Citizen Portal
Sign In

Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows

Get Lifetime Access

Port Orchard to pilot Permittable AI to let applicants pre-screen building plans

Port Orchard Land Use Committee · February 19, 2026

Loading...

AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Staff proposed a one-year pilot and data-sharing agreement with Permittable AI to let applicants optionally prescreen plans; McCormick Communities’ testing suggested the tool caught about 85% of initial review comments, and staff will track whether prescreening reduces review cycles.

Nick Bond, community development director, told the committee the city plans to enter a pilot program and data-sharing agreement with Permittable AI to let applicants prescreen building plans before formal submission.

Bond said McCormick Communities ran trial uploads and found Permittable identified roughly 85% of the comments the city issued in its first review cycle. "They were catching about 85% of the comments that the city is making in its first round of review," he said. Under the proposed pilot, the city would share certain public-records data with Permittable so the company can calibrate its reports for Port Orchard’s local code and amendments.

Permittable would offer a free prescreening during the trial period; Bond said the company’s reports take a few hours to generate and typically contain a multi-page matrix of administrative, architectural and code items that applicants can correct before applying. City staff will include a checkbox on permit applications asking whether applicants used the prescreening tool and whether they changed plans as a result so the city can measure whether prescreening shortens review times.

Bond emphasized the pilot is optional and includes legal disclaimers recommended by the city attorney about public records and vesting: using Permittable does not vest a permit application. He said staff will test the tool on a sample of existing permit reviews before widely publicizing it and will ask the City Council to authorize the contract and resolution next Tuesday.