Vancouver building permit wait times could kill my business, says owner

A small business owner in Vancouver says a backlog of building permits at the city could force them to close.

"We could potentially lose our business," said Darnelle Moore, the owner of Eastside Fitnesson Fraser Street near 43rd Avenue.

Over the past three years, Eastside Fitness has grown to the point where it needs more space. Moore says she and her business partners signed a lease for a spot down the block.

She saidthey planned to do some minor renovations in December before they move in, and thought they would have plenty of time to get a building permit.

But Moore said her business doesn'teven have an appointment with thecity until the middle of December, and the approval process could take until June.

Moore said the city told her she could pay for eight hours of overtime for city staff, at $245 an hour, to speed up the process.

"We can't afford not to pay the $2,000 because otherwise we'll be paying a lot in double leases in space we can't use," said Moore.

Building boom

So far this year, the city has processed 4,357 building permits representing $2 billion worth of construction. The city says staff simply can't keep up.

"It's like a perfect storm where the economy is very buoyant and the applications keep coming in,"said GeorgeFujii, the city's director ofplanning and development services.

In Moore's case, the city says the architect for Eastside Fitness should have applied for a permitsooner.

"That could have been done on the part of the consultant several weeks ago, when they first got the contract to do the job," said Fujii.

Fujii said the city's goal isto process permits within 20 weeksbut industry insiders claim it takes up to six to eightmonths.

Fujiiadmitted wait times could be improved;the city is creating a Small Business Renovation Centre,which should be ready by next spring.