LOS ANGELES : City Panel Backs Reform of Building Permit Process

A City Council panel Monday backed Mayor Richard Riordan’s plan to reform the city’s byzantine building permit process, which a private group found has caused a 50% drop in construction over five years.

Two weeks ago, Riordan outlined 19 recommendations aimed at cutting costs and red tape that he says are hurting homeowners, small businesses, nonprofit organizations and developers of affordable housing.

“We have met the enemy, and they are us,” said Councilman Hal Bernson, vice chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Development Reform.

“We’ve made a lot of changes,” Bernson said. “We just have a long way to go. It seems for every change we’ve made for the positive, we wind up throwing in three other ordinances that make it tougher to move the process along.”

Last month, a nonprofit group of prominent civic and business leaders reported that the city’s building permit process has markedly curbed growth.

In its study, Progress L.A. stated that the total value of new construction in Los Angeles dropped by more than half from levels five years ago.

The committee Bernson chairs directed the Planning Department to hurry up the work of updating community and district plans and to complete the task by July, 1996.