Dallas is making slow but positive progress in solving its building permit backlog, but city officials still have a long way to go before the problem is fully fixed.
At the end of November, Development Services Department (DSD) Director Andrew Espinoza announced that DSD had successfully cleared its backlog of “overdue” permit reviews. Still, building permit data shows that the backlog of permits “yet to be issued” remains high.
Even though local officials received their first bit of positive news since Espinoza accepted the role as the chief building official in June, City Manager T.C. Broadnax and others still have more to accomplish before they can pat themselves on the back.
Earlier this year, Broadnax promised that Dallas’ building permit issues would be resolved by October, making it a top priority in his 100-day performance improvement plan. Alas, only a modest amount of progress has been made in solving the problem.
Espinoza and Assistant City Manager Majed Al-Ghafry, who oversees development services, cite the current staffing shortage as the primary reason for the delays. He added that issues tracking permit applications, problems with the permitting software, and trouble navigating the city’s zoning code are others.
Despite DSD’s announcement that it had cleared out all initial overdue reviews, the department still needs to fully resolve the many issues impacting the initial review process and the subsequent issuance times, according to Espinoza.
On an annual basis, DSD’s 50-day October issuance time was 14 days longer than it took during the same month in 2021, according to DSD’s November newsletter.
Before the nation’s unprecedented shutdown from the COVID-19 pandemic, DSD was able to review and issue an NSF (new single-family) permit within a three-day average period, according to the department’s 2019 permit data.
In terms of month-over-month progress, DSD “processed” 168 permit applications in October, according to data from November’s newsletter. This represented a 60% decrease compared to September’s data.
On the other hand, DSD said the number of NSF permits “issued” in October was 344, a 54% increase from the month prior.
Even though the department has experienced slight month-over-month progress on the permitting front, the average time it takes to issue a residential building permit is about 16 times as long as it was in 2019.
Other notable metrics for October include 35 NSF permits issued the same day via the Rapid Single-Family VIP Program (RSVP) and 604 reviews performed by third-party vendors. Overall, DSD said it achieved a total of 1,501 residential plan reviews for the month.
The only option customers and developers have to speed up the building permit process is using DSD’s Q-Team. The Q-Team is an alternate plan review process that allows applicants to pay for an accelerated or expedited plan review. Q-Team fees are charged in addition to all other fees required.
One of the tools that facilitated DSD’s ability to clear its backlog of overdue permit reviews was the department’s electronic plan review system (EPRS). The EPRS helped reduce processing times by allowing department staff of different disciplines to review the same set of customer plans concurrently.
At the end of October, a demanding month for DSD and its residential plan review staff, Espinoza informed Dallas City Council members that issues were likely to persist for years.
During the meeting, Espinoza gave a deadline of September 2023 to accomplish his various department goals. These include issuing residential building permits within three to five business days, improving response time to customers to within 24 hours, and having at least 75% of surveyed customers report satisfaction with city service.
“If we can’t have people build, we won’t have more people move here; we won’t have our businesses grow,” said Council Member Cara Mendelsohn of District 12. “Already, every person on this council hears people say, ‘It’s just too hard to work with Dallas.'”
Dallas’ two most prominent officials, Mayor Eric Johnson and City Manager Broadnax, each failed to make an appearance during October’s City Council meeting, during which the council addressed one of the last building permit agendas of the year.
Given the lackluster results of a department audit by Matrix Consulting Group, DSD still has a long way to go before local professionals deem the building permit backlog resolved.
A complete list of DSD’s various 2022–2023 goals and metrics can be found here.