Opinion: Changing the building permit process

A few months back, I circulated a petition asking for a revision of the building permit process to handle certain things that needed to be fixed.

Mostly I focused on the cost and complexity of the process.

In about a week, 100 people signed the petition and I subsequently met with [3rd District] Supervisor [Jeff] Stone to submit the petition. He seemed to lend a sympathetic ear and then passed the petition on to someone on his staff who dealt with such issues.

It seems like time to give a report to the people who took the time to sign the petition.

I have not heard anything back on the petition, but I had taken a local architect along to the Stone meeting and he had had some positive results. Supervisor Stone had apparently transferred the prior head of Building and Safety, who had refused to give an extension of a permit to someone who had a stroke and who probably would have had to abandon the house he was building. This seems to be progress in the area of responsiveness, but leaves the other issues untouched.

My next meeting with Stone is in a month.

Since I sincerely believe our local economy is being depressed by the permit process, I intend to connect up with other areas in Riverside County and urge them to circulate their own petitions to get relief.

Eric Townsend
Idyllwild