Dallas’ Development Services Department plans to create a new expedited review initiative to help enhance its customer service and accelerate permit review times.
Engineers for the Development Services Department (DSD) will meet with Dallas’ development community on February 15 to present an outline of its proposed “Expedited Engineering Review” program, according to a Weekly Highlights report provided by DSD via email.
DSD said the goal of the initiative is “to provide customers with the opportunity to collaborate with City staff to gain engineering approvals on the SAME DAY projects are submitted.”
“This is further evidence of our continuous commitment to our customers and faster permitting turnaround times,” said DSD. “We are confident the program will be successful.”
While DSD has taken steps to accelerate review and approval times, slow turnarounds continue to be a concern among builders and developers, particularly under the leadership of Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
When DSD Director Andrew Espinoza took over the department in the summer of 2022, he rolled out several initiatives in an attempt to accelerate the building permit process.
In November of that year, DSD rolled out its Residential Plan Review Fast-Track Permit Process. The program was designed to allow residential developers who submit a high volume of repetitive permits to have multiple floor plans reviewed and approved at once.
Since its debut, the initiative has helped reduce the review time for single-family permits, data from DSD’s residential permit activity dashboard shows.
Even though Espinoza has implemented several programs to improve the city’s permitting process, DSD still sees setbacks in regard to commercial permits. Despite setbacks, DSD said in the weekly report that it is committed to “improving” its customer service initiatives.
