04-15-2012, 09:12 AM
My entire home permit took 3 weeks at the end of 2007. Not awful, but yes, there are many places on the mainland that give you same day approval, and that is what the goal should be. Last year it took 10 weeks to get a permit for a small addition on the same house. It sat for over a month ready, and they never called us to say it was ready. THEY DO NOT ANSWER PHONES OR CALL YOU BACK, so it required a 65 mile round trip to check in person if it was ready. Now it is taking quite a bit longer. My contractor partner literally is ready to go right now on more than one project that is awaiting approval. He has informed workers that they cannot work, and he has not started work in the past week. This is money that is gone from our local economy. It's all very simple. Re-allocate funds, hire more people, see how they do it elsewhere and do the same thing. I think it is pretty clear by now that nobody on the council or the mayor gives a sh** about getting our economy going or putting any of the hundreds of out of work construction folks back to work.