Frustrated developers renewed their criticisms over the district's building processes this week on the heels of a lawsuit against the district ("Developer sues DOS over 'conflict of interest,'" The Chief, Jan. 8).
"The word is out in Vancouver that Squamish is a very difficult place to do business," said Squamish Landholders Association president Shan Trouton.
"The common expression [among developers] is 'If you can develop in Squamish, you can probably develop on the moon' - it's very difficult. At least on a weekly basis we hear from developers that the process is convoluted, that the district doesn't follow its own process, and it's extremely slow."
In a statement of claim filed at B.C. Supreme Court Dec. 18, plaintiffs stated they suffered delays and costs in the amount of $500,000 when the district issued a stop work order on their partially-built townhouse project because it was overheight - despite having filed plans and received building permits.
In a letter to The Chief this week, Joe Rommel of Rommel Design expressed a mixture of relief and frustration in reaction to the lawsuit.
"More than anything, reading of this lawsuit gave me a sense of relief that I wasn't going crazy. If the developers win this, maybe we will all see Squamish's building department be reformed similar to its neighbouring municipalities to the north and south."
Rommel said his builders had a similar experience with their project on Cleveland Avenue.
"When it came to the definition building height, I have been confused by the district's inconsistency," wrote Rommel.
"Our office is in possession of recent by-law documents which require the building height to be measured from a finished grade scenario. The finished grade was used in the development of an 18 lot duplex subdivision our office designed. Drawings were completed and permits were issued.
"After the first few units were well under construction, we were surprisingly summoned to the ivory towers of Squamish's building department. We were informed that a series of these duplexes were over in building height and that the height should be measured from the existing grade. We were not given a reason for the change in definition."
Rommel said that long waits for permits also adds to the frustrations, and he questioned why, in such a slow construction period, there should still be such delays. Whereas municipalities such as West Vancouver had similar delays during the construction boom, permits are now being expedited quickly - in some cases of renovations, within 10 days, said Rommel. But it's not so in Squamish.
"Permits get hung up there for six, eight weeks," he said. "And it seems the people within the departments don't have the answers because the bylaws are so vaguely written."
Rommel said district staff appears fully aware of the inadequacies.
"I have numerous emails from some of the building officials where they apologize for that," he said.
"It's something that I think needs to be said because it doesn't get dealt with, it just seems to get worse and worse and worse."
Trouton said the unpredictability inherent in the local process even repels industry experts.
"I know consultants who won't even take on work in Squamish because there's no way of predicting how long the process will take and therefore they can't inform their clients of how much it's going to cost them, or how long it's going to take to get through the process."
Mayor Greg Gardner said council has directed a review of the District of Squamish Zoning Bylaw.
"In fact, the consulting contract was awarded at yesterday's meeting," he stated in a written response to queries. "We will ensure that Mr. Rommel's concerns are considered in the review process."
But it's a story local developers have heard before.
Trouton said despite past district hiring of consultants and reviewing of reports and studies, and despite the Landholders Association's own suggestions regarding problems of efficiency, there have been "no measurable improvements" over the past few years.
However there is hope on the horizon in the new Chief Administrative Officer Kevin Ramsay, he said.
"I've met with him several times and he seems like he wants to make a number of changes and improve the process," said Trouton. "So we're very encouraged by that. But of course it's going to take him some time to get up to speed and to do the things that he wants to achieve, so we're still waiting."
