legislative tools for mitigating high permit volumes are not being used.
( Of the proposed reforms, the provision of the Registered Code Agencies (RCA) was among the most innovative. However, for the most part, RCAs are not being utilized by municipalities in the GTA. Chief Building Officials (CBOs) claim there are significant administrative and liability issues with using RCAs. However, these concerns have not been tested.
3. Municipal practices contribute to inefficiencies in the permit processing system.
( Some municipalities offer a two-stream permit application process, one of which requires applicants to waive the obligation to process permits within mandatory timeframes. This undermines the spirit of the legislation and, if practiced widely, may result in delays becoming the norm rather than the exception. Moreover, it may lead to builders feeling pressured to forego the right to timely processing of a permit application.
( A number of CBOs are of the view that it is a small minority of builders who are responsible for a disproportionate share of Building Code infractions and corresponding staff workload. Unfortunately, efforts to encourage proper building practices often fail to reach the builders that have the greatest need to improve. Also, fines for infractions do not reflect the full cost of the additional reviews or inspection work involved. Thus, responsible builders are in effect subsidizing municipal efforts to deal with Code violations.
4. A significant portion of permit fee revenues are now placed in reserve funds.
( Under the new full cost recovery regime that the Act imposes, many municipalities have chosen to increase building permit fee reserve funds to stabilize revenue in periods of low building activity. While it is argued that these reserve funds are to be used to fund additional costs required in periods of high activity or shortfalls during downturns, these marginal costs could be offset by increasing fees if and when the need arises.
( Builders are not generally aware that a portion of their permit fees is being used to build a reserve fund to cover costs during market downturns. This practice is not being communicated through municipal outreach programs or in the fee schedules. In some jurisdictions outside Ontario, the reserve fund portion of the fee is identified as a separate surcharge; when the reserve fund is capped the surcharge is removed and the overall fee rate reduced. This practice is not being employed in the GTA.
5. Some building practices contribute to permit processing inefficiencies.
( Many builders are insufficiently aware of what is required for a complete application and do not take enough time to manage the application through the permit process. The submission of complete applications and timely responses to municipal requests for information, or for clarification, considerably increases the probability of approval in a timely manner. It is in the interest of both parties to resolve problems with applications early in the process.
( Many municipalities would like to see more builders ensure that sites are ready for inspection on time and that qualified supervisors are present to meet with inspectors. The roles and responsibilities of builders in the site inspection process are not set out clearly in either the Act or the Ontario Building Code.
( Builders generally acknowledge that many site supervisors do not fully understand the requirements of the Building Code. Municipalities claim that under-experienced and under-qualified supervisors slow down the site inspection process. The Building Regulatory Reform Advisory Group (BRRAG) report made recommendations on licensing and certification of site supervision, but these have not been implemented. While the Act imposes examination requirements on Building Officials, the legislation places no requirement on builders and designers.
Recommendations:
( Municipalities should make use of RCAs as a realistic way of avoiding permit bottlenecks caused by seasonal and long-term fluctuations in building activity. RCAs have been shown to work effectively in other jurisdictions and RCA services are currently available in the GTA.
( Although the Act provides the legislative framework to enable RCAs to function in Ontario, provincial clarification is required in order to address municipal concerns about liability.
( Municipalities need to adopt a coordinated and consistent approach to construction plans submitted by professional engineers and architects. This would have a streamlining effect on the plans review process. The Province and/or the Building Advisory Council need to provide guidance to municipalities in this respect.
( Comprehensive municipal performance measures with respect to the building permit process should be publicly available. Performance measures could be used to assess which municipal practices are effective in delivering Building Code services. Data should be collected and maintained by an independent body, perhaps the Building Advisory Council.
( GTA Chief Building Officials need to take coordinated steps to communicate the roles and responsibilities of municipalities and builders in the building permit process and to provide clear guidelines on what is required in order to expedite the issuance of a permit.
( The most straightforward mechanism for ensuring that permits are issued in a timely manner is for builders to increase their efforts to understand what is required to submit a permit application and to ensure that applications are complete.
( Notwithstanding that there are no mandatory requirements, builders should improve efforts to ensure that site supervisors area adequately trained in Building Code matters.
The complete text of the report can be found at www.rccao.com/research.
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