Municipalities in B.C. are automating key aspects of their workflow in order to achieve planning efficiencies and accelerate approval timelines.
In a market defined by limited housing supply and low affordability, cities are embracing technology and artificial intelligence to interact seamlessly with project proponents and speed up much-needed real estate development.
With a federal goal of 3.9 million new homes by 2031, and with short-staffed municipalities facing ambitious provincial housing targets, the goal is to make interactions with city hall far more productive and user-friendly.
This way, more projects can come to fruition before the passage of time renders them unviable or uneconomical. As the technology becomes more sophisticated, city staff can be redeployed to perform monitoring, verification and other higher-level tasks.
“Say you make an application to re-zone a property today from residential to a mixed-use commercial zoning, and we figure you need to upsize your water and your sewer,” explained Ryan Smith, divisional director of planning, development and climate sustainability with City of Kelowna.
“Today, we have someone look at the pipe sizes. Someone has to compile it and put it into a memo which gets sent to the developer. We’re working on automating all of that so that the system’s smart enough to go in and check pipe sizes and know what the standard would be, what the pipe size is today, and be able to figure out, ‘Okay, well you need to upsize your water line to this, you need a new sewer line and it’s got to be this,’ and give you a list of the civil-engineering-related improvements to your property.”
Vancouver using new tools to reach “3-3-3-1” goals
Digital technology is playing an important role in advancing the City of Vancouver's permitting approval processes. Tools like the Permit Requirements Exploration Tool (PRET), eComply and the 3-3-3-1 dashboard are instrumental in helping the city achieve its goals outlined in the 3-3-3-1 permit approval framework.
Vancouver city council adopted the 3-3-3-1 framework at a June 13, 2023 meeting. It includes three days to approve home renovation permits, three weeks for single-family home and townhouse permits, three months for certain multi-family and mid-rise projects, and one year for high-rise or large-scale projects.
While the framework will take some time to accomplish, technologies like AI are helping the city get there sooner rather than later. According to a statement provided by city staff, two of the city’s tools, eComply and the 3-3-3-1 dashboard, have used AI-assisted technology.
The first, eComply, was developed in partnership with Australia-based Archistar and uses AI-assisted technology to allow applicants to upload drawings and check them against regulations.
Meanwhile, the 3-3-3-1 dashboard, which provides an overview of progress toward permitting targets, was supported by AI-assisted technology in its creation. While the tool is still in development and currently available for internal use only, staff said it will eventually be made public.
“We remain committed to exploring emerging technologies, including AI, to continuously improve the efficiency, transparency and accessibility of our permitting processes,” said the City of Vancouver’s statement.
Chatbots becoming increasingly refined and capable
The City of Kelowna, considered a pioneer in its use of technology, began its journey about five years ago, when a provincially funded grant enabled the city to explore ways to search zoning rules in a more efficient and user-friendly manner.
The city pitched the idea to Microsoft Corp., which helped the city implement a chatbot that gives advice on zoning and building-related feedback if members of the public are trying to apply for various types of permits, such as upgrades or infill housing.
“How do I apply for a swimming pool permit?” said Smith. “It will walk you through the different things you need to know and try to answer your questions about being able to do that.”
Kelowna’s next phase is behind the scenes, where the city is replacing its 30-year-old legacy software with improved tools for processing building-permit and re-zoning applications.
“We also needed to get better data out of that system so that we could start making better data-driven decisions related to housing, and track progress related to the Housing Supply Act in B.C., our own housing needs assessment and our housing accelerator fund commitments,” said Smith.
The new software program, Cityworks, features a chatbot that guides the making of building permit applications, with everything done online. You won’t need to come into city hall for anything or to drop anything off. The software also enables digital plan checking, and building inspectors can even manage their inspections online.
Gold standard is for AI to automate site-level decisions
“The thing about AI is, the quality of the information that the municipality feeds into the system is the quality of the information that the user can get out the other side,” said Tegan Smith, CEO of Channel Consulting.
“The more that the municipality has an updated official community plan, updated zoning bylaws, updated development permit area requirements and updated infrastructure plans, the more they can leverage AI and chatbots to provide specific feedback to applicants right down to the site level.”
Right now, infrastructure such as roads, water and sanitary, is assessed on a site-by-site basis. For example, if a single-family lot is being turned into a six-storey apartment building, there may be a requirement to upgrade a water main to allow for adequate fire flows. Right now, all of that is done by engineering studies specific to the project.
This is one reason why infrastructure master plans are critical, she said. “If we are able to develop models that can actually be predictive about the implications on a site level, then we’ve got the key with AI to unlock its full potential.”
Risks abound but payoff could be huge
Today, AI can be used internally by city staff to enhance their workflow and easily consult building, plumbing and electrical codes. It can be used to conduct risk-based building inspections, and can be used to communicate with members of the public during major snow events. ChatGPT can quickly review zoning bylaws and answer whether or not a certain use can be implemented.
Tomorrow, AI could be used to make permit approval recommendations, predict market cycles or help optimize the use of public land for affordable housing. It could also make recommendations about how best to re-develop any property based on what’s allowed by the municipality, accompanied by immediate quotes from suitable builders and financiers.
In the aggregate, these novel applications could help solve regional and national housing shortages. But AI also has gaps and limitations. For example, coordinated data is needed to ensure you’re measuring apples to apples. Also, AI cannot easily be implemented for planning and development, since there are many more possible journeys with many more variables, necessitating highly complex answers to questions.
“While AI can accelerate planning processes and offer fresh insights, its outputs must be combined with other data sources and assessed by professional planners and decision-makers,” said the City of Vancouver in its statement. “Relying solely on AI, or any single source of information, can pose risks when making complex, impactful decisions.”
By empowering human decision-makers, redistributing their workflow and training them to interact with and oversee bleeding-edge technologies, precious staff time can be reallocated, scarce resources redistributed and personnel retrained.
AI “gets me a lot of the way there because I’m able to have a certain probability of success,” said Smith of Channel Consulting. “I’m able to say it’s probably correct, and then I can go and verify. But you have to actually have the expertise to know what to ask and what to verify. I think the critical thinking and human involvement is going to continue to be important.”
