HONOLULU — Among the many requirements to obtain a city-issued building permit, applicants must submit a sworn statement declaring they have no outstanding fines or liens payable to the City and County of Honolulu.
But Bill 39, introduced by City Council Chair Tommy Waters earlier this month, calls for the removal of notarized affidavits presented to the city Department of Planning and Permitting.
If passed, the bill might reduce the long wait times to get a city building permit, according to DPP Director Dawn Takeuchi Apuna.
“We are very supportive of this measure,” she told the Council’s Committee on Zoning Wednesday (July 24). “It’s a streamlining measure that takes out a lot of these affidavit requirements that we believe are a burden to both the applicants as well as our staff.”
Takeuchi Apuna said updates to technology will replace DPP’s need for affidavits.
During a news conference in March, Takeuchi Apuna unveiled DPP’s technological initiatives — including those using artificial intelligence — to provide what the city contends will be automation, transparency and guidance to stream- line the building permit process.
Specifically, DPP will move away from its late 1990s-era POSSE permitting software system and launch new software that meets “current industry standards” and “will put us on the leading edge,” she said.
The new system, CLARITI — led by Speridian Technologies — is an “all-in-one permitting platform,” she said.
The system, up and running since February, is a $5.6 million project that’s expected to be completed by fall 2025, the city says.
DPP also admits that its permit backlog remains.
In April, DPP staffers told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that building permit applications that have a status of “plans review in progress” included over 4,730 applications for residential permits, and about 3,850 for commercial permits. But DPP asserts those numbers could vary.
At Wednesday’s meeting, council member Radiant Cordero questioned the elimination of a tool the city uses to double-check permit applicants and their projects.
“How will DPP find issues with the permits or the property if this passes?” asked Cordero. “Will it be through the permit review process, and how much time will that actually add to the review, if found?”
Takeuchi Apuna replied, “I think a lot of this will be covered through our new permitting software that will flag properties that, for instance, have violations.”
“That would probably be the best way that we can comply with the requirement that these types of building permit applications are flagged,” she added, “rather than having the applicant provide a written, notarized form for us.”
Cordero then asked, “So how will this bill expedite permitting approval overall?”
“It’s hard to say,” Takeuchi Apuna said. “It is kind of a smaller part of the overall process for all of the different requirements in the permitting process, but there are a few that we think are unnecessary.”
She added “so we do think it will not drastically improve (the backlog), but it’s just one of those things that’s just chipping away at all of these different things that we need to remove or modify.”
Council member Andria Tupola said the “background on the whole affidavit requirement happened because of the people getting permits who had existing fines and notices of violations.”
“But now that you have a system that you can catch that, that’s why we’re taking that off, is that correct?” Tupola asked.
“Yes, exactly,” Takeuchi Apuna replied, but noted DPP was still implementing that new system. “So it’s going to take probably another year before all this (is completed).”
“But in the meantime, we can do our own research,” she added. “And I think that’s a better savings for both the applicant and the staff to not have to go through this paperwork.”
Tupola said she favored Bill 39 but wanted to be “very wary of not giving out any permits” to people with outstanding fines or liens.
“Because nobody wants to see people doing work when they really shouldn’t be,” she added.
Meantime, others support the passage of Bill 39.
In written testimony to the zoning committee Wednesday, Ted Kefalas, of the Grassroot Institute of Hawai‘i, said “current law requires an affidavit that shows ownership of the lot where the building permit would be used and paperwork that states the owner has no outstanding fines or liens payable to the city.”
“These rules can make it more difficult for some owners, such as businesses or individuals who own multiple lots, to receive a building permit,” he said. “Some applicants might struggle to obtain an affidavit in a timely fashion. For others, an outstanding fine on one property could prevent them from receiving a building permit to do work on another.”
Kefalas added that “removing this bit of red tape would be a step toward making the building permit process more efficient.”
The zoning committee later voted to recommend Bill 39 advance to the full council for a second reading.
