THUNDER BAY – Developers and renovation-minded homeowners alike should have an easier time wading through the city’s development services with its one-stop shop model.
The city held a ribbon-cutting at the One-Stop Development Shop Service Counter on Wednesday, formerly known as Development Services, located on the second floor of the Thunder Bay Civic Centre.
“We want to just make everything easier for those who want to build anything, whether it's a backyard deck that requires a permit or a 12-story high rise. Just make things easier," city manager John Collin said.
"We're not talking about circumventing laws or breaking regulations or ignoring requirements, but there are easy ways to get through that morass of requirements, and there are tough ways. We're gonna try to make it as easy as possible for everybody."
One-Stop Development Shop Service Counter is now the one point of access encompassing a variety of services through Build Thunder Bay, including driveway permits, lot grading and drainage, sewer and water connection, street and sidewalk closures for construction, parking closures and meter base requests, solid waste and recycling services for development, heritage advisory committee approvals, and performance guarantees, according to Joel DePeuter, director of development services.
He told Newswatch, “we can make our services as simple and seamless as possible for the customer. I know that development can be very complicated. Even projects that are seemingly simple for a homeowner, it can be very complicated to determine where to start, what to do, how to complete the project."
"Here at the one-stop development shop, we're here to help and to walk people through their project.”
Collin said people can walk through the door, make one phone call, or access one website, and someone will guide them through the entire development process from start to finish.
“We have that cultural shift where we will work with everybody to try to get to a yes. Yes, what you can do? We can get there by doing the following things. I think it's going to be very powerful. I think it is going to make a difference,” Collin said.
“There is also the additional service of providing more in-person help to guide and walk people through the project. The website has been redeveloped to be very user-friendly. The new services are on the website in addition to the option of just coming by and visiting us; people can request appointments to meet with professional staff, so we're all very accessible and happy to help,” DePeuter said.
