Builders need any number of authorizations to proceed with a project, and EPC recognizes that sometimes obtaining environmental permits can seem daunting. To make things easier for applicants, EPC has taken a number of steps to improve our efficiency and be business ready. We have eliminated hundreds of wetland reviews and have been measuring our efficiency when a permit is required.
TBBA Building Barometer 5
Environmental Permitting
Made More Efficient
at the Environmental Protection Commission (EPC)
Did you know that on the average in 2012 it took less than 20 days to obtain a wetland permit from EPC? That is 20% faster than 3 years earlier and we are striving to do even better.
A number of initiatives have helped the EPC be timelier without sacrificing the necessary protection of our natural resources. To improve our transparency and efficiency, EPC launched an on-line permit tracking system. The public and applicants can now check the status of any particular project 24/7 and even see whose desk it is on. Priority Permitting is another initiative designed to assist applicants, through a multi-media approach to permitting without stopping the clock with requests for additional information. Targeted primarily for larger industrial-type sources, EPC has permitted over a quarter of a billion dollars’ worth of projects since its inception in 2011.
EPC currently has delegation of some 15 major environmental programs from the State, the Port, the Army Corp as well as EPA. We will continue to seek these delegations in pursuit of the Agency’s ultimate goal of giving our customers a one-stop permitting approach at the local level.
If you have any questions, or want to find out more, please contact me at [email protected].
By: Richard Garrity, Exec. Director at the Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County