Brownsville launches Accela/GWIZ permit wizard, aims to ease permitting for residents and businesses

City planning staff outlined changes to the Accela permitting platform and the new GWIZ permit wizard at the Oct. 7 Brownsville City Commission meeting, saying the updates are designed to help nonprofessional applicants navigate permitting and reduce common application errors.

Daniel Leal, director of planning and redevelopment services, explained the update adds a customer-facing layer over Accela that walks applicants through a series of narrowing questions and transfers key information directly into the permitting record. Leal said staff conducted multiple outreach and training sessions over six weeks, engaging more than 100 users across training pop-ups, library events and business outreach.

Elena Davies, the city’s Accela/GWIZ manager, demonstrated how GWIZ asks a user whether they have a location, whether a building exists at an address and other binary questions that help route applicants to the correct permit type. She said the team added prominent quick links for common actions — apply for a permit, check permit status, schedule inspections, pay fees and report concerns — and that a Google Translate option is available on the public interface.

Davies said the city went live with GWIZ on Sept. 2 and plans to publish video walk-throughs from the communications department. She also described technical improvements such as a map-based address lookup to avoid common address-search failures, and upcoming plan-review tool updates (DigiPlan) that will reduce document upload issues.

Commissioners and residents praised the outreach and training. One commissioner asked whether the system is bilingual; staff confirmed a Google Translate option is available and said the city will provide additional help and training resources. Staff also said homeowners can initiate some permits and add a contractor later, depending on permit type.