Mayor Bibb announces building construction permitting overhaul

City aims to simplify and streamline the permit process for building projects of all sizes

Thursday, July 25, 2024 - Cleveland - Today, Mayor Justin M. Bibb and senior leaders from the departments of building and housing, city planning, and information technology services announced major changes coming to the construction permitting process. The mayor signed an executive order this morning outlining a new, modern process that removes barriers and confusion for permit applicants for projects of all sizes.

"Our existing permitting process is hard to navigate and makes it unnecessarily difficult to build and redevelop projects in the city," said Mayor Bibb. "This executive order seeks to overhaul that process, improve communication, and greatly reduce the time it takes to get shovels in the ground. Whether you are building a new garage or an apartment complex, the process should be clear and easy to navigate."

Cleveland's current system for initiating a development project allows for multiple points of entry, often resulting in delays and inefficiencies. Under the executive order, the permitting process will always begin with the Department of Building and Housing serving as the front door. For more complex projects, the city will also hold pre-development meetings with the appropriate departments to help developers anticipate requirements and ensure the right approvals can be completed at the right time - a critical step to avoid costly construction delays.

The city is also working to staff up, with a priority on hiring inspectors, and break down silos to make permitting more efficient across departments. To support this work, technology - namely an upgraded version of the Accela platform - will be used more consistently to make applications easy to track as they progress, both internally and externally.

"When this overhaul is complete, applications can be tracked throughout the process just like tracking a package," said Cleveland's Director of Building and Housing, Sally Martin O'Toole. "This is a game changer for applicants and for staff, helping us provide accurate and timely support to residents and builders."

The overarching goals of the permitting process overhaul are:

• Predictability: No matter the size of a construction project, applicants will know what permits are necessary, what information they will need to apply for these permits, who will need to review their application, and roughly how long it will take to get approved.
• Visibility: The public and city staff across departments will be able to check online to see where a project is in the permitting process, what comments have been made and by whom, and what steps remain to get a permit.
• Efficiency: By implementing process changes, technology upgrades, increasing review staff as needed, and improving cross-departmental communication, overall time from starting the process to starting construction will be decreased.

Changes to the permitting process were identified through a third-party comprehensive review and analysis performed by Baker Tilly. The consultants looked at internal processes and procedures, conducted interviews with staff and a wide range of permit applicants, developed workflow process maps, and held a three-day process improvement workshop with frontline employees, supervisors and managers.

The city expects to have technology changes implemented by the end of the first quarter of 2025, with additional iterative changes happening throughout the year.

For additional information, please see the executive order and the Baker Tilly analysis and recommendations report.

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