(TNS) — Similar to Honolulu’s infamous months-long wait for a building permit, city Planning and Permitting Director Dawn Takeuchi Apuna said even data detailing the problematic permit backlog is not available.
“I usually have a PowerPoint and a chart,” she told the City Council’s Planning and Economy Committee at a meeting Thursday morning, “but the staff member who collects that data for me was on vacation, so I don’t have that specific data on where we are with the backlog .”
Instead she said the DPP’s new high-tech plan to track, in real time, the status and location of someone’s planning permission application.
“Some of the technologies that are coming will give us instant dashboards where I’ll be able to look on my computer every morning and see exactly where the permits are and how many (are) in different areas,” she said.
At a press conference on March 27, the DPP director announced some of those technology initiatives — including ones that use artificial intelligence — to provide what the city says will be automation, transparency and guidance to streamline the permitting process.
To that end, DPP will move away from its POSSE licensing software system of the late 1990s and launch new software that meets “current industry standards” and “will put us at the forefront of the industry,” she said.
The new system, CLARITI — run by Speridian Technologies — is an “all-in-one licensing platform,” she said.
The system, which has been operational since February, is a $5.6 million project that is expected to be completed in 18 months or by the fall of 2025, the city says.
At Thursday’s board meeting, Takeuchi Apuna said the DPP was “in the sixth week of the discovery phase” for CLARITI. “Later this month, we will move into the development phase,” she added.
The money for the system comes from Honolulu’s receipt of $386 million in 2021 from the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (FRF), as part of the federal government’s $1.3 trillion US bailout package, city officials said.
Another system, ProjectDox from Avolve Software that launched in July, is an upgrade to ePlans. That project will allow building permit applicants to add “stakeholders” — such as contractors or landowners — to see permit status and city comments, the city says.
“(It’s ) a six-month implementation,” she said. “It launched last week, and it will bring faster relief in terms of transparency of where your license is.”
She added that “new permits will probably come in, once the implementation happens. It’s still a bit uncertain. But it should bring some benefits in the next six months.”
That system upgrade, also paid for with FRF money, cost $206,000, the city says.
In addition, the DPP will implement a pilot project, CivCheck, which uses artificial intelligence-based software to review building plans and codes.
“(It’s ) a five-month project, and we’re two months in and we’re starting beta testing next week,” she said. “And that one is very interesting and exciting because it helps guide the applicant through the code review and helps the code reviewer see exactly the plans, the applicable code, and how and if the applicant is compliant.”
Takeuchi Apuna said the DPP hopes to enter into an agreement with Granicus on its short-term rental platform “which will help with implementation and registration”.
“It will be a six-month implementation,” she said. “The order has been placed and we are just waiting for notification to proceed. So we expect to start next week.”
She noted that another outsourcing contract, which includes a “request for bid” proposal for commercial project code reviewers, was announced last month.
“And April 15 will be the deadline for bids,” she said. “That contract will be a 22-month contract, but we will be able to take from a variety of eligible contractors, not necessarily just one.”
However, the details and associated costs for Granicus and the new code reviewers were not mentioned at the meeting. After the meeting, the DPP did not immediately respond to questions about these contracts.
Summarizing the efforts to transform the DPP, Takeuchi Apuna compared it to modern air travel.
“It’s like Hawaiian Airlines flying over the Pacific with major engine problems and we have angry passengers and customers, but we’re continuing to serve while we make these major changes,” she said. “So to get to this point, with all this acquisition, it’s kind of a big milestone.”
She added: “You don’t just pay someone and think this can be done, there’s a lot of sourcing, working with suppliers and consultants, especially with the staff who are part of that whole process.”
In the next 18 months, she pointed out, “all these projects should be fully realized”.
“It’s going to be heavy and heavy lifting, and mostly for the staff,” she said. “They are the ones who help to move this mountain and really see these things.”
At the meeting, Council Vice President Esther Kia ‘aina questioned whether the new code reviewers would be limited to commercial permits only.
“You’re also going to deal with residential permits, correct?” asked Kia ‘ain.
Takeuchi Apuna replied, “Well, we believe that the backlog … will be covered with housing.”
“Do you have it under control?” asked Kia ‘ain.
“We think so,” said Takeuchi Apuna.
During a special meeting of the same council committee in July, Takeuchi Apuna told the commission that her staff had been able to reduce the backlog of 3,600 applications awaiting pre-screening by nearly 70 percent.
“Today we are at about 1,100,” she said in July. “So it’s a big drop and I think the staff is working hard on it.”
On average, she said, the permit review process has gone from nearly 10 months — or nearly 300 days — to just about six months, or less than 200 days.
As of November 2022, the backlog for pre-screening building permit applications — namely, to verify that building plans meet the city’s filing requirements — has dropped from six months to about 2-1/2 months, she said last year.
But during his fourth State of the City address on March 14, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said he no longer has the DPP’s previous backlog of pre-review applications.
“A year ago I was standing here explaining how the DPP is using artificial intelligence to pre-screen applications and that the average waiting time before being screened has gone from an average of five months to an average of five weeks,” he said during his address. . “Today it takes three days – and the backlog is completely eliminated.”
On March 27, Takeuchi Apuna confirmed that the total permit backlog in the DPP continues.
“Once we did the pre-review backlog and got rid of that, it changed,” she said. “In terms of numbers, I think we’re kind of stable, I think we’re kind of stable at 12 months for commercial and maybe six months for residential; I think that’s kind of stable.”
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser asked the DPP for the number of pending permits awaiting review, but did not receive that information by Thursday’s deadline.
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