Builders: Dallas permit system better, but still lags

This summer, Dallas city manager T.C. Broadnax went from almost losing his job to tacking on a big raise to his six-figure salary.

For months, a huge backlog of building permit applications was throttling the city’s housing pipeline in the middle of a boom when developers couldn’t build homes fast enough. Much of the problems stemmed from changes to the permitting process due to the pandemic, but business groups, developers and politicians increasingly laid the blame for the continued delays on Broadnax.

The frustration came to a head in early June when Mayor Eric Johnson called for Broadnax to be fired, and the Dallas City Council scheduled a closed meeting to discuss Broadnax’s job performance.

But momentum for Broadnax’s speedy removal fizzled quickly. Before the end of the month, the mayor went from leading the charge against Broadnax to making a public statement with the city manager that the two would be “moving forward together.” Those hoping to hold Broadnax to account were sorely disappointed in August when was awarded with a 3 percent raise to his $410,919 salary.

“I was shocked, frankly,” says Phil Crone of the Dallas Builders Association, a one-time proponent of the effort to oust Broadnax in June. “It made me wonder, you know, who’s working for who here? Is the council really the one who employs him?”

Crone told The Real Deal that despite the truce between Broadnax and the mayor, the council is still split on whether the city manager should keep his job.

In 2021, Crone likened the city’s permitting office to a “60s-era bomb shelter” — and not just in terms of decor. The office’s computers are so out-of-date that most don’t even have basics such as a mouse, much less the large monitors necessary to examine complex, modern construction documents, he said.

Outdated tech and a dingy office hurts the department’s ability to recruit and retain talent, and the office suffered heavy attrition during Covid, according to Dallas homebuilder Alan Hoffmann, who said that when several key positions — including director of development services — were left unfilled “the Titanic really hit the iceberg.”

There has been some improvement in the permitting over the summer, however, not least with the appointment of Andrew Espinoza as the permanent director of development services in June.
“We’ve got someone that’s actually driving the boat,” Hoffman said, adding that the new department head even gave him and other builders his personal phone number.

“I see a big difference in how our team is responding. Are we perfect? Absolutely not,” Espinoza said “It’s about building those relationships with the builders.”

Crone, who represents Dallas developers, said he trusts that the department is making a genuine effort to fix the permitting system, but pointed out that it’s still working through its backlog.

“Last week we surveyed our membership, asking them how long it has taken or is taking them on recent permits,” Crone told The Real Deal on Oct. 12. “More than 80 percent of the 90-plus homes surveyed took 10+ weeks for a permit according to the builder who applied for them. That’s much longer than any surrounding cities and shows that Dallas still has an awfully long way to go in sorting this out.”

One of the department’s initiatives to speed residential permitting is the Rapid Single-Family VIP Program (RSVP), which went into effect on September 1.

The program allows applicants to meet directly with the Dallas Development Services team to review plans and sort out problems with the aim of issuing new single-family permits on the same day.

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Dallas Builders Association member Sean Parsons said he’s noticed a definite improvement.

“When I went back with minor modifications, I went and paid fees two and half hours later, and I walked out with approved plans,” says Parsons.

One of the main issues with the previous system was that the department did not start the review process until developers had paid the fees, according to Parsons, but there were many times when the payment system itself was down so he couldn’t pay.

Parsons had several applications that he had submitted in January but wasn’t able to pay for until March, and as a result, the projects were not approved until June. Now, however, he says the city has made substantial progress in issuing permits more quickly, but he feels there is still progress to be made regarding the costs.

“It is easier to get permits, but it’s not any less expensive,” Parsons said. “By the time we’re ready to sell them, that’s where all the costs are. It’s not a crazy profitable business.”

In fact, the RSVP initiative actually increases the cost of getting a timely permit. Under the program, city staff meet directly with the applicant — by appointment — to review the designs and documentation of the project to speed the process. But the appointments cost $200 per hour — with a minimum booking of two hours, though the actual review can end up taking even longer.

In this respect, Crone likens the expedited program to a “pay-for-play type of system.”

“That’s great at some point, but when I’m still getting calls from people who are stuck for 12, 13, 14 weeks in the system waiting for a building permit, I don’t think it’s very fair to have a couple people that can open their wallets and move to the front of the line.”

Another initiative the city has in the works is a Fast Track Master Plan, which will allow developers of large communities to get approval for standard designs to be used for many homes across a development rather than have to file secure permits for each identical home as they are built.

The office is also in the process of upgrading its technology.

Inspectors have been issued tablets to handle paperwork and communicate with the office, for example, and an August study by the Matrix Consulting Group assessing the department’s workflow attributed the devices with 99 percent of inspections scheduled before 7am being completed by the end of the day.

Furthermore, the department will be moving to a brand new office early next year that will consolidate all builder services into a “one-stop shop” for developers.

“We want them to be able to really just walk the floor and get stuff done, instead of walking from building to building,” Espinoza said. The new facility has already been purchased and renovation designs are about 90 percent finalized. Espinoza expects the teams will be able to move in by early next year.

Hoffmann said he was particularly excited about the new digs off Stemmons Highway — especially what will be outside.

“They’re actually gonna have parking for the builders that need to go down there,” he said, pointing out that a lack of parking was a major complaint among builders who had to deal with the office. “I mean, yeah, we feel bad for them working there, but we also can’t find a place to park.”

While Hoffmann, like many of his fellow Dallas builders, says that the department is making genuine strides in the right direction, he does believe the issue had to be forced on Broadnax to get him to make changes.

“It’s critical for the city of Dallas,” he said. “It’s such a shame to see families that want to live closer in [to the city center] have difficulty getting permits and building homes… it’s the lifeblood of the city.”

Crone agreed that Broadnax needed a wakeup call, and believes that the June confrontation should have come sooner.

“It should’ve been done three years ago,” said Crone.