Honolulu’s DPP to use artificial intelligence software to speed up permit process
It has been one of the biggest hurdles and headaches for contractors and developers for years, the amount of time it takes for building plans to get approved. The Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) is using a new software that uses artificial intelligence to speed up the approval process for building plans. The move is expected to reduce the wait of approval from more than a year to get building plans approved to just weeks. The new system will replace the POSSE system, which was installed in 1998. The upgrades will cost $5.6 million and be funded by federal funds allocated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The DPP Director, Dawn Takeuchi Apuna, stated that no jobs will be at risk due to the introduction of AI. The software will initially be used for residential projects, but commercial projects may take several years.
Published : a month ago by Max Rodriguez in Tech
HONOLULU (KHON2) — It has been one of the biggest hurdles and headaches for contractors and developers for years, the amount of time it takes for building plans to get approved.
The City’s Department of Planning and Permitting said a new software that uses artificial intelligence will help speed up the process, going from more than a year wait to get building plans approved to just weeks.
Stanford Carr is no stranger to the lag times at the DPP. Carr said, “One of our projects we’re about to break ground in Moiliili it took us nearly a year and a half to get the building permit under the old system.”
Although he said the incoming changes at the DPP are promising. The DPP Director Dawn Takeuchi Apuna said they selected Clariti’s Community Development System as a new permit management interface. It is described as a centralized platform to keep track of a project’s code compliance, inspection and planning.
The software upgrades will also use artificial intelligence to review plans and help applicants know if something needs correcting before submitting.
Takeuchi Apuna said no jobs will be at risk with the introduction of AI.
“If it doesn’t meet certain requirements it’s kind of like TurboTax you can’t move on,” said Takeuchi Apuna. “Eliminates the manual mundane checking that the AI can take care of and then we just focus on the greyer areas or working directly with the applicant.”
The new system will replace the POSSE system, a decades-old software that was installed back in 1998.
The DPP anticipates the software’s rollout will be completed in 18 months, and by then permit wait times will be reduced to two to four weeks.
Complete Construction Services Corp. Owner Greg Thielen said he hopes the software will help standardize the permitting process.
Thielen said, “We shouldn’t be subject to wildly different interpretations each time we go in and submit a new permit. So if they are going to standardize their process to match their standardized software then I think it will work.”
The DPP plans on using the software first on residential projects, Takeuchi Apuna said commercial projects will be next, but may take a couple of years. She said it has been a struggle staffing engineer positions.
Takeuchi Apuna said, “Over the past year it’s been very difficult to fill those positions.”
The upgrades will cost $5.6 million and be paid for with federal dollars allocated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Topics: AI