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Port Orchard council approves voluntary Permittable AI pilot to pre-screen residential plans
Summary
The council unanimously authorized a one-year, voluntary pilot with Permittable AI to let applicants pre-screen single-family/residential plans before city submittal; staff emphasized disclaimers and data-sharing risks and limited the pilot to residential IRC-level permits.
The Port Orchard City Council unanimously approved a resolution on Feb. 24 authorizing a voluntary, one-year pilot agreement with Permittable AI to let applicants pre-screen single-family and single-family residential plans before submitting them to the city.
Nick Bond, director of the Department of Community Development, described how the system works: users create an account, upload plans and receive an AI-generated report that flags likely plan-review comments. Bond said McCormack Communities has already used the tool privately and reported it had identified roughly 85% of comments that city staff later raised for that project. The city will test the system first by running 13 previously reviewed plans through Permittable AI to compare results and then provide permit-comment matrices as calibration data if the tool proves useful.
Council members pressed staff on three core issues: scope, privacy and timing risks. Staff and the city attorney said the pilot is strictly voluntary; the city will place a link on its website but will not host applicants' sensitive documents on city servers. Bond cautioned that applicants who run plans through an outside tool and then delay formal submittal risk changes in code or "vesting" questions; staff will include disclaimers explaining that the tool is used "at your own risk." Council also limited the pilot to residential IRC-type reviews and said the city is not endorsing the vendor for commercial or IBC-grade reviews.
Why it matters: Staff argued the tool may reduce the number of review cycles for common residential projects and free staff capacity for more complex commercial reviews and customer assistance. Several council members supported a pilot to evaluate real-world effect; others urged careful privacy disclosure and monitoring.
Vote and implementation: Council approved the resolution and authorized the mayor to enter into an agreement with Permittable AI. Staff will report back with calibration results and, at the end of the pilot, recommend whether to continue, modify, pay for a city subscription, or allow applicants to continue paying the vendor directly.
Representative quote: "Running an application through the program prior to submittal to the city would be entirely voluntary on the part of the applicant," Bond said during his presentation.
