Friday, April 17, 1998 | 11:34 a.m.
Though Southern Nevada's housing boom of the past three years has brought prosperous times for developers, it has also brought an inevitable trend -- delays in getting projects approved.
The wealth of construction has corresponded with overburdened local government permitting departments, builders say.
Rich Priesing of Hearthstone Construction Inc. said that in 1986, it took about two weeks to get a house plan approved.
"Now it's eight weeks if everything goes perfect," he said.
That's an assessment with which most builders agree. "It's gotten harder and harder to deal with," said Don White of Pageantry Communities.
While most heads of permitting departments agree they don't have the number of staffers they would like, they say they have taken steps to accommodate the influx of applications. In the city of Las Vegas, there are now 40 inspectors, compared to about 30 five years ago, said inspections chief Paul Wilkins. After an application is filed, it takes about four to five weeks before an inspector gets to it, he said.
"But when we get there and look at it, we can get it turned around in a day," Wilkins said.
He added that in some cases builders share the blame for delays by not submitting complete plans needed for review.
Wilkins said the city has an expedited process for approval -- if the contractor is willing to pay for it. The city offers an "overtime" check if builders reimburse the department for the overtime. Also, an express check is available where the inspectors, planners and builders review documents all at one time, at a cost of $600 per hour.
In North Las Vegas, the number of inspectors has risen from four seven years ago to 12 today. Phil Coggins said the office turns around inspections in about 12 to 16 weeks. That city also offers an expedited process by hiring contract inspectors. The department has been getting about 50 single-family homes a month to inspect, Coggins said.
In Clark County, there are 120 employees in inspection and field engineering with about 50 inspectors designated for residential units. The county also uses outside contracted inspectors and plans to hire 10 more this year, said Bob Weber, director of the county building department.
"Our challenge is hiring qualified people," Weber said.
Wilkins and Coggins say for their departments it is necessary to have a balance of workers that isn't too "top heavy" during slow months and to ensure that departments won't be overstaffed should the market and work load slump.
Programs to expedite permitting receive mixed reviews. Richard Masters, former project manager for Pardee of Southern Nevada, said such programs were often beneficial.
"Time is money. In many cases we would take advantage of that," Masters said.
But Don White of Pageantry Communities said he had only used an expedited program once. He said plans should be processed equally without having to pay extra for quicker approval.
"I don't think it's of value," he said.
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