Edmonton seeing success in auto-permit approvals
Posted January 3, 2025 4:34 pm.
Last Updated January 4, 2025 9:46 am.
Some new houses will be approved faster as Edmonton uses new technology to auto-review applications of home builders.
Essentially, when a builder applies for a permit for a detached or semi-detached home online, an automated system will help approve the permit the same day.
BILD Edmonton sees this as an opportunity for building new homes in the city, as the construction industry has struggled to keep up with the city’s population boom.
“It’s really important to leverage new technology and Artificial Intelligence is just one way that we can use risk strategies to make sure that things move quickly,” said Lindsey Butterfield, the VP of government relations and policy at BILD Edmonton Metro.
Data from the City shows after a decline in residential permits in 2023, automated development permits brought in last year helped Edmonton bounce back, and they are hoping for an even better 2025.
“That’s a huge increase in permits and we need more tools like automation and we need AI making risk-based decisions on behalf of our planners and development officers,” said Butterfield.
Edmonton is the first Canadian city to use this system and says it was an expansion of previous auto-permitting.
“Garages and deck permits can be auto-issued as well and so we just naturally wanted to expand the program with the release of the new zoning by-law,” said Lyla Peter, the approval and inspection director for the City of Edmonton.
Peter stresses it’s not full A.I. there is still human oversight on the process, but the automated permitting is able to scan the application against current zoning.
“But we do have a team that as the permit progresses to the building permit stage, we’ll do a high-level review of the information providing a bit of an auditing oversight to the permit,” said Peter.
According to Peter, a typical 20-day wait for the permit to be approved can now be reduced to one day, and while it is just for detached and semi-detached homes in developing areas, they are open to exploring how to expand this tool to other housing types.
