Cape Coral issues ‘permit pause’
City will not be accepting new permits as staff works to catch up on backlog
As of Saturday, the city of Cape Coral’s Building Department will not be accepting new permits and its customer services functions will be closed with all permitting appointments made for next week rescheduled.
During what officials are calling a temporary permit pause, all in-process permits, plan reviews, inspections and certificate of occupancy operations will, however, continue as the city works to catch up on its permitting backlog, city officials said.
The city notified the Cape Coral Construction Industry Association via email at 9:30 p.m.Friday following the advocacy organization’s 50th anniversary celebration at the La Venezia Ballroom.
The subject line of the email sent to CCCIA Executive Director Bill Johnson with a request to forward to all CCCIA and BIA members is “Dedicated Task Force Created to Reduce Building Permit Backlog.”
The body of the email reads:
“Beginning Saturday, April 9, for a period of 9 consecutive days, a designated task force of trained City employees will focus their work entirely on reducing the current backlog of building permit applications
”From Saturday, April 9 through Sunday, April 17, here’s what to expect:
• No building permit applications will be accepted
• All Customer Service functions such as the EnerGov Hotline, Customer Service Permitting Line (QLess) and permits@capecoral.gov will be unavailable
• Permitting Counter inside City Hall will be closed – from 4/11 – 4/15 **Accepting only emergency Electrical Miscellaneous permits (Panel replacement in the event of power loss)**
• All appointments made for 4/11 – 4/15 will be cancelled and rescheduled for the following week.
“All in-process permits, plan reviews, inspections and certificate of occupancy operations will continue:
• Inspections can be scheduled via the CSS portal
• Certificates of Occupancy – send all requests to: corequest@capecoral.gov
• Licensing, Planning and Zoning will not be affected at this time and will remain open.
“The Development Services desk will re-open on Monday, April 18.
“For a full list of the building permits that will not be accepted during this time please Click Here https://chambermaster.blob.core.windows.net/userfiles/UserFiles/chambers/9117/File/EnerGovPermit-Workclass-TypeofWork.pdf
The email was sent by the city’s Office of Communications
No notification was provided by the city Friday night or Saturday to notify the general public.
Johnson forwarded the email to members this morning.
“Please see the enclosed communication I received from the City last night at 9:30pm regarding the EnerGov system. As you all know these last weeks have been trying both on our side as well as the cities with the launch of the new system. The CCCIA has been working non stop with the city to work on solutions to fix these issues and the city has presented a solution.
”I know when reading this, in the short term, some may not be happy with this course of action. I can assure you that after speaking with the City Manager last night, they want just as much as we do to have these delays behind us and this will be the catalyst to get us there. This was a staff driven initiative to get us caught up and they are willing to put in the time to get us caught up from the severe backlog we are currently in.
”Rest assured that I will be in contact with the City Manager, Building Official and Staff this coming week to get updates on the progress and update you thru-out the week and into the weekend. Our mutual goal is to not only be caught up but we are working on processes to streamline some of the issues we are currently experiencing.”
Bill Johnson, Jr. CCCIA
Executive Director/CEO
City Councilmember Gloria Tate said she understands that there may be some criticism but city staff has come up with an outside-the-box solution to fix a bottleneck affecting workers and contractors alike.
“I am pleased on see that the employees have risen to the occasion and they need to be recognized for the amount of work they are going do over the next 10 days, especially with Easter break and the holiday,” she said.
The city’s goal is to reduce the current backlog of building permits, and, ultimately to decrease wait time for future permit applications submitted, officials said.
To reach Valarie Harring, please email vharring@breezeewspapers.com