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Throughout my time at City Hall, I’ve heard complaints about delays associated with obtaining necessary permits from the Houston Permitting Center (HPC). Many have described the permitting process as disjointed, inconsistent, and lacking quality customer service. Understanding the important role HPC plays in helping applicants build and grow Houston’s economy, several of my council colleagues and I have pushed for improvements and streamlined processes.  

At the November 4 Transportation, Technology, and Infrastructure (TTI) Committee, HPC Director Chris Butler outlined steps being taken to shorten plan review timeframes. Here is a summary of these steps: 

  • Building Code Enforcement (BCE) - staff restructuring, new hires, vacancies, and staff augmentation: HPC managers have been reassigned to better match skill sets with job responsibilities. Some BCE staff members are being temporarily redirected to better address plan routing, one-stop, and electrical plan reviews. Additional plan analysts and permit technicians, permanent and temporary, have been hired and are being sought to address the backlog of permit applications. Mr. Stephen Rutledge has been reassigned to serve as BCE customer service section chief to improve customer satisfaction. To contact Mr. Rutledge, please call 713-829-8962 or email stephen.rutledge@houstontx.gov. Further, HPC will contract with a third-party vendor to expedite 30 to 40 plans each night. This contract will begin in two-to-three months. 

  • Office of the City Engineer (OCE) - leadership changes, new hires, consultants, and customer advocacy: HPC has instituted new leadership in the storm and traffic divisions and increased the total number of managing engineers. Consulting contracts will be used to expedite plan review in storm and water/wastewater divisions. An ombudsman position has been created to assist with all OCE-related issues. Kathlie Bulloch has filled that role as of Monday, November 1. Please contact her with questions or concerns regarding projects in OCE. Ms. Bulloch’s number is 832-394-9138 and email is kathlie.bulloch@houstontx.gov.  

  • Planning and Development Department (PDD) - staff increases, focused review, expanded expedited plan review: PDD currently has 10 planners and has redirected planning staff duties away from platting reviews and presentations back to site plan review. Single-family plans are reviewed on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and more experienced planners are focusing on reviewing commercial plans. PDD is also working on creating more slots for expedited plan review.  

  • iPermits Improvements – streamlined minor residential repair permits, future commercial service: Starting October 18, a new online application was made available for residential minor repairs per spec list. The new service will streamline the permitting process by no longer requiring plan review through ProjectDox. Many types of work are eligible for the new application process, including roof repairs (not to exceed 100 square feet), window repairs, damaged stud repairs, smoke detector installations, and more. For a complete list, please visit the HPC website. By using this service, it will remove 4,000 permits from the system each year. Since its implementation, over 200 applicants have taken advantage of this shortcut. A similar concept for commercial projects should be live by close of calendar year 2021.  

Additional Considerations and Plans 

Earlier this year, Council Members Robinson, Peck, Gallegos and I advocated for $75,000 in funding towards a process improvement consultant for HPC. To that end, HPC is working with the strategic purchasing division to draft a scope of work to bring on a consultant, funded by the allocated $75,000, to help implement the recommendations outlined in a 2017 report published by the firm of Alvarez & Marsal. The report may be found here.  

As of November 2, 2021, there were approximately 4,178 plans in the system to be reviewed. In November 2020, there were 1,545. Pre-pandemic in 2019, there were 3,500 in the system. Since 2019, HPC has also lost 30 staff members. These circumstances have exacerbated problems and led to considerable delays in plan review. HPC’s goal remains to conduct initial plan review with comments back to the customer within 10 days for residential and 15 days for commercial. Director Butler asserted that these improvements planned and underway will lead HPC toward that goal, but he could not give a specific date when the goal would be met. He agreed to come back to the TTI committee within 60 to 90 days with an update.  

HPC's presentation may be found here and a recording of yesterday's TTI meeting may be viewed in the HTV archives.  

Thank you to everyone who has dropped off food waste (and pumpkins!) at the city’s pilot composting locations over the past couple weeks! So far, we’ve diverted 3,070 pounds of waste from the landfill. Our partners at Moonshot have created a handy diversion dashboard where you can track how much waste is being diverted at each location: 
 
            
            

If you haven’t dropped-off yet, it’s not too late to get started! 

How to participate? 

  • Grab a bucket, bin, or tupperware and start collecting your food scraps!  
  • We're accepting almost all types of food, including meat, fish, fried/moldy/freezer- burned food, fruits, and vegetables. Just remove produce stickers & other non-biodegradable packaging.  
  • We'll also take biodegradable household items like newspaper, pizza boxes, compostable utensils/bags/cups, old flowers, wood ash, & fur! 
  • We have the full list at houstontx.gov/compost
  • Worried about the smell? Composting pro-tip: keep items that can spoil in your freezer until drop-off day. 
  • Make sure to separate out contaminants like produce stickers, metal, and plastic. 
  • Pick a location and mark your calendar for drop-off day!  
  • On your composting day, drop by your location with your compostable materials!  Volunteers will empty out your bin and return it to you. 

Locations: 

  • Kashmere Gardens Multi-Service Center - 4802 Lockwood Dr, Houston, TX 77026
    • October 23rd to November 27th 
    • Saturdays, 9:00AM-11:00AM 
  • The Historic Heights Fire Station - 107 W 12th St, Houston, TX 77008 
    • October 20th to November 24th 
    • Wednesdays, 5:00PM-7:00PM 
  • Houston Botanic Garden - 1 Botanic Lane, Houston, TX 77017 
    • October 23rd to November 27th 
    • Saturdays, 9:00AM-11:00AM 

Wednesday, November 3, city council confirmed Mayor Sylvester Turner's appointment of Mark C. Wilfalk as the new director of the Solid Waste Department (SWMD) Director Wilfalk, who has nearly three decades of experience in solid waste resource and environmental management, will join the city from Tampa, Florida. He has held  various positions, including director and chief of operations, with Tampa's Department of Solid Waste and Environmental Program Management. As the director, he led the organization's administrative and managerial processes to provide comprehensive collection, disposal, and environmental services to approximately 80,000 residential and commercial customers. I look forward to working with Director Wilfalk in developing long-range planning goals to improve SWMD's organizational and operational efficiencies.

 

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City of Houston At-Large 5 · 900 Bagby St # 1 · Houston, TX 77002-2527 · USA