Some of the issues is that when there is an issue where you have multiple government agencies that are needed to permit a structure, and the structure is constructed without a permit, the government agencies should confirm that it is actually possible for the structure to remain in each department's requirements before actually doing any work on it.
I've seen a few instances over the years where one department puts a lot of work into something, where it was a complete no-go for another department. Complete waste of everyone's time.
What you speak of is a function of the inherent silo-ism in New Brunswick. Each department holds onto its little castle and resists change with every ounce of their being, and successive governments have bought into the mantra of centralizing-is-efficiency which is total bunkum.
The most efficient solution would be regionalized oversight for everything, working with a streamlined (ie: less dead waste government officials) oversight from the province.
People should be able to wander into my office and
- speak to a plumbing official and/or obtain a plumbing permit
- speak to an electrical official and/or obtain an electrical permit
- speak to a development officer
- speak to someone who could approve/deny driveway access/setbacks
- speak to a building official
- speak to someone about whether those bullrushes in the back yard are a wetland and, if required, obtain a wetlands alteration permit.
Instead, we send people all over hell and creation to six different offices. It's time consuming, and yet to successive governments who bleat talking points about "reducing government red tape," the obvious inefficiencies are ... not obvious.
The fact that we are bound by law to be the gatekeepers for other permits puts an undue stress on our office and our staff. It's our customer-facing folks who have to explain "no, sir, you need a WAWA, and you can apply online here, and you also need a setback, their office is over on Church Street, and if you have questions about the septic, you gotta get a contractor who applies through an office in Fredericton."
It doesn't help when government departments have a chronic and acute case of "not-my-problemism." We had a client who wanted to build a garage. They applied to the local Department of Transport office for setback certificate. When after a two month wait they called to find out the whereabouts of the application, they learned it had been rejected because the client had filed the application with the wrong office of DOT - filing with the western one when they were in the eastern zone. Nobody at DOTI told the client of the problem. Nobody at the office forwarded the application to the correct office. Nobody cared enough to help the client. (NotMYproblem).
One of my guys found a restaurant being built in the guts of a museum. Our office is facing that mess right now, and we're already running into issues with the lack of a designer, and the fact that the land isn't suitably zoned for the intended use. Nobody at the Office of the Fire Marshal could be bothered to tell the client they needed a building permit, or to check with zoning. (NotMYproblem). The client has invested some serious cash and now .... well, there may be some issues.
This sort of pissy customer service drives people bonkers. Heck, it drives *me* bonkers.
/rant
