Cape Coral building permits backlogged amid surging demand, switch to new system

The city of Cape Coral ‘s build license march has been experiencing a massive backlog, resulting in a nine-day freeze on new allow applications while a city undertaking force attempts to deal with the issue. The kinds of permits put on hold from April 9 to April 17 include newfangled building construction, residential remodel, marine improvements, and mechanical and electric work. Inspections and issuances of certificates of occupation have continued, and license, plan, and zoning have not been affected.

Bill Johnson Jr., administrator conductor and CEO of Cape Coral Construction Industry Association, said the city approached his organization end Thursday to inform the diligence of the pause. “ I constantly hate to see the city close, but I think it was the right decisiveness, ” Johnson said. Recent Cape Coral news: Cape Coral Council turns down potential storm shutter ordination Yacht Club permits: Cape Coral delays structure on Yacht Club while permits sought FEMA and the city: FEMA ‘s new flood risk ratings in Cape Coral could mean higher policy costs Cape Coral Construction Industry Association has been advocating for builders and the construction industry in all things related to construction for over 50 years. City Manager Roberto Hernandez attributes the backlog to massive construction activity in the city, employee dollar volume, and the passage to a new on-line customer service software EnerGov. “ We notified the industry that we were at a critical point with the construct department. We were now processing over 280 new building permit application a day, which proves that the EnerGov system, although it has caused a lot of hiccups along the manner, it proves the system works. We more than doubled the permits that we were processing on a casual footing, ” Hernandez said. The city of Cape Coral began using EnerGov on Feb. 21 to handle all allow across the city. TrakIT was the software the city used previously, and eTRAKiT was the portal contractors used. Johnson said the construction industry in Cape Coral has seen explosive increase since he took charge of his organization eight years ago. “ When I started back in 2014, the city issued a grand piano total of 514 single-family home build permits. In 2021, they issued about 4,200. In a mere eight years, the measure of people that are wanting to come and move and live and build in our city ( grew ), ” Johnson said. The development services desk will reopen and start accepting applications on Monday, April 18. Cape selling “academic village”: Cape Coral putting long-vacant ‘academic greenwich village ‘ acreage up for sale

Waste Pro lawsuit: Waste Pro claims Cape Coral is in transgress of narrow, seeks jury trial Cape Coral’s water issues: Cape Coral urges residents to reduce irrigation ascribable to body of water emergency The city ‘s job force has been working overtime and on weekends and plans to work on Easter Sunday if necessary to reduce the license reserve. Hernandez said he hopes the issue of permits remaining will be near zero. “ We were at 4,700 outstanding construction permits, and we are down to 1,600-1700, ” Hernandez said at a Wednesday city suffer. Vincent Cautero, development services film director, said the city feels comfortable about the view of eliminating the backlog. Cautero said EnerGov had several technical foul issues. It was having to process older permits from their old system and handle a high gear volume of permits that came along when they switched over. Mayor John Gunter said he was grateful for staff and their hard work but worries about a repeat of this consequence in the future. Cautero said that staff has been making fixes to the organization everyday since its establish, making them more disposed to deal with alike issues in the future. “ If we find ourselves in a situation like this again, we equitable have to find more workarounds on the recapitulation side to get those ( permits ) out american samoa promptly as potential, ” Cautero said. Councilmember Gloria Tate asked about the issue with the rush of the arrangement, and Michelle Hoffmann, Cape Coral ‘s information engineering director, said they plan to address it. “ We plan to add extra servers in a load balancing configuration, which we think will have a meaning affect, ” Hoffman said. Hoffman said the arrangement is hush improving and processing things like payments and scheduling inspections. It will be tested before the system starts accepting permits Monday.

Johnson, with the build industry group, said there ‘s no guarantee that this wo n’t happen again, but he said he ‘s optimistic for Monday ‘s reopen based on everything he ‘s listen and seen. “ They might get hit with a jolt on Monday, but they will be able to, from what I ‘ve been told, pull off that and continue to work forward, ” he said. “ I applaud the city for their efforts to try and get to where we need to be, and I ‘m grateful to the diligence for having the patience to let the city get caught up, and hopefully we can put this chapter behind us, ” Johnson said .