The Maui News headline on August 23, 2009 indicated that the construction industry has significantly slowed down. There was a 38% drop in the issuance of building permits as compared to last year (Article Title: Builders ‘Banking on’ Big Projects that are on Hold). This article fans the flame of frustration I am feeling right now regarding the delay of issuance of one building permit we are hoping to get to get our workers working instead of being laid off or sent back home without pay because there’s no work.
I do not like whining and complaining about the County of Maui’s inefficiency when it comes to the permitting process. I usually try to put myself in their shoes, to try to understand where they are coming from. I know how working on documents and paperwork goes – I am an administrative assistant, an office manager, and a project coordinator rolled into one. I know it’s not easy. I try to maintain a good rapport with the County Clerks. And I think for the most part, I am doing a good job.
But this past 3 days had been very frustrating. I was waiting upon one building permit to undergo its final review and be issued, and every time I stop by the permit office to follow up I was met with a question “Have you been called yet?; because if not, your permit is not ready yet.” The permit was filed in May of 2009. The agencies all signed off as of August 18, 2009. All we need now is the final review and the permit can be issued. It has been seven days since August 18 and the permit is still not issued. My estimate is that this final review can be done in 15 to 30 minutes per building permit application depending on how complicated it is. Granting that there were other building permits before us (I was told there were about 5 or 8), it still would not take 7 days (ok, 5 working days) to do a final review. I had seen them do this final review. I used to be able to wait. One of the building permit staff, before she was transferred to Plans Review section, used to be able to process 5 final reviews in front of me with no problems at all. Then why is one building permit taking such a long time to be issued?
The thing is, I am not even “pushing” this for my own self. I was pleading to get this building permit issued so that our workers and subcontractors can continue doing their jobs without being laid off. As I read another article on Maui News about “Regulations seen as crushing burden on Hawaii business” I cannot help but nod my head as I think about this one building permit application I am waiting on.
It’s 9:55 AM on August 25, 2009 right now. The question is “do I call the building permit department to once again follow-up on this one building permit?” If I stop by their office, I am pretty sure that I would be met with a sigh and a question and a remark: “have you been called? if you have not been called yet, that means your building permit is not ready yet”. Sigh! I guess I would just have to wait. In the meantime, it’s good to be able to vent.
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UPDATE: Building Department called at 10:23AM - permit ready for pick-up. I guess venting on a blog works. It took a week for this “final review” to get done. We have several more building permit applications pending - we’ll see how those will go.
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