Pricey permits: BYU study finds big disparity among Wasatch Front cities
You may also want to avoid Herriman, where it takes more than two years to secure the permit.
In some cities, developers face an extremely long and costly battle to build new office and industrial buildings, according to Michael Roderick, president of the Utah chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties.
"If we cannot develop and deliver projects in a timely manner and a competitive manner, we are going to lose out to all these industries," Roderick said. "Salt Lake County municipalities are competing with the Denvers of the world, the Phoenixes of the world and Las Vegas for business and industry."
The $10,000 study, which was conducted by two Brigham Young University graduate students and commissioned by NAIOP and the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors, found a wild variation in costs and time in securing commercial and industrial permits in 2005 among Salt Lake County cities. The study ranked 15 cities and Salt Lake County.
The study ranked office permit costs based on a proposal to build a 50,000-square-foot office building comprising two stories with a 25,000-square-foot floor plate. The building was valued at $4.5 million and proposed for a site consisting of 2.5 acres on a commercial land site.
The five costliest cities in obtaining an office building permit were South Jordan, Draper, Murray, West Jordan and Taylorsville. Cottonwood Heights, at $18,823, was the cheapest city in permit and development fees for a single project.
However, Doug Meldrum, economic development director for South Jordan, questioned the accuracy of the study.
"I found a $204,000 discrepancy from what it says in the report to what our fees actually are for office," Meldrum said. "It really concerned me."
Meldrum was so concerned he wrote a letter to NAIOP, saying that the study's numbers are not comparable. "The impact fees on a younger, growing community would be dramatically different than an older, built-out community," Meldrum said. "That is like comparing apples to oranges."
Even with a $204,000 downward adjustment to South Jordan's permit and development fees, the city would still rank as the most expensive city in the county in obtaining a commercial building permit.
Mark Thomas, director of field studies for the BYU Marriott School of Management, stands behind the study's numbers, saying the data were double-checked. Thomas added that some cities were consistent in the numbers they cited to the researchers, while others changed the bids they gave.
Comments
- 2 Tooele police officers fired 2:52 p.m.
- Baseball teams fear 'haunted' hotel 2:51 p.m.
- Stocks falter 2:50 p.m.
- LDS seminary principal arrested 2:50 p.m.
- Blazers draft pick Mills breaks foot 2:47 p.m.
- Sentencing for con man moved 2:33 p.m.
- Obama and pope hold first meeting 2:33 p.m.
- Priestley and wife welcome baby 2:30 p.m.
- Panel: Banks underpaying gov't 2:20 p.m.
- CA's creditors look to options 2:08 p.m.
- Jazz talking Boozer trade?
- Stadium of Fire flag burning was fake
- Reactions on Boozer speculation
- LDS seminary principal arrested
- Jazz in back of line for free agents
- A primer for the 6th Potter film
- Okur signs two-year extension
- Jazz won't meet Lopez on Europe trip
- Restaurant destroyed by fire
- Mall owner seeks to retain zoning
- Bronco collecting a galaxy of recruits
141 - Letters: Palin mistreated
140 - Teachers struggle with district cuts
136 - Jazz talking Boozer trade?
131 - Blazers may offer Millsap a contract
123 - Stadium of Fire flag burning was fake
87 - Moon landing: Let's hear from you
82 - Fairness of BCS debated
81 - Chaffetz eyes challenging Bennett
74 - Letters: Single-payer system best
71
By now you've probably read about the investigation that showed just how...
The photographs are mysterious, brooding, dark. They show dimples and...
Oh really? How about you tell us Obama doubters how taking from taxpayers and...
The 3:11 pm poster has spoken the truth every whit. This is the same...
If the myth that BYU is the Lord's University is true, then the Lord...
If you aren't part of LDS culture. You hear "calling" in Mormon's lexicon....
the genie is out of the bottle--finally the Iranian people are waking up and...
A freshman is all wet behind the ears, someone should let this freshman Rep....
Why is he smiling in the picture? Maybe because he realizes how lucky he is...
The reason there is a recession because the flow of debt has stopped. Money...
as goes California so goes the rest of the economy....except red states like...
Just maybe, this action by the banks will cut card use.




You can be the first to comment on this story.