Dallas’ Development Services Department wants to increase its permit fees in three phases, the last of which would be implemented in late March.
DSD Director Andrew Espinoza said the department consulted with Information & Technology Services and its vendor on a timeline for its proposed fee increases. The timeline was presented Monday to Dallas’ Economic Development Committee (EDC) during DSD’s latest monthly technology and metrics review.
Overall, DSD wants to increase fees for approximately 205 services related to Dallas’ building permit process. The department must update its service fees before 2025, otherwise, it will not have time to balance the roughly $22 million deficit created by undercharging for its services and not updating its fees since 2015, as reported by The Dallas Express.
While the Dallas City Council has generally supported the updated fees, members had requested that DSD provide them with a schedule for the specific phases of implementation before they move forward with a decision.
Phase one of the roll-out would be completed in February and would include approximately 40 existing service fees that are reflective of the most common permit types, according to documents presented to EDC members.
Phases two and three of the roll-out would consist of 125 existing and 40 newly proposed fees, respectively. DSD anticipates phase two to be completed by March 1 and phase three to be completed by mid-to-late March.
Before DSD updates its service fees, District 8 Council Member Tennell Atkins said he wants to ensure the department reaches out to all relevant builder associations so no stakeholder gets blindsided when the updated fees are rolled out.
Espinoza assured the committee that DSD will continue to partner with its stakeholders regarding the fee increase.
Once the new and updated fees are rolled out, all categories of building permits will be impacted.
Although single-family and commercial developers will see a noticeable increase in their service fees, multifamily developers will feel the biggest impact. For instance, multifamily permit fees are set to rise 200% across the board, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Although DSD has been plagued with various inefficiencies and periodic permitting backlogs under City Manager T.C. Broadnax’s stewardship, Espinoza has made some changes to help improve the building permit process for customers and stakeholders.
However, despite the 180-degree turnaround in permit times, DSD still has much work ahead to make Dallas the best city in the nation for builders.