Dallas’ new online permit dashboard could help to hold local officials accountable for the City’s backlogged building permit process.

The City’s permit turnaround times ballooned from an average of three days in 2019 to the mid 40s in recent months, historical permit data show. Many of the issues have arisen from software problems, low staffing levels, mismanagement, and a lack of leadership from Dallas’ city manager, who oversees the process.

At the end of January, Dallas’ Development Services Department (DSD) launched its Residential Permit Activity Dashboard, an online tool designed to track monthly residential permit activity and metrics throughout the city.

DSD’s online dashboard features 10 different trackable metrics. These include: Permit Applications Submitted, Permits Issued, Median Issued Days, Permits In Queue, Permit Applications Submitted and Issued by Month, Media Issued Days by Month, Permits in Queue by Staff/Applicant, Permits in Queue by Stage, Permits by Number of Revisions, and Initial Review Start Met Goal.

In January, DSD reported a total of 466 single-family permits in its queue, according to data from the department’s online dashboard. Permit activity shows that 89 applications were submitted, and 213 permits were issued over the course of the month. Of the 466 permits in the department’s queue, 133 were with staff, while 269 were back with the applicant for revision.

DSD notes that the status of the remaining 64 permits in the queue was “unavailable” due to being submitted on paper instead of online.

DSD’s queue of single-family building permits is separated into several review stages. These include the prescreen review, the department review, and the post-review, according to Dallas’ Development Guide.

In the prescreen review stage, the City reviews the application to ensure the requirements and standards have been met. If they have not been met, the applicant is notified and required to upload corrections before moving to the next stage.

Last month, 27 permits were with applicants during the prescreen review stage, while the status of one application was unavailable due to being submitted via paper, according to DSD’s online dashboard.

The department review, stage two, begins once initial fees are paid. It ends when all department reviews have been completed, meaning the permit is ready for final approval.

Each permit undergoes an initial review in this stage to determine if the plan needs corrections. If so, the applicant must correct and resubmit the application.

This resubmission begins an additional review cycle. If no corrections are needed during the department review, there will only be a single review cycle. During the department review phase last month, 154 permits were listed with the applicant, while 128 were with DSD staff, dashboard data show.

The third and final stage is post-review, which begins once all department reviews are complete and the permit is ready for final approval. Post-review ends after the final fees have been paid and the applicant has been issued approved plans. In January, DSD reported that 88 permits were with applicants in post-review, and four were with DSD staff.

Last month, 78% of initial reviews were completed in accordance with the department’s internal guidelines.

The department’s internal goal is to complete the initial review process within a 15-day period. In total, 49 were completed in 15 days or fewer, whereas 14 permits were not, according to data from the online dashboard.

Whether paper filings will be integrated into DSD’s tracking of the permit backlog remains unclear.

With single-family permit data now centralized in one location, it should be easier to track the department’s month-to-month progress and to gauge DSD Director Andrew Espinoza’s and Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax’s management of permit bottlenecks and bloated turnaround times.

The Dallas Express contacted Espinoza and reached out to City Manager Broadnax via email about what prompted the department to create its new online dashboard and how the community has responded to its recent rollout. Neither responded by the publishing deadline.