Denver Permitting Office outlines 180-day review clock, 90-day affordable-housing fast track and new customer tools

The Denver Permitting Office (DPO) briefed the City Council’s Community Planning and Housing Committee on Oct. 7 on efforts to centralize permitting, shorten review timeframes and launch a 90-day fast-track approval pilot for qualifying affordable-housing projects.

DPO Director Jill Jennings Golic said the office was established by Executive Order 151, effective May 14, to centralize alignment, accountability and coordination of development permitting across city departments. Jennings Golic said DPO is part of the mayor’s office and does not have a separate line-item budget; the office coordinates departmental staff who remain in their home agencies.

Jennings Golic and other staff described three major initiatives: a “one-and-done” concept-review process intended to reduce early-stage cycles; a citywide 180-calendar-day city-review clock with an associated refund policy for applicants when city time exceeds that limit; and a three-phase, 90-day “fast track” process for multifamily projects that use Proposition 1, 2 and 3 funding.

“One-and-done repositions the concept phase as more of a report of findings and direction to our customers,” said Jill Jennings Golic, director of the Denver Permitting Office. She said the change has reduced the number of review cycles applicants experience.

On the 180-day rule, Jennings Golic said the city now documents when the “city clock” starts and stops and is tracking city time, customer time and joint time. If…