Process Challenges

As the Development Services Department within the City of Fort Worth serves as the primary point of contact for all development projects ranging from simple home improvements to vast residential developments and commercial projects, it is not surprising that the volume of interactions with the public is high and steadily climbing. In 2019, Development Services responded to 200,000 inquiries, including 39,317 walk-ins, 54,800 emails and 101,386 phone calls 6

One illustration of the increased demand is in building permits. The annual amount of building permits filed between 2017 and 2021 has increased by over 27% (Chart 4).

Chart 4. City of Fort Worth Building Permits

Building Permits

During this time of rapid growth not only in Texas, but specifically the City of Fort Worth, the Development Services Department within the City has maintained a relatively consistent staffing level 7 (Chart 5 on the following page).

6Fort Worth Business Press, April 1, 2022, “New permit guidance tool simplifies the development process.”

7 Development Services Director D.J. Harrell cited that the recent change from 162 authorized positions to 174 was due to the consolidation of staff focused on development activities that were previously assigned to other departments within the city. The additional twelve positions were not new additions but rather existing filled positions that were brought under the Development Services Department umbrella

Cumulative Staff vs. Permit Growth

Comparisons can also be made between the City of Fort Worth and other cities that are similar in population and population growth rates, to include cities such as Dallas, Austin, Columbus, Ohio, and Jacksonville, Florida. Because the development process is different in each city, a true comparison is not possible. However, all the aforementioned cities employ more full-time positions in their development services departments (Table 7).