City reviewing too-long wait times for building permits

Most of the contractors in Regina will say that the process to get a building permit from the city is a bit of a mess.

City administration recognizes that, so it’s getting ready to launch a review. It will be led by the city manager but a third-party consultant will be brought in to help.

Mayor Michael Fougere announced the review on Tuesday, noting that the average wait time for a permit is eight to 10 weeks, but it can get to 12 weeks or longer in some cases.

“Thirteen weeks, 12 weeks is too long by any standard. And that does happen — not frequently, but enough that it has got our attention,” said Fougere.

He explained the city wants to make sure it has the most efficient process possible and to “reinvigorate” it, making the process more “robust and responsive to industry.”

Fougere said part of the review will be engaging with people in the construction industry to see what they want to see.

“The goal would be for those who want to come to our city to build and create jobs and invest to say we have a very efficient process to go through and it makes them want to come here all the more, so that’s quite important for us,” the mayor said.

Fougere didn’t put his finger on an ideal wait time, though, saying finding out what the industry standards are across the country will assist with that.

Fougere has spoken before about an online permit application process, touting the improvements it will make to the experience. However, getting that online is suffering from delays as well.

It was supposed to launch this summer, but Fougere said that likely won’t happen until the fall now.

The online process and the delay in getting it up will also be part of the review.

Fougere said that once that online application program is up and running, it will help with some of the problems the city is seeing. But it won’t fix everything, so he said the review is still needed.

There’s a human side to the process as well, and Fougere hopes the review will help speed that up.

The city expects the review will end with a set of recommendations to help “simplify, streamline, and shorten” wait times.

The review will also look at the building inspection process.

Fougere couldn’t say where the consultant would come from or how much the review would cost.