Redevelop That!
Redevelop That!
Inside Henderson’s One-Stop Development Services Center
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Permits don’t have to feel like a maze. We sit down with Christopher “Topher” Barnes, Henderson’s Development Services Manager, to pull back the curtain on how projects move from idea to inspection inside a true one-stop shop. From centralizing building, fire, planning, public works, and mapping to a clear 3-2-1 review timeline, Topher explains how coordination beats silos and why predictable service targets save time and money for everyone involved.
You’ll hear how the team went fully digital in four days, built a virtual counter for small-scope permits with next-day feedback, and still kept space for in-person conversations when nuance matters. We dig into pre-submittal meetings, early issue-spotting, and what triggers code changes when a concept shifts—like adding live performance or increasing occupancy. Topher also shares how an in-house analyst group powers the portal, dashboards, and benchmarks that help the Center deliver 95 to 98 percent on-time reviews.
We talk fiscal stewardship and transparency, including how the enterprise fund model, a year-long cost of service study, and an industry advisory committee keep fees fair and performance accountable. Then we look ahead: adaptive reuse using the Existing Building Code, the realities of EV infrastructure and solar, and how the team vets new technologies without sacrificing safety. The takeaway is practical and optimistic—bring your project to the table early, lean on the one-stop model, and use the digital tools to keep momentum.
If this helped demystify permitting, follow the show, share it with a teammate who’s planning a build-out, and leave a quick review so more builders and business owners can find it.
Welcome back to Redevelop That. Here Derek and Tiffany.
SPEAKER_00:Hey everybody. And Alejandro.
SPEAKER_03:We've mentioned his name a few times, but Alejandro is our student assistant that has been with us for the past few months, and he's been helping us with the podcast. So hello Alejandro.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:We didn't give him a mic. We didn't give him a mic. He's here, we promise. But hopefully everyone's been uh having a great holiday season. Kind of made it through Thanksgiving without uh too much turkey overload. Um but now we're moving on to the our next closing season here of uh Christmas and hopefully everyone's enjoying the season.
SPEAKER_00:We hope you stopped by Water Street for Shop Small Saturday and for Winterfest.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we had a couple of great events uh happening. And if you don't know what uh uh Shop Small is, that's what is Shop Small, Tiffany?
SPEAKER_00:So Shop Small Saturday is a national movement and that is focusing all your spending locally. And we love to focus all that spending on our local restaurants, professional services, retailers. And in the Water Street District on Shop Small Saturday, we also partner um with Vegas Events and more to bring in over a hundred vendors to do a small vendor market. Actually, it's not small, it's huge. In the whole plaza, and we activate, we work with the Water Street District Business Association to activate all the businesses in the the area.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it was a great turnout. I unfortunately didn't make it down, but I heard a lot of great uh reviews, a lot of great uh activity on the street.
SPEAKER_00:And yeah, we're actually already gearing up for next year.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so any uh businesses out there who want to participate, reach out to us. We can get you on the list so we can get you uh be a part of it. It's a great event. And then Winterfest is always a great opportunity for uh our night. We've uh several years ago, man, I can't remember how many years it's been. Several years ago, we went from a day parade to a night parade, and that's always it's been kind of very fun to the light uh a night light parade for Winterfest and uh tree lighting. This year we had the second year, I think, of a drone show. We had a drone uh display one night. That was pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's an amazing addition.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Got to uh actually got to see the behind the scenes of the drone show, got to see the drones take off. So that was kind of an interesting uh process. But yeah, hopefully uh everyone got to if you get a chance, plan for it next year. Uh it's a fun experience, fun time down here.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and as you're doing your last um holiday gift giving, planning holiday get-togethers, just remember to think local and try to spin local where it counts and where it stays in your community to your with your fellow business owners.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Go see what you can find, go explore. There's a lot of uh fun businesses out there, a lot of uh interesting businesses uh that we come across in our uh in our efforts to get out and visit visit with the businesses as often as we can. Uh, we come across some some amazing businesses that we had no idea were even out there. So uh go check them out. Well, without uh too much fanfare, uh we're have another great interview with you for you today from the city, another city employee. Uh we call him Topher. His name is actually Christopher, but he goes by Topher Barnes, and he is in our development services center and uh specifically is our development services manager. And what uh he does is help facilitate uh individuals who have building permits or projects that are coming through and kind of helps those projects through the process. And so we got to sit down with him and to hear his experiences and some of the things that he's involved in, and maybe you can learn a little bit about if you need to have your business need a building permit or need to go through that process. Yeah, he is a great resource to be able to reach out to. And so let's go ahead and take a minute unless you got something else.
SPEAKER_00:No, but well, I was just gonna say, like Topher is we're so lucky to work with him. He is the epitome of customer service and premier customer service in our city. So the developers are lucky that they've got this connection, and I think that they'll like the to sit back and learn more about what he does behind the scenes, besides just helping them through the process. Yeah. There's so much more that that uh you don't really get to see on a day-to-day basis.
SPEAKER_03:Right. And he has uh an amazing story. So go ahead and let's uh sit back, relax, and enjoy our interview with Topher Barnes. Welcome to here we are. Welcome to Redevelop That. We're here today with Christopher Barnes, but we all lovingly know him as Topher.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, Topher. Topher's what everybody calls me, not Chris. The last part of Christopher.
SPEAKER_03:So if you're coming to the city of Henderson and you're looking for Christopher, nobody will know who you're talking about.
SPEAKER_01:So they might know Christopher, they won't know Chris. They'll they'll they'll uh send you to uh many different directions, and none of them will be me.
SPEAKER_03:So if you're coming to the city, look for Topher. Yeah. But TOFR is in our building department, our building services and well, building and fire safety slash development services center. Development services center. And uh if you don't know what that is, is what is the development services center?
SPEAKER_01:Well, the development services center is uh when you look at it, it's a business unit within the city of Henderson, a one-stop shop where there may be other areas, other jurisdictions where you're more familiar of going to different areas. You're going to public works to get this, you're going to building to get this, and fire to get this. The city, in its wisdom, created a development services center where everything is contained within one area, and that is the development services center.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so it's a group of all those departments coming together in one place for one purpose.
SPEAKER_01:One purpose, yeah. There are different columns or what silos or whatever you want to call them, specific departments, uh, but there are uh dedicated staff within those departments that are all part of and working work in conjunction with each other and the development services center.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so that's uh and you know you mentioned a little bit about you know why why we come together, right? To help uh to help the customer.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, absolutely. Because it is it is it is quite the path sometimes, and um getting a permit and the um the intricacies and everything that's involved with that. So the development services center, uh, when we look at it, we're you know, we do your permit intake, of course, and we're also doing the plan review, we're reviewing your plans, and we're um doing the inspections, and we anything that has to do with construction that can become from a really small retaining wall that you're doing your house or a shed or something as large as a superstore, a Walmart superstore, or a or a casino, uh everything goes to the development services center. And um, this includes um all the studies that are involved with it from traffic studies and drainage studies, all the um aforementioned I know you spoke with Andy the other day in regards to planning. Planning is kind of where it starts, right? Yep. Before you go on your path, you're you're stopping by planning. And planning really talks about conceptually what am I going to build? And you everything gets agreed in concept. And once you're getting down to construction, you're coming to see yes. Now there is a planning component here at the Development Services Center, community development's here. And what that is is that once the concept is agreed to, they also will review your plans when they come in to say, does it agree with what they agreed in concept to build? Correct. Right. So it's just a checking, checking balances here, right?
SPEAKER_03:Exactly. Checking uh checking what was approved in the uh in the first step of the process.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah, everything, the civil infrastructure uh are going to be reviewed um here, and we call them just civil plans or civil improvement plans. A lot of folks are familiar with that terminology. Um, but the building permits and the traffic, sorry, uh the um the fire permits and mapping, and everything's everything's here. As we said, it it's it's it seems complicated. And for most uh businesses, they may just want to do one thing and um at their face they just see it as a building permit, right? Or just a permit. And um they're uh they're unaware that there are multi-layers to what they're asking for. Um and there are different divisions, up to um a nine different divisions that may be looking at your plans uh dependent upon the scope at which what you're trying to build.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, but so uh you know, you so you talk about the the levels and the the different divisions. What is your role in all that?
SPEAKER_01:Well, as we said, it's it's a it's um a very um interesting path. It's it's um you want to get to you you're starting from here and you want to get there, and sometimes getting a permit is not as simple as it sounds. And they put me in place um as a development service admit services center manager as sort of a Sherpa of sorts. I'm here to uh he me and my team are here to guide you. Not to do everything for you, but we're definitely going to tell you what you need. And we do that via certain types of documentation that are on our website, but that doesn't have to stop there. We're here to talk. If there's one thing that everybody has said that differs the city of Henderson from other areas, is that the city of Henderson picks it with the phone. The city of Henderson will talk to you. But the um the Development Services Center um has a specific unit in it. We've tried to centralize intake. So there's a permits area we call them development services center permits. And they're the ones who take in all your um your permits, um, all your applications, they'll review them for completeness, and then they'll route them to all the different areas for review that we just talked about. Um as a development services and our manager, we have a coordination role. So we work with redevelopment on many occasions uh when we need to understand we gotta bring all the stakeholders together to understand what uh someone needs to be cognizant of when they're trying to build any kind of thing that they're trying to build. Um but that coordination function is is is key. Right. Uh we were missing it for a little while, and we were like, well, there's just it seems to be where I'm talking to this person, and then by the time I talk to this person, this person is saying something a little different than this person. It seems to be contradictory, but it might not be. And the coordination role comes in and says it's not telling everybody what to do, but it definitely is managing the process. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And yeah, that's what you know, definitely from the redevelopment side and economic development, is that you know, we're not the experts in in a lot of this stuff, and that's where we turn to you and your teams and to be able to uh provide that that next level of assistance and getting uh getting uh businesses and developers and business, you know, the contractors through the process as smoothly as possible. And you know, and that's and you know it does, it takes a lot of coordination, right? And you know, we uh I know economic development has a a term they use is red team, where right, you know, it's this internal team of individuals that we're able to all bring together to focus on one project uh to help that one project get through the process as smoothly as possible. Absolutely. And uh and so that is you know what we see. I and I you know we try to to tout as kind of what our um dare I say our advantage is to uh to developers and businesses coming into the areas that we're here to help you know help you get through that process.
SPEAKER_01:Right. As uh because you may not know and you trust the professionals you hire. And we like to we like ownership and developers to also be involved and knowledgeable and be part of the process um in terms of being connected in with the permits. Everything's electronic review here, yeah. Uh it was um COVID that really drove us there. Right. It was uh it was it was definitely, you know, they say um they say mother, so not mother, so they say necessity. There we go. Necessity is a mother of invention. And I say, and add on to that, crisis is the discourager of hesitancy because we had already piloted it, everybody was just like, I'm not so sure. We can do some more testing. And when COVID hit, in four days, the development service center changed from a paper process to a fully electronic process than we haven't looked back since.
SPEAKER_03:Which is uh, which is you know, on one end, it makes our uh lobby really quiet. Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_01:I think I see more tumbleweeds kind of rolling through. No.
SPEAKER_03:Unfortunately, but passports has taken over the track. That's true, Passport has taken over. But uh, I mean, but to that point of that, yeah, we don't see every uh you know as many people in person in the beginning anymore, because yeah, you can submit everything online through the DSC online portal, and uh which is an amazing process, like you said, yeah. To be able to implement that and and really just it like you said go full bore with it, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You know, pretty scary, but it well it was, but you know, we jumped in with uh with both feet and it wasn't just us, um our customers had a good part in that. If they were um not uh amiable to it, that they they couldn't get in there with us, um, I don't think it would have worked as well as it did. But the customers there, the staff was fantastic, the staff understood the mission and when it needed to be done. And then um our analyst team had a really integral part in it because it without them I don't think we would have been able to um manage the technology as we did. Uh at the Development Services Center, we have a dedicated analyst team um that is over and supports all the technology as well as kind of anything we do administratively uh for strategy and tracking. Um when I look at that uh specific process, the only thing that some people say they miss is oh I I miss coming up to the counter and and talking with folks. And you can still come up and talk to us. People still come down, come on down, people still come down, they they get a uh queue number with us and they'll talk to a building plans examiner or fire plans examiner or community development planner or somebody over in public works to discuss a specific nuance of the project, and we're okay with that. And in addition, there are still small scope permits. And maybe, and some of you some of your listeners may not know this, we have a virtual counter. Uh huh. And what that is is that you can submit as normal through the online the online portal. But if your permit is small, it's like a small scope commercial permit, yeah, trade permits, mechanical, electrical, small plumbing permits, um, really small fire permits, um, uh like a a business occupancy architectural only, no structural under 3,000 square feet. You can put your application in as you normally would online and then just go make an appointment as you would any appointment now. And it's almost like a Teams meeting. Yeah. It really is a Teams meeting. Let's be honest with you. But um, what the Teams meeting is is you get that face-to-face back and forth, kind of like what we're talking now, and we're gonna open up your plans that you've submitted electronically, and you're gonna be able to get that sort of feedback and get a review next day.
SPEAKER_03:Wow.
SPEAKER_01:So, you know, if you think you've lost it, take another look. It's still there.
SPEAKER_03:The the opportunity is still there to do face to face. And I, you know, as you as you're kind of talking about the the relationship that we have with with our customers, you know, and you kind of alluded to that several times of just how that how what our our how people view us as an organization and um our and the standards that we've set for ourselves. Yes, you know, I I um I had the that thought of in terms of the expectations that we've collected that we've collectively come to agreement on between us and the customers, right? And that they know that we're gonna do what we say we're gonna do within the time frame that we're gonna we've committed to. Right.
SPEAKER_01:And so it's so the service target that we put into place, and we put this in place around 2005, you know. It was a long time ago. Back again. Back in the day, Development Services Center was in awry. So no, uh what what they decided for is that and they got in with the with our development community and they said, Let's have a partnership. Uh we need to build a development service center, it needs to have this many fees. And they said, Well, okay, we're on board, but what kind of service levels can you give us? And that's a fair shake, right? Yeah, sure. So uh we did that and we uh we laid out uh some specific service targets based upon scope that we promised we would reach 90% or better the time. Since then, since then, 2005, what is it? 20 years later, we are still above not above 90 percent, we're above 95 percent, we are at around usually around 98 percent on time. That's amazing. And what that means is uh time is money. Yeah, right? Time just like just like cost, if if they can predict the amount of time that something's going to take, that allows them to schedule appropriately, right? And um, you know, as opposed to it could take this much time depending upon the weather or depending upon any number of things, any number of things, Thanksgiving holiday or anything like that. So um uh that is also what sets up sets us apart. It was around I want to say in the 2000s, late 2000s, whatever, they they went out and they uh they looked at all these development services centers across the nation, right? And they picked out three that they said were exceptional. We were you know, one, two, three. Um, and they didn't they didn't rank us, but I'm gonna tell you we were number one. And uh just for reference. Just for reference. I mean, you know, that could be disputed by the other two, but I'm telling you we're number one. Okay. And um, but it it really um the the notes they made was this that how we were all in sync with each other. Now um we're in a conference room here right now. We're talking um uh within the development services center, but you go out here and you'll see all all the offices and uh all the setups are all different departments, right? And we all sit as one team. Yeah, and the the conversations happen. Somebody has a question over uh in utilities, they can walk over to building.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Somebody has a question in fire, they can walk over to community development. That kind of conversation. And I've always I've told a lot of people, I said there is uh hardly anything you can do to replace the synergy that co-location brings. But having that sort of close proximity allows us to know each other, to talk to each other, it reduces siloing, and it really for the customer and improves everything. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah, that that ability to physically locate everyone within a central location and have that coordination and collaboration. Yeah, I I fully agree that it it helps break down those walls. Really does in a great in a in a very positive and you know, positive way for the customer that it helps and uh in the end it helps be able to meet your targets, right? It meets those target dates because we're not sitting around, they're not sitting around waiting to hopefully hear back from someone from another department or another group that they've reached out to or whatever it may be.
SPEAKER_01:That's in another building or you know, across the street or down the way. Everybody's here. Everyone's right here.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah, so yeah, I thought about that, but 20 years, that's right. It's been a long time.
SPEAKER_01:So 20 years I've been here as well. Yeah. A couple of us here. So uh I know. I I I remember coming here and I think I was the youngest one when I came here. And um there's only two of us I think left uh from the old from the old times. The old guard, huh? The old guard, yeah. Yeah, it is what it is.
SPEAKER_03:Hey, that's uh that's commitment right there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I like to refer to it as I had a heron fifty pounds ago.
SPEAKER_03:Don't we all? Yeah. So that's awesome. So uh, you know, so I guess with that a little bit, maybe we could jump a little bit if you wouldn't mind being a little personal. Like sure, kind of what's your background uh come from? I know uh I know a couple of things we talked about beforehand of what you're involved in, but you know, what brings you how does that translate to what you do?
SPEAKER_01:So I come from the private side. Our customers should know. So I really understand kind of where they're at. And I understand that the reality of what they're running into as a business, as a private ownership, as a contractor, I understand it from that side and how um they may think that at a public or a government level that there's not the level of understanding. And and I do. I do, and I have that sense of urgency with you. Right. I I know that uh and I bring that I bring that background to what we're doing here. Um I come from the regulatory uh from the uh uh the gas, the gas company here in town. Southwest Southwest Gas. I worked I worked for there for a number of years. So um I bring that industry as well. Um and then uh I also bring technology. So uh prior to that, I was um that's where kind of where where I started, where where my whole thing was. And if you told me, you know, so long ago that I'd start out in technology and end up in development service center, it didn't sound like a it didn't sound like a match, but yeah. But um, but knowing technology, I've been able to employ technology as a workforce multiplier within the development services center. And what that means and how that translates to our customers is um it wasn't just recently that we um changed our fees to, you know, but that was a good a good almost 20 years where the fees were the same. And the reason why we were able to be good fiscal stewards is that we took that money and we invested into uh automation or uh different techno technological um options uh that helped us uh bridge that gap and not have to incur uh more expenses. But eventually, push comes the shove, and you know it really it really was something we didn't want to do, but we went ahead and we did um and it was very important to us that we didn't overcharge. So we did a year-long cost of services study, looked at every facet of our organization, anything that touched a permit to make sure we were covering that cost, right? And then put into a put into action a a more regular review so that they're you know you don't get a a a 20-year sticker shock at the very end when we're trying to do something. So um I apologize uh for I apologize for uh uh waiting so long to do that, but we really didn't want to have to charge you any more if we didn't have to. So right. Okay, because the Development Services Center, and some people don't know this, um uh even at the NRS level, it can only charge so much, it has to cover its cost of services because we are we are hindered, or what do I want to say hindered? Not hindered is not the best word. That makes it sound like I want to go up. It we are just more of contained, yeah. Uh that we can only take in so much above what we they understand our working capital, or else we would have to reduce the fees. So we have incentive to keep our fees exactly where they should be.
SPEAKER_03:Well, and I think that's something that the as a city they've I mean we've our city management and and stewards that way have always been very fiscally conservative and fiscally minded and um ensuring that we uh our customers and our residents get the the most for the the money that they spend. I guess they're just dare say taxes are your spending taxes, but uh with in the the taxes that are collected that we are we use them as best as possible and in a way that is most meaningful to the residents. You know, I think that we've been very uh you know, very focus driven in that aspect of providing the services that that the residents want and desire and need um without doing, like you said, too much, right? Without going overboard. Uh and so that's always I I definitely know my time here, that's what I've noticed and recognized as the very methodical way of the very strategic, I guess is the real term strategic movement of how we've grown as a city and trying to make sure that you know we balance that uh that difference between what's appropriate for fiscally spending and what's not.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, the city's very cognizant, they're great fiscal stewards. That that's a conversation we always have. And the thing I like about the development service center, because we're an enterprise fund, yeah, as opposed to the general fund, which means that we are paid by or we operate by whatever fees we take in for the services that we do. But um there is a development service center industry advisory committee, and this committee is made up of representatives from all the different uh different sections of development industry. This is the home builders, uh the commercial side, NAOP. Um we've got um uh engineers on there, general contractors. Uh and why that's important is that their main thing is to look at the fund. And we give them performance reviews and they give their advisement to us on how they think we're doing and some things that we should take into account, and that has also helped increase the partnership with industry. It's been invaluable.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and that's uh you know, I I think we've talked about that already, is just that that collaboration between us and and the industry. Um, you know, all the industry, all the different industries have their um individual uh groups, the industrial, commercial, residential, right, and uh, and we're we're a part of each of those groups. Right. You know, we have representatives at each of those uh levels, which again reinforces that our desire to be a part of and to be included in with them in their indust in the industry that they're involved in. So that way we can be that a good partner to them in the process.
SPEAKER_01:And that's a great way you say it. We're partners, we are part of your team. Yeah. Cause um, because our main we have obligations to our citizenry to make sure things are built to code. Yeah. They're built safe, right? Right. But we are your we're your partner, we're your team member, and we are trying to make sure that uh we protect you as well. Because when things are built safe, it protects your investment. Yeah. In addition to just, you know, we're not just there to try to, you know, hey, uh uh the why this is important is that um as just talk with us as early as you can. Yeah. Get ahead of it. We uh for especially for large projects, you know, um, if you're working with redevelopment or economic development, or even with us, we it is not uncommon for us to do pre-submittal meetings where we'll bring everybody together. You tell us about something unique, especially if it's something unique with a project you might be doing. It's important for us to know that we're already visualizing it. My plans examiners are already looking at it and saying, Oh, I remember when we talked about this. Uh if we can get some of those interesting questions out early, it just helps smooth the process moving through. Yeah and and our processes are such, if you compare them across the nation, we benchmark these kind of things. And it's one of the reasons I think the city won uh the Baldridge Award as well, is Development Service Center as part of that also just follows along with that Baldridge framework where we benchmark against other um other like-sized operations to make sure that we are performing at the best practice level of everything, and um serve the service targets being the main thing. So um when you look at it, and and not to not to bore you with uh different details, but um most most projects, most trades and things like that and pools, they're like one-week reviews per review. That's that's relatively very very small. And I think like we talked about virtual counter earlier, we put it in there, but when once you've gone electronic, less and less people who have even know about virtual counter use it. They use it when they need it. But in general, a one-week turnaround is so so short. Yeah, it's like a you know, like a Ronco dehydrator. They set it and forget it. So um uh the uh but um on a commercial site, three weeks for first review, two weeks for second review, one week for third and every subsequent review. It's easy to remember it's three, two, one. Yeah, three, two, one lift off, you got your permit. But in some cases, the one isn't even needed. Yeah, you do a first review. If your design, if your designer is paying attention to any comments they got, they've responded to the comments, and after the second review, you're good to go. But it's it's not unheard of for especially uh especially as I've seen as of late, the designers are really getting on board and understanding what the city needs. Because we're not here to do a lot of reviews if we don't need to. Right. We don't want to see your plans any more than we have to, right? If we're seeing it four or five times, we're like, what's going on? Yeah. And that's why the city, uh both on the uh civil side, the public work side, and the building side and fire side, which I'm saying different sides, but they're all development services center. If you go to three reviews and you're still not out, and it's a considerable project, and we know it's nothing small, we're gonna call for a meeting. Yeah. And that meeting's going to be the designer, it's gonna be the developers, it's gonna be everybody. So everybody understands on the same page what's going on. We really shouldn't be at this number of reviews. Right. We are committed not to just not to just like, oh, something's wrong again. And here's, you know, everybody's doing a complete review at the beginning, and we just want to get we just want to help you in.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, gosh, it was uh some time ago, and I and sorry to use acronyms. I said we are the face, F A C E, we are the face of the DSC. Um, and when I say face at FACE, I say um we F facilitate, right? A advise, C coordinate, and E expedite. Okay and see that's what we're really trying to do for you.
SPEAKER_03:So well, yeah, and that's I mean, and I like that you kind of referenced in the had the the opportunity to to meet physically in person with us, yes, you know, and uh the um understanding that come early, like bring it bring us into the process early and we can help you. No donuts required. Yeah, come talk to us. Come talk to us. And you know, and that that you know, uh definitely on the redevelopment side, you know, we we uh we have that opportunity to meet with some of these businesses and uh development groups that are coming in and and then you know get them through the basic stuff, you know, basic steps of the process. Um, but then to be able to have that type of meeting that brings everybody into the process. So everybody has an idea. As you say, that when it comes across their desk, they're not surprised. Yeah, they're not like I didn't know anything about this.
SPEAKER_01:What you do in redevelopment is so good. Well the relationships you create, even before they know that they're supposed to or they want to do something, yeah. They already have a contact in your group. Yeah. And you know, you not not just you, but yeah, our team knows who to talk to. Sometimes it's not just who you know and what you know is, but who you know, and you know everybody who needs to be talked to, so it's cool.
SPEAKER_03:No, it definitely uh it definitely comes in in handy, but like you said, it just helps that process move move more smoothly um and have a lot less hook hiccups um you know when it comes to getting to the planning department. And you know, the it's funny because we actually interviewed Paul uh Beaton several a little bit ago from business licensing. Yeah, it was kind of Paul. I love Paul. We all love Paul. Um but sometimes even on the on that on his side that he runs into the same issues as that all of a sudden people get to the point of wanting wanting to open their business and realize, oh, I didn't get my business license.
SPEAKER_01:And I didn't get my business license.
SPEAKER_03:It's like, well, that's a problem. So uh so yeah, so it's like the sooner you we you can bring us into the process, the the more advantageous it is to to you as a business or as a developer or as a we'll do we'll do what we can to make it as straightforward as possible.
SPEAKER_01:Uh where there's an easy button, we're gonna we're gonna give you the easy button, you know, try to get things through. Uh, but definitely come see us. Uh what we don't want is to find out something was built and not permitted. Yeah. And then everything just slows down. Yeah. Everything kind of grinds to a halt as we tried to understand what is the full scope of what was missed. And and and that's detrimental for our business. And it just breaks our heart when we see that happening.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. And I I mean, I guess with that is also the the point is like if you have started without a building permit or other permits, there are ways to rectify the don't think that that it's you know, that's there's an end that's just you're done. That there's yeah, like I hope they never catch me. Yeah, right. Uh it's like, you know, like you said, we're it's not that we're here to to punish you, we're just here to to make sure it's safe, right? To make sure that you know customers are safe, our residents are safe. So that's our real end goal is safety and um compatibility.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, always ask the question because sometimes uh there's lots of rules and designs that kind of go into a place. Let's take for example, somebody has a certain kind of business, and all of a sudden um uh they want to do some live performance in it, you know, like a small thing, and they want to put some sort of small thing and they want to bring more people into it uh above the occupancy they had originally agreed. Those kind of things uh push for different requirements, right? All of a sudden, if you have uh twice as many people, the the city the city will the code say, hey, you really need to have more bathrooms inside there. So just being aware and cognizant of it as opposed to kind of being in the middle of the thick of it is always always preferred. Um we um yeah, I think the people that we still get at the counter the most are still our owner builders. That doesn't really affect redevelopment, yeah. But uh, you know, um we understand that uh they're not familiar with the process. And the reason why I bring that up is that I know there's a lot of business owners who also aren't familiar. This isn't your business, right? Why should you have to understand everything that goes along with this? You just want to, you know, uh you just want to sling some fries, or you just want to scoop some ice cream, or you just want to, you know, but you don't want to have to deal with what uh construction is, and you shouldn't have to. You hire professionals for that. Yeah. But on the commercial side, you always have to have professionals. Yeah, it's not one of those things like uh here in the state of Nevada, you're a homeowner, you can do your own improvements, but not as a business owner. A business owner, um, the law requires that you get a professional to do it. Yeah, and um, but that's that's to your advantage as well in terms of understanding what needs to be done. So I guess where I'm headed with that is that um yeah, uh it kind of all goes back to oh, just talk with us. Yes, just let us know. Give me a call, send me an email. There's so many ways to contact people nowadays. Yeah, right. I get voicemails, I get teens messages, I get people coming to the counter, I get carrier pigeons that come in every once in a while. Who wrote who put this little note here? Oh, yeah. Checking on the window outside. Yeah, exactly. So that's that's awesome.
SPEAKER_03:Hey, you know, it's uh it's a we can we take all technology.
SPEAKER_01:We take all technology, yeah. Come in. Low tech and high tech.
SPEAKER_03:It's all it's all effective.
SPEAKER_01:Right. So and and there's there's just um there's so many exciting things coming up in development, right? Yeah. So I mean, things that we haven't seen before, that the high rise that's uh coming soon over in um near McDonald's Highlands. Yeah, like Las Vegas one, you know, cost automation coming in. Right. It's fantastic. But even in our redevelopment area, you and I, we know we've already we're having conversations about how how um you know uh you use existing building code and um to kind of reactivate areas that may kind of be sitting, and it's pretty exciting.
SPEAKER_03:Oh yeah. And uh I'm actually doing uh a bunch of research on even outside of work, I'm doing other research on adaptive reuse, and it's pretty uh it's pretty amazing. Um it's a really challenging field. It's a challenging topic to to uh to get people on board with. And and then you if you throw in any mix of historic preservation into that, then it's a whole nother world of hurt. But uh but we're here for it.
SPEAKER_01:We're here for it, and and uh and our staff is already becoming well acquainted with the adaptive reuse and the codes that uh surround it. Yeah. So that you know, um the designers out there who are looking for those kind of things, they should look into that code and look to utilize that code because they definitely can.
SPEAKER_03:Oh yeah. And I think you know, maybe kind of we could end here on a little bit on this, but the idea of you know, you talked about how we're coming up to speed on on adaptive reuse or how we've you know adopted new new new technologies. And um, I like that idea that that we're open to that idea. We're open to the idea of new and emerging technologies in the not just in technology, but also within the building field and you know, of looking at altern, you know, alternative ways of doing things and that our our people are are open to the the notion that yeah, we have our building codes, we have our codes that we are exist today, but that doesn't mean they can't change that. If there's something that is new and upcoming and or something that we haven't seen, because there may be things going on in uh other parts of the country that we haven't seen yet. Um, you know, that um my experience has always been that they're very uh very open to at least exploring that right.
SPEAKER_01:EV is like one of those areas, yeah, with solar panels and the way it changed. Funny story is that when we first started, and this is in the 2000s, talking about photovoltaics, and and we had designed the fees and all of that to to no be no bigger than three and a half uh kilov kilovolts, kvs, right? Right. And and now you see 40 40 kilovolts and and larger systems, you see big um commercial uh use of solar panels for uh power generation. Uh we have you know uh we never imagined all these cars would need the infrastructure and um uh just everything that's there and we're we've been here for it. And we are embracing everything there, and we're listening to the experts in there to understand what's safe and what's not, and um and making sure that um everything, everybody's cognizant and that we're just we're listening, but we're not uh we're careful. Yeah, oh yeah. Right. Absolutely. And since we're you know, we don't throw caution to the wind.
SPEAKER_03:No, no, and I I I hopefully I didn't come across the thing. No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01:I just was I I wanted to go down to record and say that's do it. No, it's it's like, yeah, let's do it if it if it if it really looks like it's something we can do.
SPEAKER_03:We'll we'll vet it out and make sure that it's uh a legitimate and safe, uh safe way of of moving forward for whatever it may be. I love it all. Um but I like the I I like the idea that and I and hopefully the message that goes out is that come talk to us. We're open, you know, we're open to those ideas, we're open to new solutions to old problems. Um that you know if there's something that can can make uh make an old problem easier to solve, then you know, let's look at it.
SPEAKER_01:There's an amazing team of professionals here of all varying disciplines and different types of engineers, electrical, mechanical, civil, traffic, flood, uh, structural, um, and uh and and staff who have just like me years of experience. And so we're we've seen many a thing. And we can and not saying you you need to challenge us, but I'm saying you there's a really good chance that what you are doing we've already seen, and we can we can help navigate you through it quite easily. Nice.
SPEAKER_03:Well, awesome. Well, thank you so much for taking. the time i have one final question for what what's the what's the question final question and this has become actually very controversial because oh no uh it's one of those one of those questions we we've kind of been leaving uh and the answer is churros okay churros okay that you know that might that might uh narrow down your answer uh so we always like to ask on on especially from coming from redevelopment and you know a lot of our uh our emphasis and our push has been on water street and we so we like to to ask like do you have a favorite restaurant on water street do I have a festival I know that is considered quite controversial because you don't want to you don't want to uh pick and choose um it all depends upon the day but um I'm gonna be honest with you I do love the boulevard grill yeah yeah it's really good I love the boulevard grill uh that uh herb crust and salmon is just like amazing to me and it's not that the other restaurants aren't great because no they are I know but if I have a if I have a go-to place that I usually if if I can't if I can't think where I want to go I'm there nice that's a good one they do have I do like going there and their food is really good. Yeah I go there more than when it was uh something before what's hard away eight yeah I know it's kind of funny how that works but uh I enjoy it yeah so so I guess not churros but yeah well it's right next door right next door exactly a couple doors down but no that's that's uh we do we have a uh a wonderful uh street and options of restaurants and right places to hang out now so chinitas um uh uh of course um Juan's flaming fajitas uh the river I call it you know the river inside the um oh inside uh the the ice rink yeah the America first sorry I I go there enough but I call it the river yeah the chef there is fantastic yeah no we have a lot of uh wonderful options so that's why I I I I preface it that I know it can be controversial and we're not here to offend oh gosh we're not here to offend any of the businesses that's the dude didn't name me no I love you all but boulevard grill has uh has has has gained a a really large fan of me uh from the salmon awesome yeah the fish is the way to go fish is yeah fish is the wish okay perfect well thanks so much tofer for uh sitting down with us and appreciate you we'll uh see you in the next one all right sounds fantastic welcome back hopefully you enjoyed that interview with Topher got to know a little bit more about him and uh his background some of the experiences that he's involved in uh he's uh quite the entrepreneur is what I come to realize about Tofer is that he uh he delves into a lot of things and uh just outside the city he has his own businesses and uh other interests that keep him uh keep him going day to day he's a busy guy he is a busy guy and so we appreciate him taking the time to sit down with us and hopefully you all learned a little bit more about our Development Services Center and then uh what it's for the way it's uh structured the why we uh why we are who we are and uh how it successful it's been you know as we talked about in the interview it's been I think almost 20 years since we uh developed the Development Services Center program where we're combining uh combining different departments together and to help uh expedite not really expedite but help to smooth the building permit process and to make that more efficient uh for the development community and um and having our commitment to the 321 process of being uh being willing to commit to having our review times be work within a three-week two week and one week process is a pretty amazing uh turnaround that uh as I know uh within the valley it's been uh very challenging for uh some of the other communities to to try to keep up but um they do an amazing job here so uh then that's a lot of that's a deal with TOFER. TOFER is the man behind a lot of that um action so we're grateful for his his uh service and uh keeping the process rolling and help helping b uh businesses and developers and anyone needing a building permit get through the process. So with that all that we uh we come to the end of the year here and uh we are excited for the year behind us but we are also excited about the year ahead of us and a lot of things coming up and a lot of uh new businesses that will be moving into the into our city and we hope to to be able to to hear from them and learn more about them and I know we have a few interviews that coming up that will uh um kind of go outside the realm of uh of businesses in a redevelopment area but we gotta we'll look and see what other uh opportunities we have out there and so again we always uh invite invite you to to reach out to us if you're would be interested in being a guest on our show uh you can always uh go to our website at cityofenderson.com slash redevelop that um or you can always reach out to me directly at Derek dot allen at city of henderson dot com with that I was just gonna say um check back in the new year we have a very robust schedule of events for 2026 um we take a little bit of a break right now but we'll be back in action in January. Yep there's always something happening on Water Street. Yeah something happening in the city so keeping keep an ear out and an eye out for things to come. But Merry Christmas to everybody happy holidays.
SPEAKER_00:Hope everyone has a great holiday season and come back in the new year.
SPEAKER_03:We'll see you in 2024.
