A city planning department cut development-application time from 14 days to 3

The challenge

Every development application the department received triggered the same manual sequence: locate the parcel, confirm its zoning, check overlays and setbacks, cross-reference the permit history, and only then begin assessing the proposal on its merits. Much of a planner's time went to the mechanical spatial checks rather than the judgement calls that actually needed a human. Applicants waited an average of 14 days, and the backlog was politically visible.

Automating the mechanical checks

We integrated the Cadastre Engine, the AI spatial-checks pipeline, and the Permit Service into a single application workflow. When an application arrives, the parcel is identified against the authoritative cadastre, zoning and overlays are validated automatically, and the AI pipeline runs the standard spatial compliance checks — setbacks, height envelopes, flood and heritage overlays — flagging exactly where a proposal conflicts with the rules.

• Automatic parcel identification against the authoritative cadastre.
• Automated zoning and overlay validation on submission.
• AI spatial checks for setbacks, height envelopes, and overlay conflicts.
• Permit history and workflow integrated into one assessment view.

Planners judge, the system checks

The point was never to have software approve development applications. It was to hand the planner a complete, pre-checked file so their time goes to assessment and discretion rather than data gathering. The AI flags conflicts for a human to weigh; the planner decides. That division of labour is what made the speed-up safe to adopt.

The result

Development-application processing time fell from 14 days to 3 — a 79% improvement — with planners spending their time on assessment instead of assembling files. Applicants get faster, more consistent decisions, the backlog cleared, and the department gained a defensible audit trail showing exactly which checks ran on every application and where a human exercised discretion.