Dallas will move its permitting office to a newly purchased tower on Stemmons Freeway in the hopes that it will become a true “one-stop shop” experience.
Andrew Espinoza, the city’s development services department director, said the move has been a long time coming and that the “new building is going to provide a customer service experience that our residents, contractors and business owners deserve.”
The city attempted to purchase a new location for the permit office multiple times before settling on the location at 7800 North Stemmons in August, Assistant City Manager Robert Perez said. The city council approved the purchase of the high-rise for $14 million from Ricchi Group, a Dallas-based investor.
Between considerations of space, functionality and price, the new building, a 15-minute drive from the Oak Cliff Municipal Center where the office is located, is an appropriate choice, Perez said.
Renovations to the building will begin by October and the city will phase the office’s move to the new building so it doesn’t disrupt permitting services. The entire development services department, which runs the permit center, should be settled in by spring 2023, city bond director Adriana Castaneda said.
Espinoza said he hopes the layout of the new building will help to streamline the permitting process.
“Really what we’re trying to do is be able to create an environment where you feel like there’s momentum and movement,” he said.
Officials have been working to cut down on long building permitting delays, an issue that has been a thorn in the side of the city for at least two years and contributed to an attempted firing of City Manager T.C. Broadnax in June.
Broadnax pledged to reduce wait times for commercial and residential building permits in his 100-day plan addressing a variety of city issues that he announced last month. Strategies for addressing the delays include throwing out applications that have been inactive for over 60 days and publishing charts online detailing the permit process for the public.
Other changes include newly budgeted permit center positions, extra training for employees, updated technology and performance measures.
Now, the new building is part of the mix that officials hope will turn things around as well.
The office’s building in Oak Cliff is “kind of like a maze,” Espinoza said, and navigating offices located on various floors often leaves customers disoriented. Parking is a challenge as well, something officials hope that a 700-space parking garage at the new location will alleviate.
The city is still working on floor plans for the new location but they seek an “open concept” with employees from various departments involved in the permitting process, such as water utilities and housing, setting up tables and kiosks on the first floor for walk-in customers.
“You want to be able to direct people to a counter as opposed to chasing people down from building to building or office to office,” he said.
The relocation is especially timely because the office is outgrowing its space in Oak Cliff, the result of freshly budgeted positions for the department.
Development services recently hired 39 employees and plans to hire 15 more, filling roles that have the greatest need, such as plan examiners, permit technicians, call center agents and inspectors. New positions on their expedited plan review team, known as the “Q-TEAM,” and an affordable housing team are a part of the mix, too, Espinoza said.
Following the first phase of the move, which will include development services and some staff from departments that assist in the permitting process, such as building inspection, water utilities and fire, the city will assess how much space is left in the building, at least 30 percent of which is occupied by other tenants.
“Once that transition occurs then we’ll look to see what remaining space is there and look for other opportunities for departments to move there,” Perez said.
Espinoza said the move “has truly been a long time coming” and though he’s not satisfied with where they are with permitting services at the moment, he believes they are on the “right path.”
