Meck code enforcers brace for DNC rush

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By next summer, with the 2012 Democratic National Convention around the corner, Jim Bartl and his staff at the Mecklenburg County Code Enforcement Office are likely going to have their hands full.

They could be flooded with permits as contractors try to prepare venues across the city for the September event.

But how full code enforcement officials’ hands will be is not known.

“We’re still trying to get our arms around it,” Bartl said. “We’re doing research.”

For those seeking building permits at that time, it might mean major delays — unless applicants are willing to pay for a special team to handle their requests: The department plans to make a third-party contractor available to permit-seekers who don’t want to get in the long line created by the DNC.

Bartl said he has been trying to figure out for the past four to five months the exact impact that DNC projects will have on the code enforcement office and the delays they might cause.

His office could see a flurry of activity in July, August and September as contractors rush to finish projects in time for the
convention. It’s likely the flood might create headaches for the area’s general contractors trying to get inspections and building permits during the three months prior to the convention.

Bartl said his department is reaching out to some other DNC veteran municipalities, such as Denver, Minneapolis and Boston, for advice. He’s also turning to Tampa, Fla., the site of the 2012 Republican National Convention, which will be held Sept. 3 to 6 — a week before Charlotte’s moment in the spotlight.

But, so far, Bartl’s research hasn’t led to much definitive information about what to expect. But he is sure that there will be a “certain amount of resource stress in July and August.”

“We’re still having trouble,” he said. “We’re trying to estimate what kind of demand the (Time Warner Cable) Arena project itself would put on us. It’s a large project that happens in a short amount of time.”

Bartl said there are DNC projects his department is already anticipating, like work that must be done to retrofit the arena, and those that are still unknown.

The known projects are of less concern to him. He said his department is going to be able to develop a plan to handle those inspections and permits. Still, Bartl wants to get more details from contractors on exactly what those projects — like the arena and the police command center — will require from his office.

“It’s the projects that come in, let’s say, after April 15,” he said about the unknown projects. “The ones in May, June, July, at the very end, that want to be up and running (prior to the convention), those are what we are concerned about.”

During what is expected to be a hectic time, his department will treat requests like it did when Northlake Mall was being built in the early 2000s.

“That was a case where we had to deliver 130 upfits between the end of April and sometime in July,” Bartl said. “We did it very effectively using a strategy. We want to use that as a model for projects coming into the system after a certain date.”

His department is thinking about relying on the third-party contractor team, which will be offered as a “premium service” to code enforcement customers during the peak of DNC permitting. Bartl said the team would likely be made of retired code officials or independent contractors who would work through a company that the county would contract with.

But contractors will have to pay a fee if they want to take advantage of that service.

If a developer chooses to use a part-time county employee, the county’s fee ordinance says the rate will be 1.39 times the person’s hourly rate. That averaged between $40 and $45 six years ago, during a project involving a concourse expansion and two parking decks at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, Bartl said.

If an independent contractor is used, a developer would be charged $132 an hour, still well below the going rate in the private market for independent contractors, he said.

“It’s like code enforcement service on demand,” he said. “We don’t think it will be a burden on contractors. If people come in late, there will be a separate stream to take care of them. We’ll deal with everybody else kind of in our normal framework.”

Still, it might not be a bad idea for contractors to plan ahead if they are going to be building next summer and need permits, he said.

“Obviously, if people think they are going to have a project in the mix next summer, the sooner they can get going, the better off they will be,” Bartl said.

Completing permits and inspections for hotel projects are a concern, Bartl said, citing the Skye condominium development, which will include the 172-room Hyatt Place Charlotte-Uptown.

But those close to the Skye project aren’t worried about any DNC-created delays.

Shane McDevitt, principal at Charlotte-based The McDevitt Agency, says the redevelopment of the failed Park condo project at Caldwell and Third streets is not going to be completed before the DNC. Instead, it will likely be the summer of 2013 because of the scope of the project.

The McDevitt Agency is the real estate firm representing the project’s developer, Small Bros. Charlotte, a subsidiary of Naples, Fla.-based Small Bros.

The delay in the project’s completion stems from the scope of the work, McDevitt said. Small Bros. has taken the former Park project down to its concrete frame.

There will be a new exterior façade and major work done to the interior of the building, including changing the floors where the parking will be. More elevators will be installed, requiring coring of the building.

Although the county’s code enforcement officials will be up to their eyeballs in DNC inspections and permitting next year, the sluggishness in the construction industry might mean few non-DNC projects will be going on anyway.

McDevitt, whose firm specializes in high-end uptown residential real estate, said that other than Skye, he hasn’t heard of any new large-scale construction that will be happening as the Queen City prepares for the DNC.

Skye is “really the only new construction that I can think of,” he said.

Ramsey can be reached at [email protected].