DBI reports progress on SFpermit rollout and urges deeper review of modular housing potential

At the Sept. 19 meeting the commission received a progress update on SFpermit (the Accela-based permit and project-tracking system) and a substantive discussion of modular housing and major-project trends.

Sean Buhlen, DT project manager for SFpermit, reported that testing remediation has advanced: fee calculation and performance issues are improving, parcel-related re-architecture is largely complete, and staff will run end-to-end scenario reviews before starting a formal user-acceptance test (UAT) cycle. Buhlen said the team plans to expand training from roughly three weeks to six weeks and to offer follow-up training after go-live, with timing tied to a successful UAT.

On major projects and modular housing, Director Tom Hui and deputy staff reviewed filing and construction trends and discussed modular factory visits undertaken by commissioners. Commissioners reported tours of Factory OS (Vallejo) and RAD Urban (Stockton) and said they were impressed by factory line production, potential time savings, and quality controls. Staff cautioned modular cost savings vary by project and cited staging, sheetrock/taping and waterproofing as challenges. An example offered in the discussion: a factory could produce on the order of 2,800 square feet of finished housing per day and potentially more with orders and capacity increases.

Commissioners urged DBI to add unit counts to its major-project summary reports, to organize further site visits and to educate plan-checkers and inspectors on factory-produced components. Staff said they have held meetings with OCII and other project teams to address production and inspection coordination for factory-built projects.