South Carolina city creates new department for construction permits

The city council in Florence, South Carolina, approved a first reading of an ordinance that speeds up the process of demolishing abandoned homes and established a new department that will allow business owners to handle all permits in one location, a report by WBTW says. 

If finalized, the new Department of Building Safety will keep some codes from the county but will replaced outdated ones, the report says. The ordinance came as a need to support works to revitalize the downtown area efficiently.

A large priority in the revitalization is demolishing abandoned houses, the report says.

“It takes away the value of other properties,” Gedine Smiley, a resident who wants two empty homes near his property torn down, said in the report. “A house like this causes people from the streets to stay in there. Rodents and different things like that—it downgrades other properties.”

The new department was created to help construction companies as well. According to the report, construction companies are required to have permits from the county building and electricity from the Florence City Center. The new department will create one space to get all the permits required for construction.

Eight positions for the new department are set to be filled by April 3, the report says. At that time, the city can begin building permit operations.