Permitting Shoddy Treatment

What Happened

Mr. C called us in January to talk about an unreasonable delay in getting a building permit from the City. According to the City’s website, the usual length of time for a permit is 10 days. He had made his submission on November 23. Mr. C and his partner were in touch with a zoning examiner by phone and email. The examiner told them to pick up the permit on Friday. They went to the office on Friday but the permit was not ready. The examiner then told them to come on Monday. They did, but again no permit. The examiner told them to come on Wednesday. They did, but still no permit. Mr. C could not understand what was causing the delay and why the examiner kept telling him it would be ready when it obviously was not.

What We Did

We called the department’s manager, who told us that the department had been short-staffed as a result of sick leaves.

The Result

Mr. C and his partner received their permit within 48 hours of our call to the City.