PZ&B scrambles to keep up with permits

Longboat Key may be predominantly built out, but it’s seeing a building/renovation boom the town hasn’t seen since Arvida Corp. turned the south end of the island’s swampland into concrete.

For the 2014-15 fiscal year, the Planning, Zoning and Building Department is on pace to surpass more than 3,500 building permits in a single fiscal year, which could surpass the record set in fiscal year 2008-09, when 3,782 permits issued.

But the department hit that mark in a year when backflow prevention devices were mandated islandwide, so town staff points to last year, when 3,589 permits were issued, as the year to beat.

“It’s the largest building boom this town has ever seen,” said Town Manager Dave Bullock.

The more telling figure, according to Planning, Zoning and Building Director Alaina Ray, is permit construction value, because the higher the construction value, the more her staff is working.

That number, Ray said, is likely to surpass more than $100 million by the time the fiscal year ends Sept. 30. That number would also surpass a construction value record set last year, when $89,758,788 in permit construction value was reached.

What does all this mean for Ray’s department?

“It’s absolutely crazy right now,” Ray said. “We’ve never seen anything like it.”

The department’s goal is to perform an initial permit review within 10 business days of a permit being filed.

“We can’t meet that goal anymore,” Bullock said. “The boom is overwhelming our ability to do plans and inspections on a timely basis.”

Ray’s department currently has two full-time inspectors and a building official who splits his duties between permit inspections and managerial duties.

One of the full-time inspectors is certified for general building inspections.

The other inspector is certified for mechanical, plumbing and electrical inspections, and those permit reviews are what’s overwhelming the department right now.

Why?

Condominium permit reviews are classified as commercial inspections because of the makeup of the condo buildings.

“The bulk of our work is in condominium and single-family home renovations right now,” Ray said. “It’s huge.”

Bullock has allowed Ray to contract with a building inspection and plans review services to help assist the town with its permit review overload problem.

But there’s a problem.

“The contractor service isn’t able to meet the demand because they’re overloaded with work too,” Bullock said.

It’s so bad that Ray’s own staff is being solicited from outside companies.

“The shortage for qualified building inspectors is so large that my own inspectors have been head hunted to come and work for the very firm we contract with to do work for us,” Ray said.

When the recession hit a few years ago, Manatee and Sarasota counties, along with several municipalities and counties around the state laid off hundreds of building department employees when building came to a halt.

Bullock said when he was deputy county administrator with Sarasota County during the recession, the county laid off 75 inspectors in one day. Many of those baby boomer employees retired rather than find work elsewhere.

“It’s the largest building boom this town has ever seen."

— Town Manager Dave Bullock

“If we can find a contractor or some folks we can dig out of retirement for a season, it’s something we may have to do,” Bullock said. “We’re dealing with a flood that we have to address.”
That flood will rise, Bullock said, when condo projects that include Aria, Infinity and the new Zota Beachfront Resort (former Hilton) come online and request a myriad of permits for each individual unit before seeking certificates of occupancy.

“There’s a ton of new condos coming online,” Bullock said. “We need commercial inspector help.”

Longboat Key Builders Construction Manager Ben Ford has seen the issue firsthand.

“It takes three to four weeks now to get a permit from the town, and it’s hard to get a permit in any city or county right now in a timely manner,” Ford said. “We spend a lot of time waiting for permits.”

The upside to the conundrum, though, is the building department, which consists of a separate enterprise fund, is hitting all-time permit revenue highs and no longer needs help supporting itself like it did during the recession.

“Permit revenue it at an all-time high,” Bullock said.

The building department fund is on pace to have a fund balance of more than $1.7 million when fiscal year 2015-16 starts Oct. 1.

“We’re accumulating more of a fund balance than we need to … the fund is actually a little too healthy,” Bullock said. “That shows you the kind of boom we have going on here.”