It’s no secret that Dallas’s Development Services Department has struggled to cut the turnaround time for building permits and that the department’s director, Andrew Espinoza, is making strides to course-correct.
The results of an audit conducted by Matrix Consulting Group were recently released, and Espinoza said many of the recommendations are already being implemented. He’ll be presenting the report to the Dallas City Council on Nov. 2.
“As a department head, I think I know where I want to steer the ship,” Espinoza told Daltxrealestate.com. “Having a professional consultant as a co-captain is very helpful. He’s engaged with other captains and can help navigate busy waters.”
While the barrage of complaints about permit turnaround times has subsided, it still takes at least 30 days for most builders to get a permit. September was a high-volume month for Development Services, with 400 new single-family home permit applications. The department’s goal is to issue permits in three to five days, but that’s rarely happening.
“We’ve kind of plateaued,” Espinoza said.
They’re also severely understaffed and crowded in the current facility at Oak Cliff Municipal Center.
The department is scheduled to move to new offices at 7800 North Stemmons Freeway in spring 2023. With about 70 vacancies in the department — including 54 positions approved recently for the new fiscal year — a hiring event is scheduled for Tuesday.
Room For Improvement
The building community has made its concerns known since the permit backlog got out of control more than two years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve continued giving feedback directly to Espinoza and his staff since the new director was hired in May.
Phil Crone, executive officer of the Dallas Builders Association, said it takes most applicants more than 10 weeks to get a permit.
“While Andrew and the new management team are very enthusiastic about tackling the problem and have helped us move many dozens of stuck projects, the overall timelines are still about where they were in the summer,” he said. “We’ve conveyed the importance of publishing accurate timelines and this really needs to be a priority. Even if those timelines aren’t where we need to be and if some of that is the fault of the applicant or someone other than the city, we still need to know what we are working with in order to guide our priorities. Also, businesses and residents make impactful decisions based on that information, especially these days with the volatility of interest rates.”
An updated version of ProjectDox rolled out in August, taking electronic files from a city server to a cloud-based system.
“I’ve heard of one outage since we rolled over,” Espinoza said. “Before we changed the system, it was a two- or three-times-a-week occurrence. Staff was at a standstill.”
Crone agreed that ProjectDox is now more user-friendly and reliable.
“I think I can definitively say that because not one person has complained about it once the transition occurred,” he said.
Building Momentum
Consultants reviewed the department’s technology needs, processes, procedures, staffing, and resources.
Among 57 recommendations listed in the report are:
- Procure and implement a robust land management system that is capable of digital application submittal, review, permit issuance, and inspection module that is usable by all development review entities.
- Create a dashboard to present key historic and current performance indicators for the development review process. The dashboard should be updated monthly.
- Establish performance timelines for processing development review applications and provide monthly reports to [DSD] management and publish them online.
- Create the position of permit pilot to provide single oversight of the development process. The permit pilot should facilitate enhanced collaboration between {DSD] divisions, city departments, and the development community.
- The city should contract with third-party plan reviewers to meet performance goals for processing building permit applications. Third-party plan reviewers will maintain desired service levels to accommodate workload fluctuations.
- The HR Department should expedite the hiring process for technical and skilled positions.
Crone said the Matrix study was a “long time coming and did a great job diving deep into the structure of the department.”
“In the big picture, it really didn’t tell us anything we didn’t know already,” he said. “However, I like some of the organizational recommendations. Specifically, they identified the silos that exist between the Planning Department and Development Services and the need to bring certain things like plan review for conservation districts under the department that actually does plan reviews.”
Several of the consultant’s recommendations were modified to suit the needs of Dallas, Espinoza explained.
“One that comes to mind is the consultants said to add an engineer to the Q-Team, our express plan review team,” he said. “We opted to stand up an entire second Q-Team. Our enhancement aligns with the intent of the recommendation.”
The city hired Matrix Consulting before Espinoza was promoted to director, and he was not sure of the contract fee. The Department of Development Services operates on a $43 million budget with 326 positions.
The department director said he’s excited about building a dashboard for builders to see review times and track progress. The public also will be able to monitor the department’s progress on the 57 recommendations identified by the audit.
“We’re going to be posting an updated PDF that shows where we are on each of the projects,” he said.
Development Services is already doing “pop-up permits” on the third Saturday of each month – but it’s not making a dent in the backlog, Crone said.
“The pop-up permitting has not really helped builders, but I know it has been a valuable tool for homeowners and small construction projects,” he said. “I commend city staff for making themselves available in that way.”
Development Services has plans to expand its Rapid Single-Family VIP Program beginning next week.
The program rolled out on Sept. 2, offering same-day permits by appointment on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for single-family homes 3,000 square feet or less. The expanded version will allow for homes up to 5,000 square feet, and applicants will be seen Monday through Thursday.
“I tell our team, ‘We’ve got to engage our customers,’” Espinoza said. “We can’t hide behind our computers. The more we engage, the more we get done. If you work here, you’ve got to care.”
