The executive decree aims to reduce housing examination cycles by 50% or more, considerably improving production times to help approach the most urgent priorities of Seattle
Seattle – Today, Mayor Bruce Harrell An executive order to launch the customer permit and confidence team (PACT) – An initiative on the scale of the city dedicated to invoicing and easier to build housing and to open small businesses through Seattle.
The PACT team brings together the staff of all the departments involved in the license and represents the most important concerted effort in the history of the city to reduce administrative formalities, reduce delays and provide clear and coherent advice.
“The permit should be a way – not an obstacle – build houses, start businesses and invest in the future of our city”, ” said mayor Harrell. “With this decree, we improve the way the city does business and guarantee residents of clear responses and support in time, so that they can transform their plans faster and help our communities to grow and prosper. The results that this decree will conduct are simple but necessary: building more accommodation, facilitating the creation of a small business and making the government of the city more efficient and effective. ”
Under the decree, the PACT team must establish a process by the end of 2025 to ensure that permits are issued after no more than two examination cycles when basic safety and zoning standards are respected. The executive decree also tastes with the PACT team to prohibit new interpretations or corrections after initial approval, unless they are linked to life security problems.
These provisions would reduce the average number of housing examination cycles by 50% and facilitate small businesses to more easily fill vacant spaces and improve windows.
The significant efforts in the decree include, but without limiting yourself, the following:
Clear and coherent revisions, inspection and application
The City will standardize the correction notices between services, require clear code quotes for violations and prevent re -pensions or new corrections after initial approval, unless the problem is linked to vital security.
For housing, the city will align the utility and street improvement permits with construction permits, clarify how infrastructure costs are determined and provide clear advice on the contribution of permit. The city will also examine the cost calendar to help reduce financial barriers.
AI pilot program
An AI pilot program will be launched this fall to help candidates catch and correct current errors before submitting a permit application and will support staff in the application of coherent and objective standards when examining requests. Tools will also alert unclear or too complex regulations to help the city improve. If the pilot succeeds, the AI tools will be made available widely. AI will help candidates and staff but will not replace human expertise.
Small tailor -made business support
The city will work with small businesses to rationalize permits, reduce obstacles to window improvements, provide coherent direction and facilitate the filling of vacant spaces and revitalize commercial districts. To support these efforts, the departments will offer policies and a pilot program to reduce authorization requirements for small businesses and cultural organizations seeking to use vacant windows, to extend the authorized use of these spaces and to reduce the time and associated costs.
Customer service that works for customers
The city will improve the quality of services between departments and communication methods, increasing support speed, consistency, accessibility and transparency. By September, all authorization services will adopt and implement a coherent set of standards for timely responses and proactive support, clear and coherent communication and feedback mechanisms, such as surveys, to help continuously improve customer experience.
Several reforms described in the decree are already underway and additional improvements will be deployed in the coming months. Any provision that cannot be carried out in 2025 must have an approved implementation plan by the end of the year.
In accordance with our commitment to decisions and transparency focused on data, the public can follow progress on authorization initiatives through a Online dashboard. We will share additional online measures by the end of the year, including permit processing time, the number of examination cycles, inspection waiting times, approval rates, customer satisfaction scores and the connection times for public services.
What people say
The President of the Council Sara NelsonSeattle municipal council
“Making our license process more sensitive to our voters has been a long -standing priority.
The member of the Council Mark Solomon, municipal council of Seattle (District 2)
“I understand the frustrations of the city authorization process from the first hand, and I am delighted that Pact will help us reduce administrative formalities, speed up the government and provide an essential transparency to our authorization system. This decree will help us work smarter and more efficiently. ”
Nathan Torgelson, Director, Department of Seattle Construction and Inspections
“Seattle’s authorization systems must take up the urgency of our housing and housing challenges. This decree allows us to modernize the way we serve the public – by allowing the permit, faster, clearer and more predictable between the departments. Whether you build accommodation or the opening of a small business, our goal is to provide a reactive and transparent process that helps you succeed and strengthen our communities. ”
Markham McIntyre, Director of the Seattle Economic Development Office
“In these uncertain economic times, it is important to listen to our activities and take measures to facilitate and more affordable a company in Seattle. This order will do exactly this by reducing exam times, making the process more predictable and offering better customer service, including future process improvements. ”
Kiersten Grove, Director, Seattle Department of Finance and Administrative Services (FAS)
“We are committed to providing foreseeable and easy -to -navigate customer services, which we strive to deliver via our customer service centers, to find it, to repair the computer application and the telephone line of the Customer Service Office. FAS is anxious to provide our support and the lessons learned to this critical effort to rationalize the city and customer service on the city level. ”
Leah Martin, partner and architect, allied8
“As a small company that designs and develops that are missing affordable property, this decree will allow us and other small businesses like ours. While we encounter regulatory obstacles in the future, we can directly indicate this decree.
Keith Tucker, founder and executive director, Hip Hop is green
“Thanks to our urban educational farm, young people acquire information on ecology, the effects of climate change and the practical experience of growth.