City Manager Jon Jennings is proposing sweeping changes to the way the city issues routine building permits and sells properties seized because of unpaid property taxes.

On Monday, the City Council will get a first look at a proposal to create a new Permitting and Inspections Department that would report directly to the city manager, rather than the Planning and Urban Development Department, with the aim of reducing wait times for routine building permits.

A separate proposal would allow city administrators to sell some tax-acquired properties without involving the City Council, which currently has to take action on each sale.

Both proposals also will be taken up Thursday by the city’s Economic Development Committee, which will issue a recommendation to the full council.

Jennings said the proposed changes are designed to make city government more effective and efficient.

“I’m interested in getting things done on behalf of the people of Portland,” Jennings said.

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Mayor Ethan Strimling said Friday that he is looking forward to learning more about the proposals, and that he generally supports the manager’s goals. He said complaints about permitting were common during the campaign, and he is interested in focusing on policy, rather than operational aspects.

“My goal is to get the council to focus on high-level policy issues,” he said. “I’m absolutely interested in ways to get the City Council out of the weeds of operating the city and more into policy.”

As proposed, the new Permitting and Inspections Department would seek to address a common complaint by developers, businesses and residents alike – that waiting for a routine building permit to build a set of stairs, a deck or an awning takes far too long compared to surrounding communities.

Paul Ureneck, a partner and senior vice president of project management at CBRE | Boulos Asset Management, said other communities, like South Portland, can issue routine permits in less than a week and that wait times in Portland create a hardship for prospective tenants eager to open up a business.

“I’m sure the real estate, building and architectural community, and the public at large, will be very excited about this,” Ureneck said.

According to data provided by the city, the average wait time for a building permit took 42 days last year. That’s up from 35 days in 2014 and 34 days in 2013.

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Staff estimates that 60 percent of all permit requests are small residential rehab projects, according to a memo to the council.

Planning and Urban Development Director Jeff Levine attributed the increase to a 10 percent rise in requests (from 1,396 to 1,537), coupled with the inability to hire someone to fill a vacant position in the zoning office.

“Right now it’s a complicated, cumbersome process even for people who do it all the time,” said Vincent Veroneau, president and CEO of the J.B. Brown development company. “To accommodate our small businesses, you’ve got to be more responsive.”

Currently, all applications – both large and small – are put into the same pipeline and undergo extensive review by zoning and planning officials. The change would eliminate a zoning review for smaller projects, and more quickly identify incomplete applications.

As proposed, the new office would be a one-stop shop for inspections, building permits, business licensing and zoning determinations. The city’s fledgling Housing Safety Office and food service inspections program may be folded in at a later date, according to a memo to the council.

The new office would create three new planning technician positions, who would receive advanced training to quickly assess the completeness of permit applications, in some cases issue a building permit on the spot and refer more complicated permits for further review. Those positions would replace a full-time and part-time office assistant and an administrative assistant.

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The city would eliminate current inspections division director and deputy director positions, in favor of an intake and review manager as well as an inspections manager.

Jennings said the proposal would increase costs by $580,000, but those costs could be covered by an increase in permit fees. Though the baseline fee of $25 for the first $1,000 of the project cost would remain unchanged, he is proposing to increase a 1.1 percent surcharge for costs above $1,000 to 1.6 percent, putting it more in line with other communities.

Additional changes eyed for the long term include updating the city’s software systems to allow for more efficient filing of electronic applications. The current online application system still requires information to be entered by hand.

TAX PROPERTIES

The council also will consider a proposal to remove itself from the process of selling properties seized by the city because of unpaid property taxes.

City officials say Portland has more than 100 tax-acquired properties, valued at $12 million and representing $250,000 a year in taxes, in its possession.

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Economic Development Director Greg Mitchell said the majority of those properties are single-family homes and vacant residential lots, while some could be considered commercial buildings either by zoning or by being multi-unit properties. Some of those properties are still occupied by the people from whom they were seized, he said.

Currently, selling tax-acquired properties requires a vote of the City Council, based on a recommendation from an internal committee and a council subcommittee.

The proposal would allow the city manager to sell properties valued at less than $400,000 and three units or less of housing without consulting the council. The sales price would not be lower than the sum of back taxes, interest, marketing costs, attorney’s fees and other city expenses.

The council would have to approve retaining ownership of any property for a city use.

Jennings said the goal is to return those properties to the tax rolls and create more housing in a city that desperately needs it.

City Councilor David Brenerman, who leads the council’s Economic Development Committee, which will review both proposals Thursday, said he is encouraged by the manager’s proposal, which would “take the politics out of” selling tax-acquired properties.

“We need to find a way to get those back on the tax rolls and return them to productive use,” Brenerman said. “It seems like a common-sense way to try to dispose of those properties.”

 


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