(The Center Square) – A new report showed that completing the building permit process in Arizona adds an average of 23 days to a building project.
Common Sense Institute Arizona released a brief analyzing permit data from the state’s 106 permitting jurisdictions.CSI examined nearly 3 million building permit records, said Glenn Farley, CSI’s director of policy and research.
The data doesn’t look at new building permits, but at improvement permits, such as permits to fix something on a property, Farley told The Center Square.
The brief stated for every extra day it takes people to obtain a permit, it adds another four days to the project.
The fastest 25% of jurisdictions completed the permit process in five days; whereas, the slowest ones took more than 16 days, the brief explained.
According to the brief, the state has different permitting standards for people depending on the jurisdiction in which they live.
Arizona has “tremendous variance” in permitting requirements, Farley said.
He added that this leads Arizona jurisdictions to have different standards for details such as who must obtain a permit, how long it takes to obtain a permit and the cost.
The brief noted almost 50% of Arizonans are not required to have a permit for replacements for heating, ventilation and air conditioning; roofs or water heaters.
The variance “speaks to the opportunity for policymakers at the state Legislature to improve things by setting some standards and establishing some consistency across” the state’s permit-issuing jurisdictions, Farley said.
He noted rural counties tended to be slower than urban counties in administering permits.
The brief stated 65% of these jurisdictions cover less than 0.5% of the state’s population.
According to Farley, this is not surprising because urban jurisdictions may have more staff and a larger budget to handle permit requests.
One urban area where this does not apply is Pima County, where the brief showed getting permits and completing building projects have tripled in the last 20 years.
Depending on the jurisdiction Arizonans live in, permit fees can range from $200 to over $600, the brief said.
”There’s a correlation between how long it takes to get a permit and how long it takes to complete a project,” Farley said. “If it takes longer to get a permit, it’s gonna take you longer to complete a project.”
The extra days caused by the permitting process affect builders, contractors, property owners, and cities and towns, Farley said.
