Development center reports slightly slower review times, cites software change that alters 2026 permit counts
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Summary
The city’s development center told the Economic Development Project Team that overall review times are a bit above a five-day target—nearly seven days for commercial projects—and that a software change now shows earlier-approved work as 'under construction', making 2026 permit counts appear higher than 2025.
Jonathan Overman, with the city’s development center, told the Economic Development Project Team that the department’s target for returning comments and approvals is five days but that the team is currently running slightly above that target, particularly on commercial reviews.
"Our target is to hit that 5 days return on any comments or approvals," Overman said, adding that commercial reviews are “getting close to 7” days because of project complexity and delays in mechanical reviews. He called the mechanical-review backlog a primary contributor to the slower commercial turnaround time.
The report also explained a recent change to how the department counts permits. Overman said a software and scripting upgrade now shows units in their approval or construction stage rather than listing only completed, certified permits. "A lot of the stuff that you see in 2026 was probably approved in 2025 and would have been a part of that number in that previous form," he said, noting the shift makes early-2026 permit counts look higher than previous reports even though some of that work was approved the year before.
Overman reviewed high-level construction metrics. He said the city had a near-record construction year last year—"just shy of $1,000,000,000 in construction value"—and that 2026 is starting a bit below that level but includes several projects on the horizon that could increase value later in the year.
On inspections, Overman said building and electrical teams are meeting a next-day site-response expectation, while plumbing and mechanical inspections average about two weeks. He announced an expanded contract with Safe Built to add plumbing services and said staff are working with the state to ease registration for inspectors to help recruit and fill vacancies.
Overman closed the report by listing recently issued permits, including a Sullivan baseball-field permit, a five-unit townhome in Ward 2, and approval for a $6,200,000 improvement at Ottawa Hills High School. The development center opened the item to questions and provided a housing detail sheet showing where projects sit in the approval and completion process.
The department said it will continue work to reduce mechanical-review delays, monitor how the new permit-counting approach affects year-to-year comparisons, and use the expanded Safe Built contract to tighten inspection turnaround times.
