Building Permit Function Review

It was moved and seconded that Council: 1. Refer the additional Staff positions recommended in the draft report to the Finance and Audit Committee for consideration in the 2021-2025 Financial Plan; 2. direct Staff to proceed with implementation of the remaining six recommended changes outlined in the draft report: a.That the City work with industry to develop and implement a Fast Track Process to process applications for targeted, low-risk tenant improvement and residential projects. b. That the City work with industry to establish a time-limited Approved Professionals Pilot Project to test the ability to rely on the assurances of Registered Professionals in issuing building permits for targeted complex building projects. c. That the City engage industry in the establishment of a Joint Building Permit Advisory Working Group with a mandate to advise on the design and implementation of initiatives aimed at reducing permit processing times, promoting City-industry relations, and addressing other issues and needs identified by the parties. d. That the City support investments in technology to develop an online applications portal, facilitate online permit fee payments, and build a user-friendly application tracking dashboard tool for permit applicants. e. That the City develop an internal service agreement to set out expectations for the processing of referrals by affected work groups. f. That the City, to the extent possible, recover the costs associated with the recommendations in the Building Permit Function Review Draft Report through: - savings in overtime costs that are incurred today by Building Officials; - grant monies available under the Ministry of Municipal Affairs’ recently-announced Local Government Development Approvals Program; and - increases to the City’s building permit fees to align the fees with those charged by other 100,000 population-plus, high-growth municipalities. 3. Direct Staff to submit a grant application to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities’ Local Government Development Approvals Program to support the implementation of established best practices and to test innovative approaches to improve development approvals processes.