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DBI defends permit performance metrics and outlines Accela rollout, over-the-counter efforts
Summary
DBI told the Building Inspection Commission that 96.3% of its permits are issued over the counter or online and that delays cited in an analyst report undercount time taken by design professionals and other city agencies; staff described outreach, over-the-counter screening and Accela testing status.
Department of Building Inspection officials on Wednesday responded to a newly released Budget and Legislative Analyst report about commercial storefront permit review times, saying the report undercounts the extent of over-the-counter processing and omits delays caused by design professionals and other city agencies.
Deputy Director Dan Lawrie said 96.3% of DBI permits are issued over the counter or online in the fiscal years cited and that small-business projects often require multiple agency approvals (public works, public utilities commission, fire, urban forestry). He told the commission DBI is proactively screening eligible small projects for an over-the-counter process and reaching out to design professionals to encourage faster responses.
"Those are stats that an assistant director reported to us," Lawrie said, adding that the report does not capture the time owners and design professionals take to return plan-review responses. He told commissioners that a total of 59,824 permits were reported as processed over the counter in the cited period.
Commissioners and staff discussed ways to increase transparency and reduce delays: adding owner email addresses to intake forms, using an Accela citizen portal (also referred to as Acela in the meeting) to show permit status, and colocating other agencies in a brick-and-mortar permit center so applicants can get multi-agency intake assistance.
Henry Bartley of the Department of Technology reported on the Accela implementation project: user acceptance testing had identified 328 issues earlier in April and the project team had reduced that to 260 open severity-1/2 issues that must be resolved before the system can proceed to full end-to-end testing and go-live. Bartley said the team will add business-simulation testing and three weeks of staff training prior to launch.
Commissioners urged DBI staff to apply successful elements of the ADU coordinated intake to small commercial projects and recommended clear notifications so owners can see whether a permit is awaiting a response from a design professional or another agency.
DBI said it is already piloting outreach calls where staff call and follow up with design professionals when comments are outstanding, and that staff will pursue broader interagency cooperation to copy owners on comment emails and improve visibility through the Accela portal.
The commission asked DBI to return with updates about Accela testing progress, OTC screening volume and measures to show where permits are held up in the multi-agency review process.
