New technology has not yet been able to “accelerate everything” as the mayor promised, but the permitting director is urging people to keep the faith.

A technological overhaul at Honolulu’s building permit department – which Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi had promised would help speed up permitting times by September – has, so far, been doing the opposite, newly released city data shows.

But Dawn Takeuchi Apuna, the director of the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting, chalked it up to growing pains and urged the community to trust that it will work out.

In the first two months of new software called HNL Build, only 809 building permits have been approved, and that includes projects that first applied under the old system. Even fewer – just 428 – were created and approved with

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