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Bob Kelly suggests charter changes for concurrent development approvals to Shams DaBaron
1:26:40
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162 sec
Commissioner Shams DaBaron asks Bob Kelly for specific charter changes that could help address development delays.
Kelly suggests that more of the filing process could be done concurrently rather than consecutively.
He gives the example of waiting sequentially for subdivision approval, house numbers, and lot numbers, which can take six months and incur significant debt service costs before any building begins.
- He proposes that processes like DOB plan review or city planning review could begin while these initial administrative steps are underway, saving time and money by fostering a more business-like, concurrent environment.
Shams DaBaron
1:26:40
I'm sorry.
1:26:41
Sorry.
1:26:41
So Say.
1:26:43
That's right.
1:26:44
That's right.
1:26:49
Hopefully, he's good.
1:26:51
So I just wanna ask you real quickly.
1:26:55
For the commission and for the charter, do you have any specific things that could help?
1:27:01
Because what you said is things that we're seeing across the city.
1:27:05
And do you have any particular things that we could do to help address that?
1:27:10
There's proposals that have been put forth and stuff like that.
1:27:14
But what do you think specifically we can do as a charter to help make mitigate those those things that you just described?
Bob Kelly
1:27:25
That's a great question.
1:27:26
And I I won't I know there's a lot of people on top of it.
1:27:29
So one of the greatest thing that could could have things that could happen is if more of what my filing process is could be done concurrently instead of consecutively.
1:27:41
So to give you an example, these maps that we spoke of I'm sorry.
1:27:44
So these maps that we're speaking of.
1:27:46
So when we buy a piece of property, we subdivide it.
1:27:49
We wait for house numbers.
1:27:50
We wait for lot numbers, and then we move on to city planning.
1:27:54
We move on to DOB, apartment buildings.
1:27:58
And a lot of it is done consecutively.
1:28:00
So I'm waiting for my subdivision.
1:28:02
Okay.
1:28:03
Two months.
1:28:03
Then I'm waiting for my house numbers.
1:28:05
Two months.
1:28:06
I'm waiting for my lot numbers.
1:28:08
Two months.
1:28:09
So that's six months, and that has nothing to do with the building process.
1:28:13
But to to to put it in perspective, I if I bought a small piece of property for a million dollars and I borrow $800,000, my debt service is $64,000 a year on a two or three house job.
1:28:26
By taking six months just to get these pieces of paper that allow me to file with DOB, I've spent $31,000 or $32,000 and have nothing to show for it.
1:28:38
The property didn't go up in value.
1:28:40
My cost of construction did not come down, but I had to wait for these consecutive approvals through Department of Finance, DOT, and DOB where if if they could just say, look, Bob, we know you're gonna get these subdivisions.
1:28:54
We know you're gonna get house numbers.
1:28:55
We know you're gonna a lot of numbers.
1:28:56
Let's get you into DOB.
1:28:57
Let's start looking at your plans.
1:28:58
If you gotta go to city planning, let's do that now.
1:29:02
And that would be more of a concurrent environment.
1:29:05
And and even just cutting six months out of the process would save $32,000 a house.
1:29:12
And
Deborah Green
1:29:14
Okay.
1:29:14
Right.
Bob Kelly
1:29:16
But it's it's really more of of the city, I think, thinking like a business person and not a an an administration.