Dallas City Council Wants Commercial Building Permits to Start at ‘Yes’ to Avoid Third-Party Review
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In the wake of new legislation that allows builders to hire their own third-party reviewer if permits aren’t issued within 45 days, the Dallas City Council’s Economic Development Committee told the Development Services Department last week to continue prioritizing faster service, particularly for commercial permits.
In a Sept. 6 committee meeting, District 1 Councilman Chad West said he feels better today than he has in four years about DSD’s ability to turn around permits quickly. However, he added, the commercial permitting process still needs some work.
“When I ask a person who’s coming through development in the City of Dallas, I would like them to tell me, ‘You know what I love about your department? They start from yes and work backward,’” West said. “I’d love to have that attitude of, ‘We want to get this through, we value your development, we value your tax revenue, we value the jobs you’re going to bring to our city.’”
West challenged the permitting staff to simplify its flowchart for a commercial permit by 33 percent within the next two years.
Assistant Development Services Director Sam Eskander explained that a complex commercial facility may require planning, zoning, platting, building services, fire reviews, water, wastewater, and drainage.
“We’re not telling the applicant, ‘Your permit is denied. You can’t do this.’ We’re just telling them it’s denial status until you address these issues,” Eskander said.
Assistant City Manager Majed Al-Ghafry agreed that the checklist could be more efficient.
“We could cut it into different pieces and carve it out and start with the word yes,” he said. “That’s something we’re working on.”
Faster Building Permits
Eskander said some applicants are seeking permits before they have the proper zoning. Instead of outright denial, those projects are getting held up while the clock runs.
“It sits for one year or two years, and people will say, ‘The permit’s been in the system for so long and I haven’t gotten my permit.’ Well, a big chunk of that time was working through [Planning and Urban Design] to get their zoning in place,” Eskander said. “We’re not really, truly seeing the depiction of how long it’s taking Development Services to issue the permit.”
Councilman Paul Ridley suggested denying the permit until the zoning is approved.
“You understand the implications,” he said. “Your statistics look bad and you’ve got these long-term periods that reflect poorly on your department where it’s not your fault. Perhaps you need to re-examine that practice and put them in a denied category or some kind of suspended category while they’re being reviewed for zoning.”
Eskander said House Bill 14 requires that such permits be denied until the zoning is cleared, so that matter has been taken care of, as of Sept. 1.
Ridley added that the existence of more than 1,100 planned developments is often used as a reason why permits take a long time but there are a limited number of PD regulations that permitting is concerned with, such as setbacks, height limitations, and floor area ratio.
“They’re not rocket science,” he said. “They’re the same as in regular zoning districts.”
Fixing The Permit Problem
Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins, who chairs the Economic Development Committee, repeatedly emphasized completing the ForwardDallas comprehensive land use plan update.
Al-Ghafry agreed that ForwardDallas is critical “to streamline planning and zoning as well as Development Services in a much more succinct manner.”
Committee members asked how they can help improve the process, whether it be through more staff or more money.
“How long is it going to take?” Councilman Omar Narvaez asked. “We’re in year three. We’ve given you everything you need and it’s still not there. What more can we do? There are some builders that never break the rules, they never skirt anything. They do everything exactly by the book. Why can’t we have some streamlined fast system for them where they can get their permits very quickly?”
Permitting offices are in the process of moving from Oak Cliff Municipal Center on Jefferson Boulevard to Stemmons Freeway, with an anticipated completion date in October. That should improve communication and efficiency, Al-Ghafry said.
“The dynamic is, we have 1,150 PDs,” he said. “This city is complex. This city is not like the surrounding cities. We started with a backlog of 900 permits. We’re catching up. There are two stages. One is to stabilize. We’ve done that. Now we need to focus on the system and the processes. That’s the next step that [Eskander] and his team are working on, including making sure that the streamline is integrated back.”
