Gov. Matt Meyer announced the launch of a Permitting Accelerator as part of his JobsFirst initiative “to cut red tape, speed up critical projects and deliver results for Delaware families and businesses,” according to a news release Monday from the governor’s office.
The effort, which began in February with Executive Order 18, attaches priority projects in areas like energy, housing, broadband and transportation with “a single point of contact within state government” to help speed the permitting and public approval process.
“This is about getting agencies to work together, cutting unnecessary delays, and making sure projects that benefit our communities don’t get lost in a broken permitting system,” Meyer said in a statement. “Because when projects stall, we don’t build enough housing, we don’t bring enough energy online, and we don’t make Delaware a more affordable place to live and work.”
The accelerator will include a new public dashboard, where anyone can track the progress of a project — an added level of transparency and accountability, officials said. The dashboard is being developed by the Delaware Department of Technology and Information (DTI) and is expected to be live within 90 days, Jonah Anderson, deputy press secretary for Gov. Meyer, said. The state is partnering with Infilla to digitize Delaware’s permitting ecosystem.
“The public dashboard will display each project’s name, location, sponsor, participating agencies and points of contact, project status, key milestones, and — critically — any identified bottlenecks and which agency is responsible for resolving them,” Anderson said in an email.
When it comes to broadband build-out, all states have different needs, but even small states have gaps in service. Delaware was awarded $107 million from the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program to expand high-speed broadband to unserved and underserved communities. Meyer’s executive order directs DTI to develop a statewide broadband access map within 90 days, Anderson said, which will make service gaps publicly visible for the first time in a consolidated form.
“While the map is still being finalized, rural communities and lower-income areas have historically faced the greatest gaps, and the state is working to identify those locations precisely so deployment can be prioritized and permitting expedited,” he said.
The general slowness of infrastructure projects, in Delaware and virtually across the country, is a particular concern to officials. Cumbersome and opaque permitting processes tend to add unnecessary costs. Recent research by the Urban Institute found that procurement practices, environmental review requirements, fragmented governance and other obstacles all contribute to the 50-percent-more-per-mile of costs for U.S. transit projects, compared to other nations.
“Delaware’s permitting processes have in some cases stretched 18 to 24 months or longer, increasing costs, discouraging investment, and delaying the housing, energy and infrastructure that communities need,” Anderson said. “The Permitting Accelerator attacks what the governor has called ‘process dysfunction’ — not by weakening standards, but by demanding coordination, predictability and accountability. The goal is a state government that moves at the speed Delaware families and businesses deserve.”
