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Contractor tells council repeated plan losses, delays by Meriden building department cost clients money
Summary
Small-contractor Miguel Castro told the council an eight-month permit review involved lost plans and late requests for surveys and engineering, costing his client about $2,000 in revisions and causing contractor withdrawals; he urged council attention to departmental practices.
During public comment Miguel Castro, a Meriden contractor, described an eight-month permitting process in which plans submitted to the building department were repeatedly misplaced, then later found and again lost. Castro said revisions prompted by building staff led to additional client costs of about $2,000 and eventually caused the original contractor to withdraw from the project.
Castro said the building department only raised the need for a survey and engineer certification at a late stage and that staff had access to both 2024 and 2025 versions of the plans showing a placement within 10 feet of the property line. He told the council: “They lost them again. That’s a big issue… These plans that you see me holding here are $5,000. They don't get to lose them.”
Castro asked the council to examine internal processes and stressed the broader impact on small local contractors who absorb extra costs and scheduling disruption when permits are mishandled. The council did not announce a specific follow-up or referral during the meeting.
The transcript contains Castro’s account and cited figures but does not include a departmental response or an investigation outcome.
