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City officials outline permitting reforms, targets and technology plans to speed up development reviews
Summary
Kevin J. Fong, director of planning and development review, told the LUHT committee the city aims to shorten permitting by improving intake, staffing and technology — targeting a five-business-day intake review and ten-business-day plan review for small projects — and plans an EnerGov upgrade and AI pilot to reduce application incompleteness.
City officials told the Land Use, Housing and Transportation Standing Committee they are working to shorten permitting timelines through staffing, process changes and technology, while also piloting AI tools to help applicants complete forms correctly.
Kevin J. Fong, director of planning and development review, detailed five years of development activity and said the city processes roughly 18,000 building permits annually, handles about 13,000 plan submissions and conducts more than 40,000 inspections a year. "Our goal is 5 business days" to process intake and move complete applications on to plan review, Fong said, and the department targets a 10-business-day turnaround for plan review of typical small projects (those $1,500,000 or less).
Fong described improvements since moving submissions online and investing in intake staff: better front-end checks reduce incomplete filings, and when necessary the city uses third-party review firms that are given access to the permit platform. He acknowledged earlier vendor-quality issues and said the city tightened testing and compliance checks so customers experience consistent code review regardless of reviewer location.
Tech changes include a planned software upgrade (EnerGov replacement) targeted to go live in February 2027 and AI-assisted tools to help applicants fill out applications more completely at intake. Policy work tied to Code Refresh also aims to shift some projects out of time-consuming legislative entitlements (special-use permits and rezonings) into administrative review where appropriate.
Committee members pressed on equity and small-builder access to the process, and Fong said the department is adding customer-service agents and outreach materials such as permitting brochures. He also described predevelopment meetings that bring dozens of city reviewers together early in the process to surface issues (utilities, sewer lines, restrictive covenants) before formal submittal.
Fong said building inspections and final certification have been generally quick (many inspections completed within two days of request), but acknowledged periodic slippage in intake and plan-review times because of staffing turnover and spikes in complex projects. Specific cost estimates for delays were discussed conceptually by committee members but not quantified in the presentation.
