Costa Mesa staff touts faster permitting after TESSA launch; users report unfinished permits and delays

City staff told the Costa Mesa Planning Commission on Jan. 27 that the city's new permitting platform, TESSA, has accelerated some workflows since its Aug. 21, 2023 launch, but multiple public commenters and applicants reported persistent operational problems.

Economic development administrator Dan Inlowes presented the update, calling TESSA "our totally electronic self-service application" and saying it now serves roughly "over 14,000 customers," supports more than 70 application types and has seen a 30% improvement in building permit review times since launch.

Why it matters: The permitting platform affects projects across the city — from small residential repairs to larger development — and processing speed or system failures can materially affect construction schedules, insurance and project costs.

What staff said

Dan Inlowes summarized the program history and metrics: the system replaced scattered legacy tools, launched on 08/21/2023, supports building permits, business licenses, planning applications and special-event permits, and now stores "over 30,000 cases and growing." He told commissioners TESSA includes about "70 applications, 370 automations, [and] 49 geographic information layers," and highlighted "Insta Permits" that can issue for simple projects (he said staff have received "close to a hundred insta permit applications" since that launch).

Inlowes also said features added since launch include improved web bandwidth, an application-selection guide, instructional videos and automated escalations to supervisors when cases exceed deadlines. He said zoning verification letters have dropped by 66% because applicants can view map-based zoning data directly.

Questions from commissioners and staff follow-up

Commissioner Martinez asked if the system tracks average permit times; Inlowes said TESSA records application start and end dates and performance reports can be run. On the 30% efficiency claim, Inlowes said the department compared averages from the first three months after go-live to averages from a recent three-month period for final inspection intervals and found a 30% aggregate improvement.

Public comments and operational concerns

Several frequent users raised operational problems. One person who identified himself as a recurring permit applicant said: "6 of the last 6 permits that I've pulled within the city since Tessa has been implemented have not been fully closed out," and reported being told there were currently "about 400, mysteriously non closed out ... permits." The speaker said unresolved closures had almost led to insurance problems and that some permit finalization took months.

Another public commenter described multiple delays and a perception that needed internal procedural fixes remain. A contractor compared Costa Mesa to neighboring cities, saying Newport Beach can process some legalizations in about a month while similar Costa Mesa matters take longer.

Staff response and next steps

Inlowes acknowledged transition challenges and described staff training, hardware upgrades and ongoing corrective work; he said supervisors receive escalation notifications for overdue items and staff are prioritizing improvements. The city will publish performance metrics to the public website; Inlowes told commissioners the goal is to post those metrics in February.

Ending

Commissioners praised staff improvements but several urged the city to form recurring-user working groups and speed fixes for stuck or unclosed permits. Staff committed to continued system tuning and to publishing clearer performance reporting.