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The city has closed its bidding period for vendors to bid on the installation of a new automated system that is expected to shorten the Department of Planning and Permits permit approval process by nearly three months. .
The solicitation was released on September 8. DPP spokesman Curtis Lum said in an email that the department won’t know until after Friday, when the period ends, how many vendors had bid on the project. Only paper bids were accepted.
The city wants the new system to be installed by October 15 and operational by October 31 once staff have been trained.
Mayor Rick Blangiardi said the move was taken to address the department’s long wait times for permits. It also comes at a time when the DPP is experiencing a management reshuffle after former director Dean Uchida resigned in early September over differences with Blangiardi over how to improve the struggling department.
“The pre-screening process, which basically takes over five months on its own…we think we can do it in a day once we catch up with the backlog,” Blangiardi said. “We think the backlog will take us maybe a week to 10 days at most to clear that.”
More than half of permit applications reviewed by DPP staff during the screening process are rejected and returned to applicants for further information or corrections. The hope is that an automated process will allow DPP staff to focus on the most complex requests and those ready for processing.
Screening primarily checks the formatting of the permit application so that it can be easily reviewed in the next stage, where DPP staff verify compliance with city codes and ordinances.
DPP officials will not comment on exactly how the new screening system works until the procurement process is complete. However, per the city’s request, the system should be able to automatically check requests to ensure they meet DPP guidelines on report sheet size, adequate space for DPP stamps, appropriate file names, sheet numbering for drawings, and other settings.
The RFP also requires the vendor to train DPP employees to implement the new system.
It takes about 246 days on average – more than eight months – from the time a permit application is submitted for approval to issuance, according to a presentation by DPP staff at a zoning committee meeting and city council planning on Thursday.
Currently, when a permit application is submitted, it sits in the screening queue for an average of 110 days before being reviewed by DPP staff, which could take up to 10 additional days, said the Department. After that, the app waits in another queue for an average of 81 days before undergoing code and order review by staff, which can take around 34 days.
It may then take up to 10 days for the permit to be approved and issued, which includes collection of payment from the applicant.
DPP said the new automated system is expected to reduce the screening queue and examination to two days in total. The faster screening, however, means permit applications will likely pile up for code and order reviews, with that queue dropping from 81 days to 129 days.
The code review process will remain at 34 days on average, but it should only take one day, not up to 10 days, for approval and publication.
Overall, DPP said the new automated system would shorten the entire authorization process by 79 days.
DPP Acting Director Dawn Takeuchi Apuna explained that often during the 34-day code review phase, the request is referred back to the requestor for further work and not to DPP staff.
“Eighty-three percent of the time, because when those plans come in and the reviewers review them, they comment on what needs to be corrected or changed, and that comes back to the applicant,” she said during Thursday’s committee meeting.
“So this time, even if it’s counted, it’s with the applicant and he makes changes or he can stick to it. So that gives you a better idea of the timelines,” said Takeuchi Apuna. “It’s not just stuck in the DPP… there’s this ongoing process of the applicant making the changes and it comes and goes.”
The head of the DPP’s customer service division, Clayton Shimazu, added that although the new screening system is expected to shorten the overall permit application process to 167 days, it could still be streamlined. He said the 129-day queue for the code and ordinances review could be reduced with more staff.
DPP is in the process of filling 80 vacancies, as well as creating new ones.
Ideally, Shimazu wants to see the permit processing time further reduced to 100 to 120 days next year, but he said it would take time to train new recruits.
“I have a challenge ahead of me, but I can’t do it myself. I need the people and we need to understand that this is not instant pudding, (this is) a six month training,” he said.
BLANGIARDI COMMENDED the performance of Takeuchi Apuna as Acting Director and her understanding of the issues facing the DPP.
“We have a lot of really good people at DPP who really know their business, and to be able to engage them, involve them in the process, while also working externally, because for stakeholders and not just business accounts but overall , there’s a lot at stake with this department. That’s the kind of collaborative leader I want,” he said.
The mayor said he believed the problems at the DPP could be resolved “internally, with existing staff and leadership within the department…. The feeling before was that we could do this with all the external consultants, and philosophically there’s just a different opinion.
Council member Esther Kiaaina urged Takeuchi Apuna to fill the two vacancies of deputy director, one created when Takeuchi Apuna was named acting director and the other when Eugene Takashi left the department earlier this year.
DPP also lost chief innovation strategist Danette Maruyama, who left with Uchida.
The head of the department’s land use permits division, Katia Balassiano, is also expected to leave soon. She has been the resource person on controversial bills related to shoreline management, such as Bill 41, which would increase shoreline setbacks for new development.
Another measure, Bill 42, would adjust laws for special management areas.
The department is also handling a major overhaul of the city’s land use ordinances via Bill 10 and is beginning to implement new short-term rental laws that were passed in April.
Kiaaina asked if the DPP has the capacity to move forward with Bills 10, 41 and 42 over the next year, given what she called the “chaos” that is happening at the within the ministry.
Takeuchi Apuna assured her of the DPP’s ability to continue working on the measures.
“I think if there are concerns outside of the DPP with these pieces of legislation that there wasn’t enough outreach or community engagement, I understand that, but I think, again, the department itself and our ability to move forward on these pieces of legislation. , he keeps on. I have complete confidence in all three,” she said.
During a forum Thursday with the American Institute of Architects Honolulu, Blangiardi expressed the need for more conversations about Bills 41 and 42, and asked the chairman of the council’s zoning and planning committee, Brandon Elefante, to put a break on both bars, which he said Elefante had agreed to. .
“We think it needs more assessment, absolutely. I think we’re trying to be reactive on a topic that we think is very real,” Blangiardi said, adding that although well-meaning, the proposals can lead to “truly unintended consequences”.
“Every time we turn around there’s something we need to take more seriously involved in climate change, but we don’t want to put in place legislation that doesn’t make sense,” he said. .
There will be a special meeting of the council’s zoning and planning committee on Monday to consider Bill 10, the land use omnibus overhaul.
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