Inspectional Services reports faster permit review, digital plan review and staffing changes
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Summary
The Inspectional Services Department told the council it reduced average time to first review from 50 to 35 days after a plans-and-zoning reorganization, is digitizing remaining paper processes and plans a digital plan-review rollout this year.
Boston’s Inspectional Services Department told the City Council Committee on Ways and Means that reorganization and technology work are shortening permitting timelines and expanding inspection capacity.
Commissioner Tanya Del Rio said ISD issued about 36,000 building permits in 2024 and performed almost 56,000 building inspections, roughly 26,000 housing inspections, 17,000 environmental rodent-control inspections and about 16,000 health inspections of food establishments. She told councilors the department’s FY25 budget is about $23 million and that revenue can vary with construction activity.
Del Rio said a plans-and-zoning reorganization reduced average time to first review — the interval from application to the first official response — from about 50 days in 2024 to around 35 days in 2025. The department’s target is 30 days. She credited specialization of plan-review teams and new supervisory roles for much of the improvement and said the reorganization splits ‘‘simple review’’ (home-owner scale projects) from ‘‘complex review.’’
ISD is digitizing the remaining in-person processes this year — certificates of occupancy, trench permits, sheet-metal and certification forms — and plans to launch a digital plan-review software product before year-end through a citywide permitting transformation initiative. Del Rio said ISD will also roll out mobile inspection-result entry for field inspectors.
Councilors asked about staffing and vacancy dynamics. ISD reported roughly 10 plan reviewers plus two supervisors and a fire inspection engineer in its building review group; the department said it has 26 housing inspectors, 14 environmental services (rodent control) inspectors, seven plumbing inspectors, 10 electrical inspectors and 23 building inspectors, along with additional clerical staff supporting inspections. Del Rio said the department is filling positions and that roughly 40% of vacancies are being filled by internal promotions.
Del Rio said additional work remains: a public-facing dashboard showing time to permit after zoning approvals and continued reduction of a backlog of building-violation cases (open building violations dropped from roughly 5,000 to 1,500 during FY24 and FY25 work). She offered to provide councilors more specific staffing and vacancy data on request.
