Quote:
Originally Posted by C_Boy
Every city department from public works, mechanical, planning, fire, and engineering are all short staff and/or understaffed. The city has been rapidly growing over the years but extra positions to keep up with services are not increasing. I'm told there are stacks of proposals waiting for approvals with no one to look at them unfortunately...including projects that are very very significant. Even skyline changing.
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Very interesting. This jives with intelligence I have received that there are multiple proposals for mid to high rise buildings in central Moncton, more than ever seen before.
So, the choke point is in the city planning department. This explains why the PAC agendas recently have been so sparse. City planning receives the proposals, and performs an initial evaluation to determine if they are compliant, or if variances are necessary. When variances are required (usually yes for significant projects), then they are sent to PAC, and this is when these proposals become public.
This delay is extremely frustrating. It is slowing down development in the city, and, is also increasing the costs of these projects for the developers (inflation, worsening supply chain issues, rising interest rates). I would not be surprised if some projects are not just abandoned due to these delays.
I wonder if there could not be a change instituted in the process so that the most significant projects are prioritized for the overworked staff in the city planning department to attend to first. We use triage all the time in our hospitals. Maybe city planning should too...........