Jason Ball, President & CEO – Lincoln Chamber of Commerce (lcoc.com)
Vibrant communities are built on strong relationships and honest conversations – conversations that celebrate success, identify challenges and inspire improvement. For a growing community like Lincoln, that is especially true when it comes to the development process, where the speed, clarity and consistency of permitting and inspections directly impact business investment and long-term competitiveness.
With that in mind, the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce and the Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development recently released the results of Pathways to Progress, a new industry survey designed to better understand Lincoln’s development, permitting and inspection processes. Feedback from 53 development and construction professionals, who regularly work with the City’s Planning and Development Services Department, offered valuable insight into both areas of strength and opportunities for improvement.
The findings were encouraging in many ways. Respondents highlighted the professionalism, responsiveness and relationships they have built with city staff. Communication and coordination have improved in recent months, and many pointed to the efficiency of inspections and online permitting and scheduling tools as strengths. Residential review timelines also earned positive marks, with nearly half of residential building reviews taking two weeks or less.
At the same time, the survey reinforced something many in the development community have expressed: there are opportunities to improve the speed, clarity and consistency of processes, particularly for larger commercial and development projects. Respondents identified commercial review timelines, communication surrounding code updates and consistency in interpretation as areas where progress could make a meaningful difference.
I view Pathways to Progress as a baseline assessment – a starting point for the public and private sectors to work together toward solutions. Lincoln is growing, and with that growth comes increasing complexity. We need systems that are clear, efficient and responsive to support housing, commercial investment and the kinds of projects that strengthen our economy and quality of life.
That is why I am grateful for the engagement of Planning and Development Services Director David Cary and his team throughout this process. Since the city announced the consolidation of departments last fall, Director Cary has been hard at work navigating change while also seeking ways to improve customer service and efficiency. The city has already implemented several meaningful adjustments, including staff-wide customer service training, a new no-cost pre-application service and expanded commercial plan review capacity through third party reviewers.
Most importantly, this work is continuing.
As part of the Chamber’s Vitality Lincoln Strategic Plan, a growing group of development leaders and city officials are committed to ongoing conversations to identify shared pain points and practical improvements. These discussions won’t always be easy; productive conversations rarely are. But avoiding difficult conversations has never been how communities move forward.
I am optimistic about what lies ahead because I believe Lincoln has something special: a community that genuinely wants to work together. If we continue building partnerships grounded in trust, transparency and shared goals, the result will be a development process that better serves businesses, residents and our entire community.
View the full report at lcoc.com/advocacy.