Honolulu Mayor lambasts critics of new permitting system

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Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi defended the troubled rollout of new building permit software in August and lambasted critics at a City Council meeting on Sept. 25.

The software was meant to speed up construction approvals has not gone smoothly, with permits being issued much slower than they were a year ago.

Speeding up building permits was a top campaign promise in Blangiardi’s 2020 run for mayor and again when he was reelected last year. However, average permitting times have worsened throughout his tenure.

With a raised voice and pointed finger, Blangiardi chastised Councilman Tyler Dos Santos-Tam for talking to Hawaiʻi News Now about the new system’s shortcomings and for calling city permitting officials to a public meeting.

“We’ve had a couple of bumps in the road,” Blangiardi said. “We expected that. We are about the business of fixing that. Nobody is denying anything. But we need that kind of understanding that this is a transition period right now.”

Since the launch of HNL Build in August, the city has issued fewer than 500 building permits, according to city data shared on Thursday. Department of Planning and Permitting officials did not provide a precise number despite repeated requests. Last year, the city issued 1,247 – more than twice as many – in August alone, a city report shows.