City ready to roll out new user-friendly software for building permit applications

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The city’s Department of Planning and Permitting has announced that it will start using a new system to apply for and track building permits next month.

The new permitting software is called “HNL Build.” It is aimed at speeding up the application process, where lost time costs money.

“This is a big leap, but it’s taken so long,” said DPP Director Dawn Takeuchi Apuna. “We’ve been waiting quite a while and it’s going to take some adjustment.”

It’s an adjustment that’s needed. The current system has been used for 26 years, and couldn’t keep up.

Just ask the Building Industry Association of Hawaii.

“Only 13% were getting permits in less than six months,” BIA-Hawaii CEO Roseann Freitas said, referring to a survey of association members. “So otherwise everybody was over six months, and half of them were over a year.”

“We had major backlogs a couple of years ago just in the prescreen portion of the permitting process, which is just the formatting of the plans. And just overall I think it took people years just to get their permits,” said Apuna.

The city chose Clariti Community Development Software at a cost of $5.6 million, paid for by federal fiscal recovery funds. Installation began in February of last year.

“For the last several months we’ve been testing,” said Abe Toma, the department’s application platform administrator. “So from earlier this year, our staff has been in the system, running it through its phases and making sure it’s functioning the way that it should.”

On the current system, applicants are confronted with several options. Toma showed how HNL Build guides the applicant through the steps, one at a time.

“This process should be able to walk you through everything you need, all the information that you need to submit and to complete your application,” Toma said.

There’s also a map of Oahu that applicants can use to pinpoint the location of the building project, whether it be with a street address or the tax map key, also known as the TMK.

The department also said it will be a lot easier to track the status of an application.

“So even if I’m the engineer and I’m submitting this on behalf of my client, I’m still required to put their information. So as an owner, I also can see the status, what’s happening. There’s full transparency,” Toma said.

And for the first time, applicants will be able to pay for a permit online with a credit card.

The city said the old system will end on July 28. Permits in progress will be transferred to HNL build, which will go online a week later, on Aug. 4.

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