State moves to speed permitting

Rhode Island Builders Association Director John V. Marcantonio hopes that a newly enacted law to speed the issuance of building permits in cities and towns will help revive the struggling construction industry in Rhode Island, where single-family permits issued this year are less than half the 215 total for the first two quarters of 2010.
Marcantonio, who became director of RIBA in mid-July, told Providence Business News that the building industry in the state – one of the largest job generators, he noted – is in such a dismal condition that anything that makes it quicker and easier for contractors to obtain permits is welcome news.
“That is certainly beneficial and bound to help,” he said of the new state law. “It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it can only lead to more building activity.”
Effective Sept. 1, the law reduces the amount of time local officials have to issue a building permit from the date of the application.
The time allowed previously was 60 days, but that has been reduced to 45 days for: new residential construction; residential rehabilitation of one-, two- and three-family homes affecting more than 50 percent of the square footage of the original dwelling; and construction of a light commercial building, or renovation of an existing one, affecting less than 50,000 square feet.
The permit fee shall be reduced 50 percent if no decision is made in 45 days, in all cases.
The time limit for renovation of a residential dwelling affecting less than 50 percent of the structure remains at 15 days between application and issuance. Large commercial building projects, which can require extensive review, are not addressed in the new law.
The change is part of the General Assembly’s ongoing efforts to make it easier to do business in Rhode Island, said the House sponsor of the legislation, Rep. Patricia Serpa, a West Warwick Democrat who chairs the House Committee on Small Business. Serpa said the new law is identical to the legislation proposed at the Economic Summit in January, sponsored by the Rhode Island District office of the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Small Business Development Center at Johnson & Wales University.
The bill she proposed encountered little, if any, resistance because “cities and towns recognize that they need these businesses [to be open and running], to pay taxes and to put residents to work,” Serpa said.
Senate sponsor was Sen. Erin P. Lynch, a Warwick Democrat, who chaired the Senate Task Force on Small Business Growth and Development. “New businesses want to get their doors open as soon as possible,” Lynch said. “There is no good reason why a permit cannot be issued, or denied, within 45 days of application.”
Lynch noted that the new law will have the most productive impact on existing commercial enterprises that want to grow in Rhode Island and new businesses looking to locate here.
Marcantonio provided Builders Association statistics, taken from the U.S. Bureau of Census, that show single-family home permits issued in Rhode Island in the first two quarters of the year total 98 – compared to 215 a year ago and, the highest number in the last 14 years, 772 in 1999.
Previous years have seen as many as 2,639 single-family permits issued (in 1999), a number that has dwindled every year since and, according to Marcantonio, is forecast to reach just 600 statewide for all of 2011. “We are off in a huge way,” he said.
This year is, he said, the worst year in recent memory for the construction industry, particularly the building of single-family homes.
“We are one of the biggest industries, if not the largest, in the United States and no activity is devastating to the cities and towns and to building companies,” Marcantonio said. He would like to see more laws passed to open the door to added development in cities and towns, now adversely affected by such initiatives as impact fees. “No one intended to destroy the building industry, but the anti-growth policies are actually devastating to a critical industry in our state and they have to be changed,” he said.
In Cumberland, town Building Official Neil J. Hall told PBN about the extensive reviews he undertakes of building-permit applications.
A permit for a new home, for example, must go to the local fire department, be reviewed by at least five separate departments in Town Hall and then goes to him for his own extensive review, which covers such points as zoning, setbacks and conformance to the state building code.
To help potential applicants, Hall said he has lists ready noting every step required in the building-approval process in Cumberland for the residential and commercial projects, which he provides applicants on first contact. “It tells them what’s required for such things as the floor plan, size of the footing, size of the foundation, wall sections, size of windows, an accessible egress and stairways,” he said.
It usually takes Hall “a couple of hours” to conduct his own review of a typical building-permit application, but the former Ferland Corp. project manager said he is certain that the new 45-day limit will not affect his thorough review process.
“I don’t think it’s a big deal,” he said. “It doesn’t really affect anybody and we’ll still be able to do a thorough review.”
Lincoln Building Official Roger Pierce also thinks the new law “won’t have much of an effect [in his community]. We usually get our building permits out in a couple of weeks.” &#8226