Hahn Offers Free City Building Permits for Long Waits

Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn announced Tuesday that people seeking city permits for small business and home improvement projects will only have to pay if they receive speedy service, part of his ongoing effort to make City Hall more user-friendly.

Under the new money-back guarantee, people seeking express permits for projects such as kitchen remodeling or re-roofing will not have to pay for their permit if they are kept waiting more than 90 minutes at the city’s Department of Building and Safety.

“This is the first step in a number of reforms we’re going to make to make sure that the development process, both of large and small projects, becomes more predictable,” Hahn said during a news conference at the city’s downtown construction service center.

“To business, time is money,” the mayor added. “Sometimes they don’t think government quite gets that message. So we have gotten the message.”

The program--which fulfills a campaign promise Hahn made during the mayoral race--will affect those seeking permits for small construction projects that do not require building plans. Most of those permits cost $60 to $300.

Ray Pearl, executive officer of the Greater L.A./Ventura Chapter of the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California, said home builders have had to wait days to get simple permits. Now, however, “the city is sending a positive message to people looking to invest in Los Angles real estate,” Pearl said. “It’s putting the city on the line for meeting deadlines.”

The new program will affect approximately 73,000 express permits that the department handles every year, 70% of its total workload, said Andrew Adelman, general manager of the Department of Building and Safety.

Adelman said the department has streamlined the permit process in recent years, reducing the wait time to minutes, in some cases. Adelman added Tuesday that he hopes to continue that improvement under the new program.