{
  "id": "multi-unit-permit-days",
  "parent": "new-homes-approved",
  "category": "Housing",
  "title": "Days to issue a building permit for larger (complex) buildings",
  "geography": "City of Victoria (municipality)",
  "scope": "city",
  "levels": [
    "Municipal (permits issued by the City)",
    "Applicants and builders"
  ],
  "plain_question": "For larger buildings such as apartment and mixed-use projects, how many days does it typically take from the permit file being opened to the permit being issued?",
  "value": 160.0,
  "display_value": "160",
  "unit": "days (median)",
  "period": "Permits issued in 2025",
  "period_start": "2025-01-01",
  "period_end": "2025-12-31",
  "comparison": {
    "previous_period": "2024",
    "previous_value": 112.0,
    "change_percent": 42.9
  },
  "since_text": "Was 112 days in 2024 and 95 in 2019. 2026 so far: 156 days",
  "trend": "worsening",
  "trend_basis": "Median of 160 days for the 104 complex building permits issued in 2025, compared with 112 days for 88 permits in 2024 (+43%). For 2026 up to Nov 9: 156 days (76 permits).",
  "direction_good": "down",
  "right_direction": "A lower number means permits for larger buildings are issued faster. Speed is only one part of a permit process; this page does not measure quality or safety review.",
  "caveats": [
    "Calculated here from the City's building permit file: for each permit of the type the City labels “complex” (larger buildings, including most apartment and mixed-use projects), days from the date the file was created to the date the permit was issued; the middle value (median) for permits issued in each year.",
    "The file creation date may be when an application was first opened rather than when it was complete, and some projects are issued in phases. Treat this as an estimate of the City process, not an official processing time.",
    "Rezoning and development permits come before a building permit and are not included.",
    "Cancelled permits are excluded. Each permit number is counted once.",
    "Filter, exactly: PermitType = “Building Permit (BP)”, type = “BP-COMPLEX”, Status not “CANCELLED”, and both CREATED_DATE and IssuedDate present, with the issue date on or after the creation date; a permit number that appears more than once is counted once (its last row). Permits issued in 2025 that pass the filter, by status: ACTIVE 49, COMPLETED 46, EXPIRED 6, IN-PROGRESS 2, ON HOLD 1. Counting every status, cancelled ones too (1 in 2025), gives 105 permits and the same median, 160 days.",
    "The City's type labels changed over time; years before 2018 used different labels and are not shown."
  ],
  "charts": [
    {
      "title": "Median days from file creation to permit issued (complex buildings)",
      "fmt": "int",
      "unit": "days",
      "lines": [
        {
          "name": "City of Victoria",
          "area": "city",
          "series": [
            {
              "period": "2018",
              "value": 68
            },
            {
              "period": "2019",
              "value": 95.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2020",
              "value": 88
            },
            {
              "period": "2021",
              "value": 77
            },
            {
              "period": "2022",
              "value": 137.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2023",
              "value": 85
            },
            {
              "period": "2024",
              "value": 112.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2025",
              "value": 160.0
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "calc": {
    "formula": "For each complex building permit: days = issue date − file creation date. Yearly figure = median of those days for permits issued that year.",
    "steps": [
      "2022: 128 permits, median 137 days.",
      "2023: 105 permits, median 85 days.",
      "2024: 88 permits, median 112 days.",
      "2025: 104 permits, median 160 days."
    ],
    "inputs": [
      {
        "name": "Building Permits (since they went digital in 1994): permit type, status, file creation date and issue date",
        "agency": "City of Victoria",
        "url": "https://maps.victoria.ca/CustomMaps/OpenData/BuildingPermits.csv",
        "dataset_url": "https://opendata.victoria.ca/datasets/96207097159742f8af47216bc09fe1dd",
        "licence": {
          "name": "Open Government Licence - City of Victoria",
          "url": "https://opendata.victoria.ca/pages/open-data-licence"
        },
        "period": "2018 to Nov 9, 2026",
        "data_published": "2026-11-09",
        "attribution": "Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - City of Victoria."
      }
    ]
  },
  "refresh_frequency": "Daily (City file); shown by calendar year",
  "source": {
    "name": "Calculated here from City of Victoria data",
    "url": "https://maps.victoria.ca/CustomMaps/OpenData/BuildingPermits.csv",
    "dataset_url": "https://opendata.victoria.ca/datasets/96207097159742f8af47216bc09fe1dd",
    "locator": "City of Victoria building permits file (CSV): multi-unit permits issued in 2025, application to issue dates"
  },
  "licence": {
    "name": "Open Government Licence - City of Victoria",
    "url": "https://opendata.victoria.ca/pages/open-data-licence"
  },
  "derived": true,
  "retrieved_at": "2026-11-12T04:17:22Z",
  "data_published": "2026-11-09",
  "attribution": "Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - City of Victoria.",
  "series": [
    {
      "period": "2018",
      "value": 68
    },
    {
      "period": "2019",
      "value": 95.0
    },
    {
      "period": "2020",
      "value": 88
    },
    {
      "period": "2021",
      "value": 77
    },
    {
      "period": "2022",
      "value": 137.0
    },
    {
      "period": "2023",
      "value": 85
    },
    {
      "period": "2024",
      "value": 112.0
    },
    {
      "period": "2025",
      "value": 160.0
    }
  ],
  "licence_type": "open",
  "source_tier": 1,
  "measure_kind": "service result",
  "better_measure": {
    "what": "Permit time by stage, City time against applicant time",
    "who_could_publish": "City of Victoria",
    "status": "Not published as data. Not asked for yet."
  },
  "status_rule": {
    "rule": "One rule for every measure: a change smaller than 5% of the earlier value, or smaller than the agency's own margin of error, is “About the same”; no change is calculated across a marked break in a series; homelessness estimates, prices, staffing and comparison pages are shown for context without a label.",
    "reason": "The change is 42.9% of the earlier value, at or above the 5% threshold.",
    "threshold_percent": 5.0
  },
  "changes": {
    "year": {
      "period": "2024",
      "value": 112.0,
      "text": "vs 2024: +42.9%"
    },
    "five_year": {
      "period": "2019",
      "years": 6,
      "value": 95.0,
      "comparable": true,
      "text": "vs 2019: +68.4%"
    }
  },
  "direction": {
    "type": "outcome",
    "rule": "Outcome measures read Better, Worse or About the same; published government targets read Ahead of, On or Behind target; value-judgement measures read Rising, Falling or Steady in a neutral colour. A change smaller than the agency's own margin of error, or otherwise smaller than 5% of the earlier value, is About the same (or Steady). No change is calculated across a marked break in a series.",
    "key": "worse",
    "label": "Worse",
    "arrow": "▲",
    "rel": 42.9,
    "delta": null,
    "vs": "2024",
    "cur": "Permits issued in 2025",
    "why": "The change is 42.9% of the earlier value, at or above the 5% threshold.",
    "change": "43%",
    "one_year": "+42.9%",
    "five": {
      "period": "2019",
      "comparable": true,
      "rel": 68.42105263157895,
      "years": 6,
      "base_2019": true,
      "replaced": "2020",
      "text": "+68.4%"
    },
    "five_replaced": {
      "period": "2020",
      "text": "+81.8%"
    }
  },
  "benchmark": {
    "rung": 5,
    "rung_name": "No target found",
    "as_of": "2026-11-12",
    "items": [
      {
        "kind": "none",
        "label": "No target found",
        "text": "No target for permit times found in the City’s Five Year Financial Plan Bylaw, 2026 or its Building Permits and Building and Renovating web pages, as of November 12, 2026. Who could set one: Victoria City Council.",
        "area": "City of Victoria",
        "source": {
          "title": "City of Victoria Building Permits and Building and Renovating web pages",
          "publisher": "City of Victoria",
          "date": "viewed November 12, 2026",
          "url": "https://www.victoria.ca/building-business/permits-development-construction/building-renovating/building-permits",
          "terms": "https://www.victoria.ca/legal-disclaimer",
          "refresh": "Not on a schedule",
          "licence": "Public document, not under an open licence. Quoted with attribution.",
          "checked": "2026-11-12",
          "key": "city_permits"
        },
        "documents_checked": [
          {
            "title": "Five Year Financial Plan Bylaw, 2026 (No. 26-040), Schedule 5",
            "publisher": "City of Victoria",
            "date": "adopted May 7, 2026",
            "url": "https://www.victoria.ca/media/4520",
            "terms": "https://www.victoria.ca/legal-disclaimer",
            "refresh": "Yearly, with the City budget",
            "licence": "Public document, not under an open licence. Quoted with attribution.",
            "checked": "2026-11-12",
            "key": "fin_plan"
          },
          {
            "title": "City of Victoria Building Permits and Building and Renovating web pages",
            "publisher": "City of Victoria",
            "date": "viewed November 12, 2026",
            "url": "https://www.victoria.ca/building-business/permits-development-construction/building-renovating/building-permits",
            "terms": "https://www.victoria.ca/legal-disclaimer",
            "refresh": "Not on a schedule",
            "licence": "Public document, not under an open licence. Quoted with attribution.",
            "checked": "2026-11-12",
            "key": "city_permits"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "drawn": [],
    "rule": "Highest rung found is shown; the site never sets a target. Methods, Targets."
  },
  "benchmarks": [],
  "highest_rung": 5,
  "no_target_found": {
    "documents_checked": [
      "city_permits",
      "fin_plan"
    ],
    "checked_on": "2026-11-12",
    "who_could_set": [
      "Victoria City Council"
    ]
  },
  "decided_by": [
    {
      "body": "COV",
      "name": "City of Victoria Council",
      "decides": "Decides zoning and development permits, and regulates building by bylaw.",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "lga479",
          "label": "Local Government Act, s. 479",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/r15001_14#section479"
        },
        {
          "key": "lga490",
          "label": "Local Government Act, s. 490",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/r15001_14#section490"
        },
        {
          "key": "cc8l",
          "label": "Community Charter, s. 8 (3) (l)",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/03026_02#section8"
        }
      ],
      "last": null,
      "next": null
    },
    {
      "body": "BC",
      "name": "Province of B.C.",
      "decides": "Sets the B.C. Building Code.",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "ba3",
          "label": "Building Act, s. 3",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/15002#section3"
        }
      ],
      "last": null,
      "next": null
    }
  ],
  "main_decision_maker": "City of Victoria Council",
  "label_1y": {
    "key": "worse",
    "label": "Worse"
  },
  "label_long": {
    "key": "worse",
    "label": "Worse",
    "years": 6,
    "change": "+68.4%"
  },
  "target_line": {
    "form": 4,
    "text": "No target found",
    "target": null,
    "gap": null,
    "comparison": null,
    "applies_here": false,
    "note": null
  }
}