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Jacksonville mayor announces permitting fast-pass option will soon be rolled out

Jacksonville mayor announces upcoming fast-pass permitting program

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The City of Jacksonville will soon launch a fast pass for permitting.

Mayor Donna Deegan announced the first success stories as part of a pilot program testing out the concept Thursday afternoon.

From start to finish, the permitting process to get a new grocery store approved on an empty plot of land off Kernan and Atlantic took just 19 days.

It’s one of two businesses testing out a new expedited option dubbed “Express Lane Permitting,” where permit applications can be put on the fast track for an additional fee.

“As we all know, time is money — and faster, more efficient permitting processes mean more money in the pockets of everybody along the chain,” said Deegan.

The developer behind the yet-to-be-named grocery store, Toney Sleiman with Sleiman Enterprises, said permitting has long been a drag on development throughout the state.

But he added, with improvements like Express Lane Permitting, things are improving locally.

“If you’re a mom and pop tenant and you’re going in a shopping center, it shouldn’t take six months to get the permit to go and reopen that store,” said Sleiman.

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Express Lane Permitting will officially roll out by the end of this year, but Public Works Director Nina Sickler explained it will be limited to begin with.

“We started with commercial because typically you’ve got sophisticated design professionals associated with it,” said Sickler.

Richard Briggs with American Classic Homes told Action News Jax that despite improvements to first review times touted by the administration, permitting approval times on the residential side are still slow-going.

“We’ve built well over 11,000 homes on older in-fill lots, over 2,000 homes in new subdivisions,” said Briggs. “I’m not seeing anything for the most part better than 30 days, 45 days and sometimes a little longer than that.”

Eventually, Sickler said the goal is to expand the expedited permitting option to residential as well, and that is music to the ears of developers like Briggs.

“I’ll sign up for that. I have no problem paying a little extra to get a better turnaround timeline,” said Briggs.

The mayor also announced AI will soon be implemented into the permitting process to speed up permit review times.

It will be a six-month pilot program, and if successful, could be fully rolled out later next year.

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