Chris Parker / February 1, 2021
It turns out, 2020 may end up being one of the busiest years in the Los Angeles construction industry.
The Los Angeles Department of City Planning reported last week that the department filed and completed more applications in the month of December than during any single month in the last three years. Overall, 7,654 applications were filed in 2020, a 2.5 percent increase over 2019 which had been one of the busiest years in recent memory.
The Department of Building & Safety hasn’t reported any year-end numbers yet, but it is obvious based upon activity at the city’s Construction Services Centers that LADBS and the other construction-related departments also had very active years.
Unfortunately, the increased activity from the private sector comes at the same time that city departments are being asked to slash their budgets to balance the $675 million hole in the city’s pandemic-ravaged budget.
Widespread layoffs and furloughs were on the table until most of the city’s unions agreed last month to a plan that will defer scheduled raises for 6 months or more. More than 1,300 city employees recently accepted early retirement buyouts, reducing the number of employees working in the construction-related departments and taking decades worth of experience with them. For example, the Office of Zoning Administration lost one-third of its Associate Zoning Administrators to early retirement, going from nine AZAs down to six. This is already having an impact on the number of ZA hearings that the department can schedule for discretionary requests such as CUPs, Adjustments, and Variances.
Complicating matters further are the safety protocols put in place to protect city employees and the civilians who are expediting projects during the pandemic. The public counters are closed for face-to-face meetings. “Over the Counter” permits are now a multi-day process. Plan-check submittals include the quarantining of plans and reports for at least 24 hours. Pre-pandemic, expediters could obtain clearances from multiple departments in an afternoon spent at one of the Construction Services offices. Now, each department requires a separate submittal that must be quarantined before it is assigned. One afternoon has become a week or more.
At PCC, we are proud of the work we did for our clients in 2020, despite these obstacles. PCC obtained more permits and more discretionary requests in 2020 than any year before. We look forward to continuing to help our clients and professional partners navigate through this ever-changing maze to get results as quickly and efficiently as possible.
