Dallas Reacts to New Legislation Requiring Faster Building Permit Processing

Dallas Development Services appears to have overcome a bad reputation of delivering building permits in a slow, inefficient manner that costs builders money and backlogs the city’s housing availability — just in time for state legislation mandating that they need to move even faster. 

Members of the council’s Government Performance and Financial Management Committee and Ad Hoc Committee on Legislative Affairs held a joint meeting Wednesday to discuss permitting issues outlined in House Bill 14, which takes effect Friday. 

Dallas Builders Association: The City Has Essentially Eliminated Permitting Backlog

House Bill 14 relates to “third-party review of plats and property development plans, permits, and similar documents, and the inspection of an improvement related to such a document.”

It appears to be a heavy-handed attempt by the state to push permits out faster, said Councilman Chad West, who chairs the Government Performance and Financial Management Committee. 

“That’s a goal we already have here,” West said during Wednesday’s committee meeting. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but we’re still going to get it out faster than if they go through this mechanism provided by the state.” 

Dallas Development Services 

It’s complicated, but basically, the legislation guarantees that an applicant can get a permit resolved in a timely manner, even if they have to bring in their own third-party reviewer to do the inspection.  

Development Services Director Andrew Espinoza said his department has five days to pre-screen a permit and make sure the application is complete. The department has a performance goal of approving, denying, or conditionally approving the permit on Day 10 for residential projects and Day 15 for commercial projects after payment is received. 

The current code allows for cities to use a third-party reviewer to approve plats, plans, and development permits if the city does not meet a 15-day performance goal prescribed in the code, but under House Bill 14, the applicant can hire its own reviewer. 

The bill also allows applicants to appeal to City Council when their permit is denied or conditionally approved. 

“The Texas Local Government Code requires 15 days on top of the 45 days upon receiving a completed application,” Espinoza said. “Municipalities are required to comply with that 45 days. With this additional 15-day time clock, municipalities now have to approve, conditionally approve, or deny a permit within 60 days.” 

Since the Dallas Development Services permit backlog was cleaned up late last year and the Rapid SIngle Family VIP Program was implemented, permits are frequently turned around swiftly but the new legislation may be beneficial to high-volume producers, Dallas Builders Association Director of Government Affairs David Lehde told CandysDirt.com. 

“Something like this is always a continued effort,” he said. 

The new requirements still have to be codified in the city’s building code, Espinoza explained. 

“Development Services will partner closely with our City Attorney’s Office to make sure we get this right,” he said. 

Lehde said Espinoza has the department pointed in the right direction and engages frequently with the building community to determine how to improve. 

West pointed out that he hears from builders that their applications get kicked back and forth, causing the timeline to drag out.

“They end up in this sort of nebulous situation,” he said. “It goes on for weeks and weeks and weeks.”

Espinoza said those issues can be addressed through education and improving the internal checklist. 

Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins said he has a “big issue” with House Bill 14 because it’s vague.

“It’s law right now and we don’t know what the outcome is going to be,” he said. “When we have a third-party [reviewer], what is our liability?”

Builder Reaction

Lehde told CandysDirt.com that basically, the bill streamlines the approval process. 

“It allows for a third-party review in cities and counties that fail to complete that platting review or code inspection by the statutory deadlines,” he said. “It should help us because delays in the development process not only increase the cost of construction of a home and what Dallas families and Texas families can afford, but they can also negatively impact the local economy.” 

It also offers relief to cities where a backlog exists, he said. The Dallas Builders Association covers a 10-county area.

“In our view, this helps to address housing affordability,” Lehde said. 

Councilman Jesse Moreno said he believes most local builders want to be a good partner with the city and comply with the rules. 

“They just want to know what those rules are ahead of time and not to be changed in the middle of their projects.”

If a permit is denied — regardless of the time frame and whether a third-party reviewer is hired — it’s still the responsibility of the applicant to submit a plan that is code-compliant, Espinoza explained. 

Assistant City Manager Majed Al-Ghafry assured the committee members that staff is prepared to implement what is set forth in House Bill 14. 

“We’re going to be ready for Friday,” Al-Ghafry said. “Any new permits that will be submitted on that timeline, we will meet the expected timeline. On the permits that have been lagging in the past, we’ll need to catch up with those and find out where they are.”