Galveston: City already near last year's total for building permits

Galveston County Daily News, July 2, 2006, by Kelly Hawes

Wendy O’Donohue says the numbers are surprising even to her. “I knew we were at least keeping pace with last year, but I had no idea we were that far ahead,” she said. O’Donahue is director of the city’s department of planning and community development. Through the first five months of this year, her office had issued almost as many building permits as it issued in all of 2005.
And that number was more than double the number the issued five years ago. The numbers illustrate the building boom on Galveston Island in the past five years. The city issued 2,640 building permits in 2001. The number rose to 4,552 in 2002, and it has steadily risen every year since. Last year, the city issued permits for more than $415 million of construction. That’s up from about $157 million in 2002.

Never enough help
David Ewald has been the city’s building official since 2000. He spends his time answering phones, reviewing plans and dealing with issues his inspectors encounter out in the field. “Every day it’s a full day” he said. When Ewald took over, the department had two building inspectors, an electrical inspector and a mechanical inspector. “We increased the building inspection staff a year ago,” he said. The staff added an inspector and a permit clerk. “We definitely need more”, Ewald said. “The way things are going right now, you can never have enough.” O’Donahoe’s office on the fourth floor of city hall is a one-stop shop for anyone proposing a construction or remodeling project in Galveston. On a typical day, the office will field calls on all sorts of projects. “We issue permits on anything worth more than $500, but we’ll talk to people about projects that are even smaller” she said. On a Wednesday afternoon, Ewald stands on what will be the seventh floor balcony of a condominium in the 15 story Emerald by the Sea on the island’s East End. “My inspector comes out here quite a bit,” he said. “We’re here to watch them pour concrete. We’ll be here when they’re putting in walls. Any time, they’re getting ready to cover anything, that’s when we need to be here.

A familiar face
On a project the size of Emerald by the Sea, the inspector’s face becomes pretty familiar. “Sometimes we’re out here almost every day,” Ewald said. Scott Lightfoot is the project engineer for G.T. Leach Construction Co. He figures he has anywhere from 50 to 100 workers on the project at any given time. “That’ll probably increase to 200 once we really get rocking and rolling,” he said. The project is almost topped off, Lightfoot said. When finished, the structure will house about 120 condos. All of the units are sold. The construction schedule calls for the structure to be finished in the next 14 months, Lightfoot said. “But the owners are pushing us to get it finished in a year,” he said. Not all of the projects Ewald’s inspectors are overseeing are so large. The inspectors need to sign off on projects of all sizes, whether it’s a $2000 residential rewiring project or a multi-million dollar high rise. “You just have to do the best you can,” Ewald said. And permits are only part of the picture. Long before someone like Lightfoot can start construction, the developers must begin working with the planners in O’Donohues office.

Navigating the steps
A single project might make multiple appearances before the various city boards and commissions. “Each development can require two to three planning steps,” O’Donohue said. “Some will take five or six.” Depending on the project, the developer might need a special use permit. Some require a general land use plan. “We assign a planner to a project,” O’Donohue said, “and that planner follows it through the process.” Every afternoon, city planners sit around tables to examine the drawings for various projects working their way through the process. Those planners are dealing with lots of cases. O’Donohue opens the door on a vault filled with as many as 2,000 plans. “And those are just the ones that are active,” she said. “The others have been taken away to storage.”
One thing that will help with the crush of cases, O”Donohue said, is a new software system that is now in the implementation process. “The new software will change everything,” she said. Checking on the status of a permit with the current system can be a bit taxing, she said. “Right now, we have to return the call, find out what the person needs, and then we have to look up the project and call them back,” O’Donohue said.

Embracing change
When the new system is up and running, people trying to track the status of their permits will be able to do so over the Internet, she said. “Of course, not everyone has the ability to do that,” she said, “but a lot of people we work with would much prefer it.” For those who don’t, the phone will still work. “And we’ll have more time to respond,” O’Donohue said, “Because we’ll be fielding fewer calls.” Things have changed a lot since O’Donohue joined the city in 1997. Then, the planning staff had a director and two planners. Now it has merged with the building and code enforcement offices, and it has 26 staff members. To cope with the current building boom, though, the office might well need more. “I’ve been working with the city manager on a reorganization plan,” O’Donohue said. “We’re looking at the size of the staff. We’re also looking at changing duties.” The discussion comes as the city begins work on a budget for the fiscal year starting in October; it also comes on the heels of a remodeling project in the planning department’s fourth floor offices. “Change is good,” O’Donohue said.