A Squamish citizen has decried the “unwieldy permitting process” at the district where staff told a citizen it would take nearly four months to get a permit to build a deck.
In a letter to the district, the citizen said a friend of his thought getting a permit for a deck should be quick and easy, but was surprised to know it would take at least 15 weeks before the application is even reviewed.
“Upon presenting his meticulously executed drawings of the deck, he was informed that he would have to wait at least 15 weeks for the application to be reviewed. Decks are for summer and sunshine. No one will wait that long,” the citizen said.
He said other local municipalities made the process much easier. “ Following the rules should be pleasant and user-friendly, not legalistic and hostile,” the citizen said.
In his reply, Jonas Velaniskis, the Director of Community Planning, said this May and June had been exceptionally busy in terms of building-permit application volume compared to previous years. For regular permits, the timing is 15 weeks, but minor permits for decks take about five weeks, while tenant improvement permit for commercial and industrial buildings take about a month.
“What happens with minor permits such as decks is we ask the applicants to give us a call 4 to 5 weeks after the permit has been submitted if they haven’t heard from us. This allows our staff some flexibility in prioritizing the minor permits based on the clients’ timing needs as some projects are more flexible with timing than others,” he said.
Velaniskis said this could be a communication issue, where staff misunderstood and gave the timeline for a regular permit.
