Town inspections and permits taking ridiculous time

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Hi everyone,

I have a client that I’m working with currently and they working with a town that has been absolutely absurd in the time it’s taking them to do anything. It took them six months to approve a variance simply because there was a bay window that need some sort of approval. For their inspections they’re asking for more surveys, and they’re also asking for actual 6ft chain-link fences to be put around properties, even though the house is in a suburban area. The problem is that another builder down the street hasn’t had any issues and it now seems like there must have been someone we aggravated and their slowing us down on purpose. When we submit or ask for anything they are being very short and haven’t told us simple things like make sure this is set this specific way when the inspector shows up so he will actually inspect. I have worked in many different towns in New Jersey as a contractor and have never run into such difficulties and such extensive inspections.

So my question is what have investors done to help deal with towns that might be difficult? Whether it’s advice on how to deal with the town so that we can move things along quicker, or if there’s a legal recourse that we could use to make the town move faster as well?

Any advice is welcome,

Thanks!