Portland Courant

This updated dashboard highlights the amount of time taken by different City of Portland bureaus’ development review teams in evaluating building permit applications. It also illustrates the average amounts of time taken by customers in responding to requests by City staff for more information or updated plans so permits can be issued and construction can begin.

“I very much want our City to be seen as a productive, positive partner in the building of homes for Portlanders and in developments that support business success and growth,” said Commissioner Carmen Rubio, commissioner-in-charge of the Bureau of Development Services. “I hope this dashboard helps to achieve that as it offers customers valuable information to help plan and schedule their upcoming development projects.”

This is the latest evolution of a tool unveiled last fall to provide greater transparency into the development review process. This is one of several resources City bureaus will use to track their performance in reducing permit timelines.

“This dashboard helps us keep our commitment to greater transparency and predictability in supporting construction activity that is critical to our economic recovery,” said Commissioner Dan Ryan, co-chair of the Permit Improvement Task Force. 

New features of the Portland Permit Metric Dashboard

The updated dashboard provides new data each Monday, for the preceding 20 business days, on indicators that include:

• The average amounts of time that different types of residential and commercial building permits (for new construction, alterations, additions and demolitions) take in different phases of the development review process
• The total numbers of permits achieving different milestones in the permit review process
• The average turnaround times, by each type of permit, for each City review group, as well as the average amounts of time taken by customers to respond to requests for additional information and updated plans to comply with building codes

“Permitting is a partnership between the City and the customer,” said Commissioner Mingus Mapps, co-chair of the Permit Improvement Task Force. “This dashboard helps hold the City accountable for our performance, and it illustrates the critical role of the customer in ensuring that permits can be issued in a timely manner.”

Data from the dashboard will inform ongoing efforts to improve permitting functions across City bureaus.

Original source can be found here