Nashville, known for its vibrant music scene and burgeoning urban culture, has experienced unprecedented growth in recent years. With the value of annual construction skyrocketing by 550% in the past decade, the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County faced a significant challenge: processing the increase in development applications promptly without staffing increases.
Overview
Nashville engaged MGT’s team to understand and revamp the City’s development permitting processes. The project scope encompassed five departments crucial to the permitting process: Codes & Building Safety, Planning, Water Services, Fire Marshal, and Public Works/Transportation/Engineering. The project’s goals included setting staffing targets, addressing bottlenecks, connecting with the needs of the development industry, setting fees to fund the efforts, and leveraging technology to make it easier for builders to navigate application processes.
Our team invested many hours meticulously reviewing and redesigning the five departments while providing hands-on support in implementing our final recommendations. Our stakeholder engagement team played a crucial role, regularly meeting with developers to gather feedback and refine our approach.
Results
In partnership with Nashville leaders, MGT delivered the following project outcomes:
- Established staffing targets to hire 81 full-time employees by job title and department.
- Ensured resources were allocated effectively to support the increased workload.
- Identified process improvements by reducing bottlenecks.
- Aligned technology strategies with the City’s evolving needs, such as creating user-friendly website explanations and developing dashboard metrics.
Our financial experts crafted a robust funding mechanism to support these changes, securing Council approval and ensuring the sustainability of our recommendations. This resulted in reduced delays, heightened efficiency, and improved satisfaction among applicants and staff alike while saving the city almost $1.3M in previously lost permit issue costs.
The successful transformation of Nashville’s development permitting processes is a testament to the power of independent analysis and strategic implementation in navigating the challenges of exponential growth in cities nationwide.
Our team of experts ready to work with you to analyze and create efficient and effective processes that work for your organization. Connect with us to see how we can assist you.
