Permitting progress?
Has the city really improved?
Zoning is only one of the major impediments to development in Austin. The other big issue is the city's byzantine permitting process, which involves numerous city departments that are often at odds with one another over what an applicant's development should look like. Austin Energy, Austin Water, Watershed Protection, Transportation & Public Works, Parks & Recreation, Fire –– all of them have the ability to gum up a project.
But the Development Services Department is the only agency dedicated entirely to permitting. It used to be funded in part by tax revenue, but in the 2010's it transitioned to being an enterprise fund that is funded entirely by user fees. In this case the users are builders –– from homeowners adding an ADU to developers building skyscrapers.
The city's development review process has always been notoriously bad, but things got even worse than usual during the pandemic building boom of '21 and '22. The pandemic itself disrupted the department's workflow as it struggled to shift to remote work, but the surge in development overwhelmed the staff, creating a huge backlog of permits.
On Tuesday, however, DSD staff reported that it has made tremendous progress in the time it takes to complete a site plan review, one of the key bottlenecks in the permitting process.
