Anyone who’s had a Denver permit application bounced for a missing sheet knows the routine: wait, get the email, fix it, resubmit, wait again. The city says a tool it launched Nov. 5 should cut that loop short. Community Planning and Development rolled out the StartSmart: Application Intake Assistant, an AI-powered checker that reviews an application for completeness before it ever lands on a staffer’s desk (via City and County of Denver).
For now it handles two kinds of submittals: formal site development plans and building permits. It connects directly to E-permits, the city’s online permitting portal, and the city expects to add more application types in 2027.
When you run an application through the assistant, it checks the package against the requirements for that particular project and flags errors or missing items right away. Under the old process, intake staff would catch the gaps, reach out to the applicant and ask for a resubmittal. The city says that back-and-forth could sometimes stretch for days.
The tool doesn’t approve anything. City staff still decide whether an application is ready for plan review and whether a project gets its permits. The idea, according to the city, is to get more information to applicants up front so complete packages move into plan review queues faster, and intake staff spend less time chasing paperwork.
“This tool has the ability to flag missing information for our customers before they submit,” said Jill Jennings Golich, director of the Denver Permitting Office. “One of the best ways to ensure a smooth plan review process is to start on the right foot.”
Mayor Mike Johnston said the tool “will reduce wait times, improve customer service, and help people get answers in minutes instead of days.” Brad Buchanan, executive director of Community Planning and Development, said it shows technology can support efficiency “without compromising the processes that ensure every building in Denver is safe and up to code.”
The assistant was built with CivCheck, a vendor the city picked through a competitive RFP. Chief AI and Information Officer Suma Nallapati said CivCheck first showed what it could do at Denver’s inaugural DenAI Summit, a city-led conference on using AI to tackle public problems.
This isn’t the city’s first step with CivCheck. Denver City Council approved a five-year, $4.6 million contract with the company in March, Denver7 reported, noting that the figure is the city’s total spending authority over the life of the deal and that CivCheck is now owned by a company called Clariti. Route Fifty reported in May that Denver began putting CivCheck’s AI plan review software to work in April, with humans still reviewing every permit.
The city has put numbers on what it wants. Robert Peek, the permitting office’s director of development systems performance, told Route Fifty that roughly 30% of reviews were getting approved on the first round, and the goal is at least 80%. Denver7 reported that the share of permit reviews finished on time, meaning 180 days or less, climbed from 77% in 2025 to 88% this year as of May.
The intake assistant joins two other StartSmart tools from the Denver Permitting Office. StartSmart: Restaurants and StartSmart: Residential Projects give project-specific requirement information once a user enters what they plan to do.
Why it matters for Contractors
Incomplete applications are one of the few permit delays a contractor can actually control, and this gives Denver applicants a free completeness check before the clock starts. If you’re filing site development plans or building permits, it’s worth running every package through the assistant instead of finding out at intake that a sheet or form is missing.
Keep its limits in mind. Right now it only covers those two application types, so everything else goes through the usual intake until the city expands it in 2027. Passing the AI check isn’t an approval, either; staff still make the call on whether an application is ready for review. For small residential and remodel shops, the existing StartSmart: Residential Projects tool can help you sort out requirements before you even start drawings.
A faster path into plan review could eventually tighten up start dates you quote to clients. Until the city reports how the intake tool is performing, though, it’s safer to keep building normal review times into your schedules.