Council asks staff to scope review of permitting process after business complaints about delays

Council raised concerns about business permitting delays and asked staff to scope a cross-departmental review to identify process improvements.

Councilmember Dustin said a local business has been unable to complete a permit after two months of back-and-forth and asked whether the city can streamline permitting to better support new and existing businesses. "I would like to learn more about why and how bad the situation really is," he said.

Staff noted Economic Development has already started a cohort-based review with peer cities to evaluate business-review and permitting workflows. City staff committed to return with a scope of work, proposed data collection and suggested policy levers for council consideration, and to investigate the individual business case when provided.

Whats next: Staff will provide council with the existing business-permitting review scope, identify potential policy changes for council consideration, and follow up on the specific constituent case.