Builders are among the first to point out slow processes, costly fees and bureaucracy at City Hall. I've done this a few times on my blog already. What is also true is that some departments and functions work really well and the staff there do a good job and serve the taxpayer (me) promptly.
My first example is the tax department. In order to get street parking passes for my 33 st job site I needed to show that I was the taxpayer of record. Once I identified the correct staff email address (can be a challenge) I had the new tax roll paperwork with proof of ownership in my inbox within a few hours.
My second example is the Calgary parking authority. They regulate parking permits in the controlled areas. Residents get a pass to allow them to park in certain areas. As a land owner in the k1 zone I was possibly entitled to two visitor passes. These will allow me to park outside my job site while I am doing the work to get it built. I can be a visitor at my site, but I can't get a resident permit (there are a lot of rules related to this I don't claim to have scrutinized). More than likely I will end up violating the parking restrictions so I need to retain some ability to plead ignorance. Once I provided the correct paperwork to the staff they issued me the passes immediately and they arrived in the mail two days later (100% free of charge even!).
A little paperwork and I can now park my truck in front of my threeplex project location. The k1 zone controls who can park near the Westbrook train station (nobody can except residents).
My final example is the waterworks department. I completed a service kill when I was installing my new sewer system at my duplex project. After submitting proof of completion to the staff they issued my $4250 refund in less than three weeks. It is always a relief to get that fee back because the security payment is a real cash drain for builders with multiple demolition permits outstanding. Hopefully one day the City will let builders with a track record of successful service kills avoid the security deposit, or at least allow one deposit to be used over multiple projects. I will tweet a photo of this cheque to the Mayor and ask him when we can stop swapping this cheque back and forth between us.
The first of my two service kill refunds is now returned. I have much better uses for these funds than sitting in the City Hall bank account, so I am very grateful the City staff process these refunds promptly.
There is a large amount of post permitting interaction between the house builder and the City staff, and it is always a relief when they respond quickly. In another month I will have two townhouse projects in front of the planning department. I'm hopeful they can approve my applications as promptly as the parking, tax and waterworks departments did.