Dallas’ Development Services Department is set to release its new permitting dashboard this summer, the same month City Manager T.C. Broadnax will be stepping down from his post.
The long-awaited Commercial Permit Activity Dashboard (CPAD) is expected to roll out in June, according to a presentation given to the City’s Economic Development Committee (EDC) on Monday.
CPAD was initially scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2024, but the Development Services Department (DSD) and Information & Technology Services said they needed additional time to remove stale data from the old system and ensure the new system projected accurate and up-to-date information, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
According to DSD Director Andrew Espinoza, the updated release window will give staff additional time to meet with stakeholders and provide extra wiggle room to fix any kinks in the software before release.
“Our goal is to proactively work with council members in April and walk them through the dashboard, how it functions, and how it illustrates our performance,” Espinoza told DX.
DSD will also spend the month educating stakeholders about the dashboard. Such stakeholders include the Development Advisory Committee and local homebuilder associations, among others.
Once the system is in place and stakeholders have been notified, DSD will reconvene with EDC members in June for a full presentation. If everything works as expected, DSD will debut the technology to the local development community.
DSD also plans to leverage social media posts, website bulletins, and public service announcements to inform builders and developers about CPAD’s release.
Besides monthly performance updates and committee meetings, builders currently have few ways to track commercial permitting times in Dallas.
While DSD has introduced several initiatives and programs to help accelerate residential and commercial permitting times, more work is needed to stay competitive with its neighboring cities.
Longer-than-expected permitting times have been a recurring issue over the years, particularly under Broadnax’s leadership, as reported by DX. Dallas has also seen data breaches and increases in crime, taxation, and City spending over the course of the soon-to-be former city manager’s seven-year tenure at the helm of City services.
