Denver launches AI platform to boost permitting efficiency and housing development - Route Fifty

The Denver Permitting Office in Colorado has launched an artificial intelligence tool that aims to simplify and expedite the permitting application process for customers and staff, a move one official says will help reduce a monthslong backlog and boost housing development. 

Denver is using CivCheck, an AI-enabled plan review software solution from the company Clariti, in a bid to get more permitting applications approved on the first try and reduce the redundant review process for customers and agency staff, Robert Peek, director of development systems performance at the Denver Permitting Office, told Route Fifty. The city started implementing the tool last month after the city council approved the contract with Clariti earlier this year.

“If you look at all of our submittals that come in through the intake process, roughly 30% of all reviews get approved on the first round, and our goal is to increase that to at least 80%,” Peek said. 

Weaving AI into the permitting process has gained traction among cities like Baltimore, Corona, California, and Honolulu, as leaders increasingly see the tech serving as a force multiplier to optimize city functions, enhance customer experiences with government services and reduce workloads for agency staff.  

“Now that AI is on the scene, and there are new technologies to continue to augment our work, we wanted to explore that,” said Robert Peek, director of development systems performance at the Denver Permitting Office. 

Over the last couple of years, for instance, the office researched and evaluated its permitting application and approval process to identify pain points that technology could alleviate, and “we heard from our intake staff and plan reviewers that the quality of [permitting] applications tends to be poor, and that automatically creates extra rounds of review,” he said.

Incomplete application fields, incorrect data or other issues can create “an ongoing cycle” of sending documents back and forth between customers and the permitting office before an application can be submitted for approval, Peek explained. 

Indeed, such complications can further delay housing development amid a nationwide shortage and increase costs for developers who have to put their projects on hold, said Julia Richman, vice president of Clariti and former deputy executive director and chief operating officer of the Colorado Office of Information Technology. 

Richman experienced firsthand the challenges of Denver’s permitting system, when she began the renovation process for a 115-year-old home in 2022. At the time, the city was still recovering from the pandemic, grappling with the loss of staff and maintaining a growing backlog of applications. 

“It really was nine months before somebody could even look at [the permitting application], because there just weren't enough people, and there was too much work,” Richman said. 

The CivCheck tool looks to shorten the time it takes to submit an application to the city and a staff member to review the plan for approval, Peek said. 

For customers, the AI platform prompts users to upload any required documents that the tool generates into an interactive application that flags any data fields that the applicant can review for accuracy and completeness, Richman explained. 

Customers can also manually override any AI-generated data fields in the application, she said. Once the complete application is submitted, city staff receive an AI-generated report of the project, which helps to expedite the time from review to approval. 

The goal is for customers to get “real-time feedback from the tool so that they can go in and resolve any issues right away,” which eliminates the need for staff and customers to repeatedly exchange documents to resolve issues, Peek said. 

With AI helping to optimize the approval process, staff can dedicate more time to “look at nuanced and complex cases,” Richman said. It’s common for permitting projects to create special requests or edge cases that staff can apply their expertise to, instead of focusing on administrative tasks. 

The Denver Permitting Office will track data like the number of cycles it takes for customers to get through the review process and the number of projects accepted on the first round to measure the tool’s impact, Peek said. Such insights could also help agencies determine where AI’s use could be expanded in the permitting process or other similar government functions. 

Using AI for reviewing permitting plans is “one part of the solution,” he said. There are many factors that impact housing, but speeding up the permitting process “is something that I feel jurisdictions have in their control because, the sooner we can get a permit issued, the sooner a home can go under construction,” he said.