Proposed New Cities in DeKalb - Swimming in Lies, Fees and Red Tape

Common sense tells us that when you add more government to anything, you will end up with something that costs more, takes longer and could quite possibly be ineffective at solving the problem it set out to fix in the first place.  Agreed?

Yet... advocates for new cities in DeKalb have claimed NOT ONLY that they would offer businesses a much needed improvement to their current permitting and zoning process, but also that this would be a primary driver of ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT for their little slice of the county.    FURTHERMORE, right after the last legislative session ended,  City of Tucker advocates were even claiming that THIS was a reason all by itself for us to be behind the efforts to incorporate.

Are the residents of Tucker getting enough of a warning about what could happen if
they get a city that can't support itself and fail?  

Save Tucker! tried to  point out the simple fact that this desire to speed up the process might not be so great for residents.  Faster permitting could mean the public has less time to learn about what is being planned, giving them fewer options for being a part of the process and influencing the final decision in their own community.  Faster can also mean more expensive.  So, who bears the cost in the end because we all know that government only generates money in one main way - taxes.

Well, now you don't have to read about the frustrating lack of response we received on our inquiries because we have learned, straight from the source of those who have to get permits regularly, what we all suspected all along...


CITIES WILL CHARGE MORE MONEY FOR PERMITS THAT TAKE LONGER TO ISSUE

AND...

THE COSTS WILL BE PASSED ALONG TO YOU!

Read what the Pool and Spa Industry says about the permit process and the problems new cities are creating for them in metro Atlanta:

New Cities Mean New Permit Challenges For Atlanta Builders

By 

Nate Traylor

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  New cities within metropolitan Atlanta

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New cities within metropolitan Atlanta

New cities are sprouting up all over metropolitan Atlanta, burdening builders with what they say are cumbersome permit applications. What used to be an inexpensive, streamlined process through a county agency now is managed by municipalities, which tend to charge more and are slower to approve, builders maintain.

It’s a common frustration among those in the building trades who see projects delayed by bureaucratic rigmarole. “There is some interest in banding together and approaching these cities to see if there is a way to expedite these permits,” said Craig Sears, president of the Association of Pool & Spa Professionals’ Georgia Chapter.

Georgia might find its solution in Texas. Last year, the APSP Greater Austin Chapter and the city of Austin came to a mutually beneficial agreement: Industry pros who obtain their Certified Pool Builder accreditation through the APSP and pass an intensive course in the city’s permit application requirements would get approval faster. Called Fast Track, the program whittled the waiting time down from months to days.

Sears said they’re exploring the possibility of adopting a similar program in Atlanta.

Whereas Austin’s permitting problems stemmed from an understaffed planning department in the midst of a building boom, Atlanta is facing its own unique circumstances. In recent years, the area has seen a rash of communities splinter off from DeKalb and Fulton county governments to incorporate as cities. Some have put moratoriums on issuing building and zoning permits while they figure out how to staff and operate services.

“The reason for that is, they don’t get cooperation from the county they’re receding from,” said John Saunders, owner of Nationwide Building Permits Inc., a consulting practice in Ellijay, Ga. “They’re forced into this situation where they need to hit the ground running, and they don’t have time to plan everything out.”

Saunders said the rising cost can be attributed to expensive third-party vendors that small municipalities hire to operate their planning departments.

Connie Willard said she can pay upwards of $1,000 to file a permit; previously, she paid around $100. The office manager at Mirage Pools in Cumming waits patiently while applications trudge through a chain of city employees, such as engineers and arborists. What used to take a week could take several weeks, she said, adding that cities also tend to require more documentation than counties do. The criteria differ from city to city. “You wish they could all be the same within a 50-mile radius,” Willard said.

Shawn Still, general manager of Olympic Pool Plastering in Norcross and past president of the state’s APSP chapter, says part of the problem can be attributed to homeowners who are pulling their own permits. And, unlike California, Georgia doesn’t require pool builders to carry a specialized license. Any general contractor can do the job. “What bogs it down is that you have companies or individuals requesting permits who haven’t done their applications properly,” Still said.

The spike in civic activity hasn’t so far disrupted business at Neptune Pools in Sugar Hill, said Evan Horning, a partner and director of sales. However, new cities typically bring steep permit fees. “If we go into a project knowing the municipality, we do pass those increases on to the consumer,” he said.

Atlanta’s newest city is Brookhaven, which began operating in January and whose city hall, interestingly, is in Dunwoody, incorporated in 2008. Michael Nier helped get both cities’ building departments off the ground. The private contractor currently serves as Brookhaven’s building official. He disputes the notion that new cities are gouging builders, saying that Brookhaven doesn’t charge significantly more than DeKalb County.

When builders complain about slow turnaround, it’s generally because they didn’t follow procedure, he said. Third-party vendors are held to a higher standard than county code inspectors. “Being a third-party private company, we’re scrutinized,” Nier said.

He knows of two more Atlanta cities that are considering incorporating.