The City of Dallas saw an uptick in residential development activity in July following a slump in the number of permit applications submitted and permits issued in the previous three months.
Dallas’ Development Services Department (DSD) received 204 single-family building permit applications in July, the second-highest number of permit applications in 2023 and the most since March, according to data from the City’s Residential Permit Activity Dashboard. DSD also issued 207 single-family permits, the third-highest figure this year.
DSD had a rocky start in January and February but has kept the median permit turnaround time under 30 days since then. According to City data, DSD reported a median of 15 days to issue a residential permit in July, the same length of time reported the month before.
Although DSD saw improved development activity in July — with the number of submissions and issuances reaching into the 200s — much of the year saw much less activity, particularly in May, which logged the lowest number of issued permits in 2023.
In May, the City of Dallas allegedly fell prey to a malicious cyber attack that affected multiple computer systems across several departments, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The attack purportedly limited DSD staff’s ability to access internal shared drives and GIS zoning maps, which “are fundamental tools in the plan review process,” according to a statement sent to The Dallas Morning News. “These limitations caused major delays in the issuance of permits.”
While many of the City’s networks and public-facing servers were restored by the end of June, DSD entered the month of July with a backlog of 870 single-trade permits (re-roofs, fence permits, foundation repairs, demolition), according to a City memo.
The Dallas Express reached out to Catherine Cuellar, the City’s communications, outreach, and marketing director, to see if the backlog had been cleared by the forecasted completion date of July 17, but was simply redirected back to the memo.
Permit backlogs are a well-known issue in Dallas’ development community. While DSD has taken steps to improve the permit process, the frequent problems and delays have not been a good look for City Manager T.C. Broadnax, who has struggled to turn Dallas into a flagship city for builders.
As of August 1, DSD had approximately 352 single-family building permits in its queue. The City of Dallas will publish August’s single-family permit data at the start of September.
