As part of continuing efforts to improve the processes for developers in Centennial, the city council is poised to approve a streamlined permit process that city planners say will make it easier to get construction projects underway.

According to a staff report presented to the council on May 11, Centennial’s planning and development department has worked with the city attorney’s office to identify deficiencies in the current process.

They include:

There is currently no specific or unified permit required to begin development on a site.

The city’s use tax on construction materials is collected after construction has begun, potentially resulting in confusion since contractors do not receive formal notice on the use tax.

The point at which the city requires applicable payments is not directly tied to when construction begins.

In short, the staff report concludes, the current bureaucratic processes are not “customer friendly” and are disjointed, time consuming and arbitrary when considering the timing of actual development activity.

“While we feel we do a pretty good job driving our customer through the process, it is very confusing, and in some cases, it costs the outfit additional money,” city planner Jeff Brasel told the council.

Under the staff proposal, the various administrative functions would be combined into one transaction.

In short, once a developer submitted various required items to the city, including payments and proof that all contractors are licensed in Centennial, the applicant would be able to schedule a pre-construction meeting with the city’s engineering staff.

After all applicable information is submitted to the city, a developer would deal with only one designated staff member, instead of being routed through several divisions.

“If approved, the developer permit process will combine all the various activities into one transaction,” Brasel said.

Any required payments to the city would be delayed until shortly before the start of construction.

According to the staff report, there would be no fiscal impact resulting from the changes — a fact that quickly resulted in the city’s entire discussion on the matter ending in little more than 10 minutes.

“I don’t know why we wouldn’t do this,” Mayor Randy Pye said. “It would certainly make us more development-friendly and business-friendly as well.”

The council is expected to consider an ordinance to institute the changes in June.