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Committee forwards commercial-permit fee changes, expedited-review cap increase to City Council
Summary
The Economic Development Committee voted to send an ordinance to City Council to revise commercial remodel permit fees, increase the expedited (Q-team) review cap and consolidate low-use fees; staff said delaying the change is costing the department roughly $1.1 million per month.
The Economic Development Committee on April 7 voted to forward proposed amendments to building-permit fees to the full City Council, after hearing staff describe shortfalls caused by an earlier coding error and a recommended set of fee adjustments.
What staff proposed and why Catherine Lee, assistant director for Planning and Development, told the committee that the department commissioned a consulting study and that a fee-change implementation error reduced collections for higher-valuation commercial remodel permits. Staff recommended reverting to the pre-May 1, 2024 fee schedule with a 33% inflation adjustment for future years to correct the shortfall.
Lee said that, through Feb. 19 of the fiscal year, actual revenue under the incorrect schedule was approximately $2.9 million; restoring the prior schedule would have produced about $5.6 million and the consultant's proposed schedule would have generated $8.4 million. She told the committee that for every month the ordinance is delayed the department is foregoing roughly $1.1 million in expected revenue.
Other proposed changes the committee agreed to forward: - Raise the cap and hourly allowance for the Q-team expedited plan review (the current cap is two hours/$2,000 for projects under 10,000 sq. ft.). Staff recommended increasing the cap to $10,000 or up to 10 hours; statistics cited in the briefing showed many projects exceed the current two-hour cap. - Consolidate and simplify low-use administrative fees (zoning verification and address assignments) into more transparent, tiered charges ($302 for zoning verification; $50 per address/suite for address assignment, as described by staff). - Eliminate certain low- or no-utilization fees identified by staff to streamline the fee schedule and improve efficiency.
Committee action Councilman Ridley moved that the item be forwarded to the City Council for consideration and approval; the motion was seconded and the committee voted in favor.
What happens next Staff told the committee they plan to present an ordinance to City Council on April 23 and that any change would take effect July 1 to allow time for systems testing and to avoid the data-migration errors that occurred previously when the city transitioned to the new fee structure. Staff also noted the Dallas Now land-management system will go live May 5 and the department needs time to implement the corrected fee logic before that launch.
Ending Committee members agreed the fee fixes and the Q-team cap increase were needed and asked staff to ensure clean ordinance language and correct implementation in the city's systems prior to the April 23 council agenda.
