1/1
Swipe or click to see more
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / MARCH 2018
Mayor Kirk Caldwell signs Bill 110, placing a moratorium on the issuing of building permits for “large” houses. Kathy Sokugawa, Acting director of the city Department of Planning and Permitting, talks about the bill.
Select an option below to continue reading this premium story.
Already a Honolulu Star-Advertiser subscriber? Log in now to continue reading.
In what certainly will be an eagerly awaited report a year from now, the city Auditor will be delving into the inner workings of the city Department of Planning and Permitting — and coming up with recommendations on how to improve.
DPP for years has been the subject of complaints over sluggish operations and delays, with builders increasingly expressing frustration about the time it takes to secure permits to start construction. On Wednesday, the City Council called for a performance audit of DPP’s processes for reviewing building permits.
This additional pressure on DPP comes after the Council in November passed a new law giving DPP a 60-day deadline to process applications for one- and two-family dwellings for those agreeing to use the one-time review process. Results of that law will need to be carefully monitored in coming months to assess if it proves positive in expediting projects, or detrimental for missing code violations.
As for the performance audit of DPP, due a year from now: Identifying specific areas of inefficiency would be a start to retooling a better process.