Permit Me
Please…

"We're talking about red tape," says Athens Area Chamber of Commerce President Larry McKinney. ACC's permitting process for commercial buildings and housing developments has come under fire by local business people and at least one would-be commissioner. McKinney calls the permitting process the Chamber's "biggest issue" with the county. It is "entirely too lengthy a process" he says, that "costs way too much" in delays.

Commissioner States McCarter has heard the complaints, too, but remains unconvinced. McCarter recently responded to a list of questions from the Chamber of Commerce about the permit process and other issues. He told the Chamber he thinks the process is "reasonable" when people "submit complete plans prepared by professionals." McCarter says he is willing to investigate problems if he hears the details, though he suspects that complaints tend to come from people who have submitted incomplete plans or "just don't want to follow the rules."

Several developers declined to be identified for this article, saying "they will break my back," or "I have to deal with these people." But they have lots to say.

"You never know what to expect," when you submit plans for approval," a builder says. "They change their mind when they want to… Nobody wants to take the blame for anything. Nobody wants to step forward… One guy tells me one thing, one guy tells me another."

"I spend 75 percent of my time fighting" with county agencies, a subdivision developer says. "It took me three months to get a final plat… it's all bureaucratic turf protection."

Some departments - he mentions Public Utilities and Transportation and Public Works - "try to figure how to block you" while others (he mentions the planning dept.) "try to work with you." He also complains of the level of detail required in plans.

Another developer is more reflective. "Most people who are upset don't understand the system," he says.

According to Planning Director Brad Griffin, plans for commercial buildings and housing developments must be reviewed by seven different county departments, each looking for different details - such as traffic impacts, street connections, fire codes, septic tanks or sewer taps, density allowances and planting of trees. Proposed plans are distributed to all seven departments, and any departments with concerns must attend a "plans review" meeting with the applicant nine days later.

But local subdivision builder Sean Hogan says these departments don't always examine the plans carefully before the meeting and are unable to "answer your questions in a meaningful way." Hogan says that sometimes they bring up things later that they missed the first time, and the process can go round and round, while the developer is paying interest on large amounts of money. He calls the county's official nine-day turnaround period on plans "fantasyland." People end up "trying to skirt whatever ordinances are there" just to avoid the time-consuming process, he says.

Hogan thinks the departments are simply understaffed. "Staff that we have is very capable," he says, but he doubts that there is the "political will" to fully staff the departments and thinks some in county government simply want to "head off a lot of development." He thinks all these departments should be represented under one roof, so builders don't have to run around town getting approvals. He would like to see a citizens' committee study the process from the ground up.

It "needs to be completely revamped," he says, with staff trimmed in some areas and added in others. He suggests adding a "plans review manager" who responsible for "getting people in and out the door" and shepherding plans through the system.

Landscape architect Rex Gonnsen agrees that county departments often raise issues that were never mentioned during the initial plan review. "That's a big problem; some of these things go across too many desks," he says, adding that the whole process can be held up simply because a county staffer is on vacation.

Planning Director Brad Griffin responds that the county auditor has been studying his department, and he wants to wait on that report before he comments on any shortage of staff. But he does say his department's workload is "through the roof right now." Large projects can strain the system, he says, and historical designations have added to the workload.

Griffin says that sometimes it happens that something important is missed on a plan review and gets added later. "That's a legitimate complaint," he says, but he doesn't see it as "a regular problem on a weekly basis." It more often happens, he says, that fixing one problem on a plan creates another problem, which will then have to be approved by another department. As for putting all the departments in one building, "In a perfect world, that would help."

Griffin says he doesn't have enough staff to assign someone to shepherd each project through the system. Nor does he think that too much detail is required on plans. But he does acknowledge the concerns of at least one builder that obtaining a variance from the county's complex regulations is time-consuming, since it must be approved by the county hearings board.

"Anybody that wants to do something creative, it takes too long to get through it," Griffin says. The alternative would be to give more decision power to county staffers, he says, but he adds that they already have more power than they did under the old land-use plan. Griffin acknowledges that his staffers may at times give people different interpretations of the complex regulations.

Asked whether the planning department is understaffed, auditor John Wolfe says, "Essentially, the answer is no." Wolfe doesn't think that department should take on more than it is already doing, but he has not looked specifically at the plans review process or at the other departments involved in it.

Jennifer Wilkerson dismisses the planning department's contention that plan reviews take nine days. When she and her husband Steve began renovating space in the old Michael Bros. building for their downtown restaurant (Mallory's, now closed), they encountered what she calls "massive miscommunication" among county departments. She says one inspector didn't know the code requirements, wouldn't provide them with copies of the code, and wouldn't tell them what needed to be done to pass the inspections. New architect drawings were required even for minor changes; the county lost one set of plans after signing a receipt for them, and the whole process seemed to shut down "from Thanksgiving to MLK" day, according to Steve Wilkerson. "Each time we made an adjustment to the blueprint, it cost a week," he says.

Building inspections director Ken Hix says it isn't his job to provide copies of the code (although his office can copy parts of it) or to design facilities so they will pass inspections. "I can't review a set of plans on the telephone," he says. For written plans to review, he says, people should hire a professional who knows the code. He says the Wilkersons initially installed a range hood that was not as their plans described it, and after discussions "still went to work without permits."

Hix says builders who work in other cities often tell him that Athens has "the best process they've ever dealt with." His department accepts fees by credit card and can issue permits by fax, he says. Most complaints come from people who submit incomplete plans, or who expect to "walk in here today and start work tomorrow," he says, adding that he is open to constructive suggestions.

ACC Manager Alan Reddish also defends the process, saying the county tries to be "very customer-friendly." He doesn't think there's a problem; ACC's development standards are simply stricter than in some places, he says.

John Huie

Any reader has a permit to contact John Huie: jphuie@athens.net.

Animal Control
This Week's Scorecard

Athens-Clarke County Animal Control responded to 65 calls.

5 complaints of animal cruelty
2 reported bite cases
1 complaint of barking dogs
4 citations for ordinance violations
51 animals impounded
41 dogs
1 bat
2 black rat snakes
6 chimney swifts
1 raccoon
19 dogs placed
8 adopted
4 reclaimed
7 turned over to other agencies

ACC Animal Control press release for the week of June 17 to June 23.