Last year, our Economic Development team visited numerous businesses as a part of their Business Retention & Expansion (BR&E) program to better understand our business communities’ challenges and opportunities, offer support, and gather their insights on how we can better support their operations in future. A key challenge across various industries was navigating growth and expansion and how to approach this in terms of planning and permitting. 

To address this, staff from Economic Development collaborated with our Planning department, as well as Chief Building Officials and Planners from our seven Local Municipal Partners (LMPs) to host a Development & Building Permit Process Mapping Workshop. This session focused on streamlining the permitting process, breaking down barriers, and creating a more efficient system for our business community.

Below is a photo of workshop attendees collaborating to make this vision a reality. This initiative is just one example of how we’re working together to support our local businesses.

staff meeting in boardroom about permit mapping