Construction permits: long delays
La Presse reports that there are long delays in getting construction permits downtown and in some boroughs.
Adding later: Pierre Poilievre has attacked Valérie Plante over this, to which our mayor asked coolly what he would do differently. Poilievre doesn’t have an idea of his own; his only trick is to ride on the coattails of unfocused dissatisfaction.
Ephraim 13:40 on 2024-05-28 Permalink
And what could make this quicker? An automated system that asked the important questions related to the regulations? We went for a permit and had to jump through hoops. When asked to show us the regulation that was preventing them from issuing our permit, they discovered that the regulation didn’t exist. Someone had just made up a regulation and they were all enforcing it, but it didn’t exist and there was no rhyme or reason for it any longer anyway.
Kevin 14:06 on 2024-05-28 Permalink
There is no consistency between boroughs. In some you need a permit to replace a door, in others you don’t.
Approval often comes down to the feeling of whomever gets your request.
CE 14:55 on 2024-05-28 Permalink
I got a building permit a couple weeks ago to do structural work in the basement of my house. I went to the office, gave them the documents and had a permit approved within 20 minutes. This was in the Plateau.
Joey 15:40 on 2024-05-28 Permalink
I wonder what percentage of permits are processed immediately, as in CE’s case, and what percentage take months or years – I suspect this is one of those instances where the average is really messy and non-representative. Heaven help those who have already paid architects and engineers considerable sums to develop plans rewritten by some faceless borough technologist and rubber-stamped by the CCU.
Spi 16:10 on 2024-05-28 Permalink
The article specifically talks about permits for new constructions and not renovations or additions to existing buildings, making the comparison isn’t useful.
Ian 12:02 on 2024-05-29 Permalink
@CE my landlord (also Plateau) waited 6 months for a permit to replace the triplex fire escape from wood to metal. Mileage may vary.