Bryn Davidson, co-owner of Lanefab Design/Build, has been building homes in 麻豆传媒映画since around 2008. The firm mostly works on projects in the city, but a few are on the North Shore and some are further out. Right now, Lanefab has 15 houses under construction, including full-size homes and laneway homes. About nine staff work in the office and about 14 on site.
Earlier this week, the City of 麻豆传媒映画 to fast track home building permits. Called the Applicant Supported and Assisted Process, the program is for experienced homebuilder teams. It aims to reduce permit processing times from between 28 to 38 weeks to between six to eight weeks. The first phase will include 20 to 30 projects to test new ideas, which, if they prove successful, could then be scaled into the regular permitting process.
Davidson鈥檚 firm plans to submit a project for consideration for the pilot. We talked to him about what it鈥檚 been like to build in 麻豆传媒映画and what he thinks of the new program. Davidson outlines some challenges but he also noted that the City of 麻豆传媒映画has made positive steps in improving the process over the last year.
What is it like to build in Vancouver? How difficult is it?
The first projects I did were in Alaska so coming from there, where it鈥檚 a bit of a wild west, it was a shock to come to 麻豆传媒映画and try and figure out how to navigate all the layers of process. It鈥檚 definitely a challenge. At the same time, we鈥檙e working on a project in San Francisco, which is actually worse in a number of different ways, but they鈥檙e both quite a challenge. There are just so many different hoops and so many different agendas that you鈥檙e trying to work with.
How long would it take to go through all the hoops?
It really depends on the kind of project. There鈥檚 the simple path that they call outright, which would be your typical single-family house or something like a laneway house. For the last couple of years, we鈥檝e generally budgeted about six months to get through that permitting process. The more complicated development permit process, we would allow at least a year, if not more, for the development permit and the building permit.
What kind of project would that be for?
That would be if you鈥檙e doing a duplex or one of these new character homes projects. You have to go through a development permit process where you notify the neighbours, you put the board up, and you do all that. The city has actually made some decent progress since 2014, when it first started getting really bad, on the straight-forward types of applications. But there鈥檚 a real systemic problem around their continued demand for development permits on small projects. We did a garage on the back of a house in a duplex zone and we had to go through a development permit process just to add this garage. The longstanding quip about it is there鈥檚 too many rules and not enough people. They鈥檝e actually gone through the process of hiring more people and they鈥檝e been working towards quotas, which has been improving the turnaround times. In the last three or four months, we鈥檝e actually had more permits ready to go than we鈥檝e had carpenters available to build them, which is a very new situation. Before that, it was always the permits that were the single thing holding up production of housing.
Do you think your experience is typical 鈥� your problems and the improvements that you鈥檝e seen?
Yeah, I imagine so. I think so.
What do you think about the City of Vancouver's pilot project?
We certainly welcome the idea. We鈥檙e going to see how it actually plays out. Projects like laneway houses should be simpler. There鈥檚 also happening right now as well. They鈥檙e working to make that process simpler. They鈥檙e attacking it on a few different fronts. If we could turn around a permit in six weeks or eight weeks, or something like that, that would bring us back to where [we were] back before 2014.
Why did it become bad in 2014?
2014 was the perfect storm of a whole bunch of things. Mostly, it was the introduction of the new building code that required people, all of a sudden, to shift from standard two-by-six construction to something more energy efficient. They put a deadline on that. Everybody tried to get all their permits in all at the same time, before the deadline. It created this huge backlog and they鈥檝e been dealing with that ever since.
So they were trying to get in so they wouldn鈥檛 be required to meet those [new regulations]?
They basically said permits after Jan. 1, 2014 will have to meet this new code. So everybody in the industry freaked out and tried to cram everything in all at once. At the same time, there were also new requirements for accessibility, new, stricter tree bylaws. It was a perfect storm of new rules coming together and not really planning for that transition.
At this point, in 2018, you鈥檙e encouraged by some of the improvements. Is that fair to say?
Yeah. Definitely. In 2014, they nearly put us out of business because of permit delays. We were within inches of being out of business. We had to lay off a bunch of people. At Christmas, we had all these projects in for permit and no work. Now, we鈥檙e in the opposite situation. We鈥檝e got three times as much stuff under construction as we鈥檝e had in the past. So it鈥檚 definitely a big change from four years ago.
How would the pilot project speed up permits?
We鈥檝e been involved in these permitting workshops for the last year and a half. They鈥檝e been talking about what they call a kind of a Nexus lane. I think the goal is to work with experienced teams to have a quick path. I don鈥檛 know exactly what that looks like yet. I鈥檓 not sure they do either. I know that when we go in to drop off a set of drawings, we go through a preliminary review at the table with a planner just so they make sure there鈥檚 enough in there to go into the queue. A lot of us have argued if we just spent another hour at that table, we鈥檇 basically be done. So can we just get in and do that? Part of it, also, is changing the process of how we deal with trees. Because the landscape has been a big bottleneck for just about everybody.
Why is that?
The first thing is they鈥檙e trying to do way too much with landscape on single-family houses. They鈥檙e trying to micro-manage the design, which is really a pretty low priority. On the tree front, they had big ambitions to save a lot of trees, which is a good goal at a high level but the way they were managing that is they were asking for substantial changes to your building during the permit review. It鈥檚 just a completely absurd way to do it because the building is fully designed, fully engineered, and they鈥檙e coming back and saying, 鈥極h, you need to take a 10-foot-by-10-foot chunk out of the corner of your laneway house. Basically, the big process has been to move that discussion from the end to the beginning, so we can sit down with the landscape designer and we can sit down with a planner at the beginning of the project and figure out where the building can go. That makes a big difference. I think they鈥檙e just trying to figure out how to formalize that into their process.
Your firm plans to get involved in the pilot?
Yes, we鈥檝e been involved in this discussion pretty heavily. I think they鈥檙e starting up with two projects, so we鈥檒l put one in. If we can be one of the two, that鈥檚 great.
A laneway or regular-sized house?
For us, it would be a laneway house.
Why should the public be concerned about the issue?
It鈥檚 important because the amount of time it takes to issue a permit obviously impacts people directly when they鈥檙e trying to build something. It can add months to the process. It also means that if you鈥檙e a neighbour to a building project, it can make the whole process take a long time 鈥� from when the tree barriers go up to when people are actually moved in and [the site] cleaned up. And, it adds to the cost of projects. Ideally, in my mind, I feel small lot residential projects should not have to go through the same level of scrutiny as an apartment building. Frankly, you could build a pink duck 鈥� whatever, who cares what it looks like 鈥� if you鈥檙e doing it on a small lot basis, it鈥檚 not going to fundamentally alter the city. The city has been just far too precious in their approach to single-family neighbourhoods. I think a big part of our housing crisis unfolds from that.
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