For more than two years, city-parish officials and leaders in the development community have been trying to figure out a way to shorten the lengthy plan review and permitting process at City Hall. More than once they’ve said a solution was in the offing.
But as any builder or developer will tell you, the wait time—between six and eight weeks for a commercial building permit—is still unacceptable.
“It’s getting better,” says Larry Bankston, executive director of the Baton Rouge Growth Coalition. “But it’s not moving at the pace contractors want.”
The situation may finally improve—for real this time—possibly later this summer. The parish Department of Development has finalized a request for proposals to solicit a third party firm that would provide plan review services to the city-parish and help relieve some of the backlog on department employees.
Director of Development Cary Chauvin says funding has been identified within the department budget to cover the cost of the services, estimated to be between $100,000 and $150,000 annually. Once the parish purchasing department finalizes the draft RFP, it will issue the solicitation.
“Hopefully that’s done in two weeks and then they’ll give bidders a month or so to reply,” Chauvin says. “Then they’ll have to evaluate it, so hopefully by August we’ll have a firm in place.”
It is unclear whether permit applicants will be able to pay extra for an expedited plan review by the outside contractor, or whether the Department of Development will simply divide up its workload with the firm. Chauvin says either model could work and that it will depend on the proposal that is chosen.
The city-parish has long blamed the lengthy delays in the permit office on a lack of manpower, and Chauvin says a “people versus volume issue” continues to be the root of the problem. However, the flood last summer and subsequent rebuilding process exacerbated the delays, as did the transition with the new mayoral administration.
Chauvin says now that the RFP is complete, he hopes to finally make a dent in the backlog.
“With the number of people we have in the department we can’t keep up with the volume at a pace that is reasonable,” he says.
Two years ago, the Metro Council passed an ordinance by then-Metro Council member Ryan Heck that made it easier for permit applicants to hire an outside firm from among a state-approved list of entities to do plan review, thereby cutting down on the workload for the understaffed Department of Development. Not many developers have taken advantage of the ordinance, however—either because they don’t know about it, or because until recently the city-parish was not receptive to processing building plans that had been reviewed by a third party.
Bankston says in recent weeks that situation has improved.
—Stephanie Riegel
