#building-permitting-delays

#building-permitting-delays

"We're all over the place here - this meeting should be suspended. We should get our ducks in a row and come back here and do this properly. I mean it's like a circus - you're saying one thing, and then you're going back. You're kind of changing your answers."

The amended law reframes the calculation of fringe benefits for individuals who work on public works projects and mandates annualization of such benefits, demolishes the practice of frontloading these benefits, and requires employers to maintain inspection-ready records of compliance.

Property owners who want to handle clearance themselves—and avoid racking up costs—should have responded to the county by March 10 to receive a property-specific deadline.

It's like, 'Ok, where? Who do we call? What do you mean?' said Batan, of the Queensboro Dance Festival, which puts on free dance performances, parties, and classes 30 to 40 times each summer. Batan compares the city's complex permitting process - which features an alphabet-soup array of agencies and offices that set guidelines for everything from block parties and street festivals to the use of stages, tents, and speakers - to 'avoiding a bunch of trap doors.'

The Gowanus Green project, which aims to provide 950 all-affordable apartments, has been stalled since 2024 due to disputes over the cleanup of the toxic Public Place site.

I recognize that if we do the bread and butter stuff, we do the customer service, the customer delivery, then we get permission to do bigger things. This philosophy guides the commissioner's approach to balancing operational excellence with broader policy ambitions at the Department of Buildings.

Through Community Facilities Districts (CFD), Municipal Utility Districts (MUD), Public Improvement Districts (PID), Community Development Districts (CDD) and reimbursement districts (RD), builders can potentially shift infrastructure costs off their balance sheets and onto special districts that homebuyers ultimately absorb through property taxes without potentially adding debt to the builder's books.

We're also now getting to this point where, despite all of those changes, we're still the slowest city to build. We have to now take a stab at the harder problems, including Charter reform, to enable us to be able to make those changes.

Or take Cologne's opera house. Built in the 1950s as a symbol of modern democracy, it was a cultural jewel. By 2012, it needed renovation. The plan sounded simple: three years of work, reopening in 2015. Fast-forward to today: The building, which comprises the opera itself, a theater with two stages, and a children's opera with its own stage, remains a construction site.

Conservation area regulations aren't on the same level as those for Listed Buildings; however, they are still much stricter than in the average home. The most common legal consideration to make is understanding Article 4 Directions. Article 4 can essentially strip away your 'Permitted Development' rights, meaning you need full blown planning permission, even for minor changes, like front doors.

A Dublin businessman has been given until March come up with a plan for the demolition of an extension at his beachside home after a judge ruled the development is "unauthorised".

Some even rented out the new additions as Airbnbs with applications for retention permission flooding in More than 11,000 applications for retention permission have been submitted in the last two years after thousands of people built extensions, garages, log cabins, apartments and gyms without planning permission. An investigation by the Irish Independent into the culture of "build first, ask for permission later" has revealed how more than half of all retention applications lodged since January 2024 have been approved by local authorities across the country.

Cedar Street just came out victorious in a multi-year saga with the city of La Canada Flintridge, winning the first successful builder's remedy case in California Superior Court for its 80-unit mixed-use project at 600 Foothill Boulevard and setting a path for other developers to build. But the fight may have left its scars, in time, stress and now soured relationships with some officials.

Raising the roof is a major structural change, but for some homeowners, it can be a practical way to gain space and modernize a home without relocating. Whether the goal is higher ceilings, an added level, or turning unused attic space into livable square footage, the idea to raise a roof on a house often comes up when a home no longer fits everyday needs.

By focusing on what others aren't building, solidifying relationships on the ground, improving processes incrementally, and carving out a niche where they can stand apart from peers, private builders can achieve stronger margins, maintain brand value and grow sustainably despite the advantages held by large public competitors.

We have clients who have looked at property in the city or town where they live, but simply can't afford what is coming onto the market. Instead, they are considering using the considerable equity they have built up with those soaring real estate valuations in recent years. Many of these people can invest money into their properties and still have equity left after a major remodel and addition.