On February 12, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted to pass a measure fast-tracking the discretionary building permit process. This move was passed unanimously by the Board of Supervisors and is a much-needed step in developing more housing in the county.
These housing projects often get stifled for years due to excessive regulations and unneeded bureaucracy. A lot of the regulations that held up the permit process were old and outdated, making it arbitrarily difficult for new housing to be built. In fact, these regulations are so strenuous that they account for 40 percent of the cost of building a new house. This increases the price of the home and forces people to live outside of the county and commute into San Diego rather than actually living here.
“Every day families spend hours in their car, stuck in traffic as they make their way to and from work,” Desmond said. “Many of these folks are not living in San Diego County, because housing prices are lower in neighboring counties.”https://t.co/xarveckvJi
— Supervisor Jim Desmond (@jim_desmond) February 13, 2020
The only objections to this measure came from environmental activists who worried about the ecological impact of the new housing projects—as they always do. But by streamlining the permit process, there will be even more time and money for environmental impact studies to be conducted.
Supervisor Jim Desmond spearheaded this measure and he deserves immense praise for it. With the help of county attorneys, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the San Diego County Fire Authority, and the Department of Public Works and Environmental Health, Desmond successfully drafted this regulatory reform.
The changes included implementing a self-certification process for engineers, increasing flexibility on final engineering plans, more exemptions from specific permit processes, and more coordination between departments. With these changes, people who work in San Diego County might actually be able to live in San Diego County.
It’s refreshing to see the government doing something right in this day and age. It’s even more refreshing to see government institutions actually removing burdensome regulations instead of creating new ones.
