Delays with permit approval

[Ayanna Donovan]

Has anyone else experienced delays with L&L? I've owned my property for nearly a year and a half, and obtaining zoning and building permits has been a nightmare. Once my zoning variance was granted, I expected getting the building permit would be straightforward. However, every time my contractor submits the applications, the city requests new revisions. The review process for each submission takes about a month, which further delays progress.

 Is there anyone I can escalate this issue to? It feels like the city can operate without accountability.

[Jay Hinrichs]

Quote from @Stuart Udis:

@Ayanna Donovan The way you describe the process is off and that's probably the reason why you are having so much difficulty. If you received a variance, once the notice of decision was posted and appeal period ran its course you should have first obtained your zoning permit. You can't jump ahead to the building permit until the ZP is issued. You say the contractor is resubmitting the revisions but where is the architect and what role is he/she playing? It sounds like this is a building permit application that requires plans which means you will need an AIA to seal the drawings. 

If this is happening and was merely left out of your post are you certain this architect is knowledgeable about the local code and permitting process?  The architect should also be the one making the submissions through the eclipse system. The contractor doesn't have to be named and associated with the permit until the billing statement is ready for issue. Also are their overlays that require pre-reviews by other city agencies? This can delay the process because they must approve the plans through the eclipse system before the plans examiner can review and each time the plans are resubmitted the plans first must go through any pre-requisite review agency which can add lots of time. Just dealt with this for a project that required pre-review by both historical commission and city planning commission...took 3 months of submissions before the plans even got to the L&I plans examiner for the first time. 

 Also, always best to accelerate drawings in Philly. When accelerated your reviews are completed in  business 10 days which adds up especially since you rarely obtain a billing statement without at least one round of comments and normally multiple are required. Unfortunately the additional fee disproportionately impacts smaller projects (I recently paid the same acceleration fee for  $600,000 SF renovation as I just did for a $2.5M school building conversion). 

OP  Stuart is highly experienced in Philly I would listen to what he has to say as well as Chris.

this is pretty standard from what I see in big cities.. its why i will no longer build in the City of Portland.. every building permit application comes back with a check sheet EVERYONE its standard procedure i think for these large municipalities.. Right now out of the big city once zoning is approved we are 45 to 60 days to permits. But it depends  on who your examiner is to we are building the same floor plan in a 90 lot sub and one plan goes to one examiner and comes right back  same plan goes to another examiner and its got red lines all over the dog gone thing. :(