Atlanta revamps permit process

By Jeremiah McWilliams

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Developers, real estate agents and homeowners hope legislation signed recently by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed will clean up a tangled and often frustrating process for obtaining building permits.

The result could be more projects and jobs for Atlanta, they say.

Skeptics say previous administrations made similar promises in the past, with meager results.

The new ordinances provide for weekend help from city staffers, consolidate city employees who handle permits in the city’s Department of Planning and Community Development, and create separate tracks for small, medium and large projects.

Registered online applicants can obtain permits in 10 business days. For a fee, contractors can get after-hours service. And small residential modifications could be approved within 72 hours.

“The tool is there and now it’s time to use it,” said Steve Roos, vice president at Watts & Browning Engineers Inc.

For years, Atlanta’s building industry prospered in spite of the permit process, business leaders and elected officials said. With the local construction industry struggling, removing impediments to projects is crucial, they said.

Metro Atlanta’s construction industry has shed 7,700 jobs since October 2010, the most among 337 metro areas, according to the Associated General Contractors of America. Going back four years, the area has lost more than 57,000 construction jobs.

Reed said Atlanta has had a reputation as a difficult place for builders and developers.

In 2005, an 88-page report from consulting firm Bain & Co. compared the city’s permit process with other locations. The report showed Decatur’s permitting process took four to six weeks, Paulding County’s took six to eight weeks, and Gwinnett’s took 16 to 24 weeks. In Atlanta, it could stretch to 30 to 40 weeks.

In some cases, a permit application — including site development, plan review, erosion control, sanitation, traffic, fire and grease traps — could be routed through three different Atlanta departments before approval. That added as much as 90 days, Bain said.

“There was no rhyme or reason,” said Don Rosenthal, director of the city’s Office of Buildings.

Atlanta, which likes to boast that it’s open for business, “must also act like it’s open for business,” Reed said recently.

“We need the jobs,” he added.

The city of Atlanta’s unemployment rate was 11 percent in October, down from 11.5 percent in September and 11.2 percent a year ago, according to the state’s Department of Labor.

“In an environment of fierce competition among cities and places, Atlanta has taken a step toward a more efficient and streamlined government,” said Brian McGowan, president of the Atlanta Development Authority.

Under the new legislation, money generated from permit-seekers will be placed in an enterprise fund that will pay for technology upgrades and staff training. Other city departments, such as police, parks and recreation, will not be allowed to dip into funds raised from permits.

That is good for Atlanta taxpayers, said John Ferguson, president of the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors, because it guarantees that the permit office will operate at no cost to the city’s general fund.

It’s not a new issue. Former Mayor Shirley Franklin told brokers and developers during her administration that the city had streamlined the development process and was anxious to work with new businesses. But developers complained the process remained difficult.

Scott Selig, vice president at Selig Enterprises, said a subpar permitting process has cost the city tax money in delayed or canceled projects. Permit delays can trigger “black-out dates,” in which tenants can refuse to open and pay rent if a project is not completed by a certain date, said Selig, who has worked on the District at Howell Mill, Plaza Midtown and Buckhead Triangle.

A few months of delays can cost a developer millions of dollars.

Faced with an unpredictable timetable, retailers may say, “I’m taking this to Nashville, and I’ll be open for the holidays, because their permitting process takes three weeks,” Selig said.