Dallas builders have high hopes that a new program will get them in and out of the city permitting office and back to swinging a hammer in a 24-hour period.
The early response to a new program offering “walk-in permits,” set to launch Sept. 1, is a far cry from the highly-criticized permitting debacle that’s been going on since mid-2020.
Development Services is moving in the right direction, said District 1 Councilman Chad West.
“Builders have been asking for the return of the walk-in option for a long time, and even some of the most frustrated industry folks have expressed mild optimism to me that this will help bring some normality back to the permitting process,” West said. “Overall, I still hear frustration from builders and contractors, but the emails and calls to me, directly, have slowed down. This is undoubtedly due to the change in mentality at the permit office, thanks to the new director and his leadership team.”
Under the walk-in program, builders will be able to make an appointment and pay a $200-per-hour fee to walk stamped plans into the permitting office for same-day permit approval.
Until recently, when Andrew Espinoza took over as the city’s chief building official, it took up to two months for some builders to get a permit, creating a huge loss of money and prompting some to pull their projects out of Dallas.
An updated version of the ProjectDox electronic system, a department director who’s promised to be responsive to the needs of builders and developers, and industry professionals willing to support change intersected in July and August to make some big strides.
Bouncing Back After COVID
The same-day permitting initiative could do even more to repair a two-year-old backlog in the permitting department that began when COVID-19 brought permitting to a near-standstill.
Phil Crone, executive officer of the Dallas Builders Association, said he commends city staff for implementing the program.
“One of the primary things we’ve been speaking to the new leadership team about was the dynamic that used to be in place with the old gold card program where builders with demonstrated experience and aptitude pulling permits in Dallas could turn plans into permits routinely in a matter of hours,” Crone said. “Of course, this was before COVID when in-person processes functioned efficiently and effectively. Our hope for staff is that they would be able to launch something similar once they’d stabilized the crisis with delayed permits. While I don’t think that a fee-based approach is the most equitable solution, I do believe this program can be a worthwhile time- and money-saver for builders who may otherwise experience delays.”
Building Partnerships
The same-day permit option is the residential version of the city’s Q-Team alternate plan review option, Espinoza explained.
“We’ve taken what’s already been codified and we’re offering it to our new single-family construction,” he said. “Staff will sit down with you and talk about it and issue you a permit.”
That face-to-face interaction could potentially resolve a lot of delays, West explained.
“One of the biggest complaints I’ve heard consistently is that it’s hard for builders and contractors to get the right person on the phone to answer questions about their individual projects,” he said. “This initiative, which existed pre-COVID, should help reduce delays based on simple problems like a missing signature or document, because questions can be addressed to a live person and corrections can be made on the spot.”
But it won’t work for every project, Espinoza added.
“One of the biggest barriers we face is a piece of vacant property that is not properly platted,” he said. “In order to qualify for a walk-in permit, it’s got to be properly platted. It can’t be in a conservation district. If it’s in a complicated zoning overlay district, that’s going to take more time, but in those cases it may be an opportunity for staff to work with the builders and developers and get them to the next step. If for any reason you come to us and there’s a safety issue, we give you a partial permit, so you can install your utilities and pour your slab. You’ve got momentum and movement while you take care of the other items. It partners the applicant with city staff one-to-one. It empowers the applicant to get through this process.”
Crone said he likes the idea of builders setting an appointment to meet face-to-face with staff for their permits.
“In theory, it should simplify the processes by getting key decision-makers in the same room ready to provide approvals on the spot,” he said. “Many times, projects are delayed by days or weeks in the online system because something small is not marked on the plans. Here, some of those changes can be made in real-time by the applicant.”
Time Will Tell
Builder Jeff Dworkin, president of JLD Custom Homes, said same-day permits could work for production builders and smaller projects, but his homes aren’t eligible because of limitations in the criteria outlined by the same-day permitting guidelines. He added, however, that it shows a good-faith effort from the city to simplify the permitting process.
“There are promising signs, but we are still hearing from builders that their permits are ‘stuck’ or are in pre-screen for more than two weeks,” Dworkin explained. “Also, there were conversion issues with the updated version of ProjectDox that left some projects in limbo for two weeks or more. Hopefully, that is corrected now. If it works, great, but only time will tell.”
Development Services recently onboarded about 40 new employees to assist with permitting projects.
Espinoza issues a regular Service First bulletin by email or text message with information on programs like walk-in permits, along with code clarifications and upcoming meeting notices. He and his staff are opening their offices on the third Saturday of each month for “Pop Up Permits.”
“I think that’s what the community wants — more transparency, more communication,” he said. “My ultimate goal is to serve as many customers as possible. As a team, we need to pull together and push through this. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Making Progress
Crone also has hope that the program is an indication that the permitting process is finally turning around for good.
“My guess is that capacity is going to be somewhat limited for this service at first,” he said. “That’s understandable because there’s still a lot of work to do on clearing out stuck projects and improving other parts of the process. However, the launch of this initiative, fingers crossed, is an indicator that we are exiting the crisis phase of this mess after more than two years.”
West told Daltxrealestate.com on Friday that he’s excited to see the positive progress in granting building permits, which addresses the bigger-picture issue of providing housing in Dallas.
“As we learned from the Racial Equity Plan, which the city council just passed on Wednesday, we have massive shortages in workforce housing, and a big gap in homeownership based on race,” he said. “Both of these problems are exacerbated by inventory shortages. The city should provide an efficient path forward for builders to produce both the rental and for-sale homes that we need to keep up with the influx of people from the west and east coasts.”
