City planning and development officials told the Dallas City Council on Jan. 15 that a departmental merger and targeted process changes have cut permit issuance times, closed a backlog of stale applications and prepared the city for a larger code reform effort tied to Forward Dallas.

The newly unified Planning and Development department, formed June 26, 2024, reported tangible improvements in permitting performance and customer service. Deputy director Sam Iskander, who leads building operations, said the median time to issue a new commercial construction permit fell from 276 days in 2023 to 189 days in 2024. He also reported faster turnarounds across permit types: commercial remodel median time dropped from 21 to 12 days and commercial addition median time declined from 111 to 54 days. Residential median permit time fell from 68 days in 2022 to 8 days in 2024.

Sam Iskander credited the improvements to process redesign efforts including a Lean Six Sigma review with Toyota Production System Support Center, a predevelopment strike team with dedicated case managers, consolidation and expansion of the QTEAM program, and the introduction of virtual plumbing inspections. "With the help of . . . our key accomplishments was the launch of the commercial permitting dashboard," Iskander said, noting the dashboard tracks timelines and bottlenecks. He added the city identified about 35 pain points and has begun implementing solutions.

Staff said they identified roughly 11,000 permit applications inactive more than 180 days in September 2024 and have closed approximately 8,300 of those; about 2,700 remained under review. Officials have completed more than 100 virtual plumbing inspections since that feature launched in September 2024.

Deputy director Vernon Young outlined customer service gains: nearly 26,000 in-person visits to permit centers in FY 2024, about 99,000 call center contacts and a call-abandonment rate reduced from 21% to 4%. Staff also described a near-term software transition: a new permitting system called Dallas Now is in testing and will bring zoning and planning processes into the electronic workflow.

Planning staff said code reform is a top priority. Andrea Woudreaux and Andrea Gillis described ongoing work to implement Forward Dallas recommendations and to launch a comprehensive development code rewrite (Dallas DeVonco reform in staff materials). Goals include zoning streamlining, consistent interpretation, a digital-first intake and a "concierge" case‑management approach for complex projects.

Officials warned of staffing shortages in inspection trades: staff said the plumbing inspection team should have 18 positions but has only five filled, and salary competition with the private sector remains a recruitment barrier. Staff said they are using virtual inspections and third-party contractors as temporary mitigations.

Council members praised the progress and asked staff to continue focusing on zoning reforms, implementation of Dallas Now, parking and conservation-district processes. No formal votes were taken on the briefing; staff will return with implementation steps and track progress with council committees.