After months of delays getting permits approved by the city-parish Department of Development, formerly the permits office, relief for frustrated developers and contractors may be soon on the way.
Interim Director of Development Carey Chauvin says he is nearly done structuring a contract that will enable the department to farm out the building plan review process to a third-party firm. He says he hopes to have the contract completed and signed later this month or in early January.
“Timing is key,” Chauvin says. “From a development and contracting standpoint, it is critical for them that we get this done.”
Chauvin says he has not reached an agreement with any particular firm yet, though he has had informal talks with a couple of potential contractors. Only a handful of firms in the Capital Region are certified by the state to conduct plan review.
He says the arrangement does not have to be bid out and could be structured as a professional services agreement or cooperative endeavor agreement.
As envisioned, Chauvin says the contract will be flexible and will enable the department to send plans to the firm on an as-needed basis. The contract may also allow the department to farm out inspections as well.
“We’d like it to be all-inclusive,” he says. “We don’t want to short-change ourselves, but we want this to work for the contractor as well as for the city-parish.”
Delays in the permitting process have plagued the Department of Development all year due to personnel shortages, parish officials have said. Currently, three of five plan review positions are vacant and Chauvin says filling them has been very difficult because the starting salary, at $30,000, is so low.
Chauvin anticipates paying for the outsourced services with savings from the unfilled positions. He estimates the annual contract will be significantly less than $100,000.
The news comes as relief to local developers, who say delays in the permitting process have caused myriad problems, not the least of which is higher than anticipated costs.
“Time is money,” says Larry Bankston, president of the Baton Rouge Growth Coalition, which represents the development community. “A lot of deals are tied to obtaining permits by a particular date so if the permits don’t come, the deal falls through. Also, the longer you delay construction, the more it drives up costs.”
—Stephanie Riegel
