Denver Permitting Office Launches Clariti CivCheck AI Tool to Cut Repeat Permit Reviews

Denver's Permitting Office is aiming to raise the share of permit submittals approved on the first review round from roughly 30% to at least 80% with CivCheck, an AI-enabled plan review software solution from the company Clariti. "If you look at all of our submittals that come in through the intake process, roughly 30% of all reviews get approved on the first round, and our goal is to increase that to at least 80%," said Robert Peek, director of development systems performance at the Denver Permitting Office. The office spent the last couple of years researching its application and approval process. Peek said intake staff and plan reviewers reported that the quality of permitting applications tends to be poor, which creates extra rounds of review. Incomplete application fields, incorrect data or other issues set off an ongoing cycle of sending documents back and forth between customers and the office before an application can be submitted for approval. Julia Richman, a vice president at Clariti, said such delays can hold up housing development and raise costs for developers who have to put projects on hold. The Denver city council approved the contract with Clariti earlier in 2026, and the city started implementing the tool in April. For customers, the platform prompts users to upload the required documents, which the tool turns into an interactive application. The application flags data fields that the applicant can review for accuracy and completeness, and customers can manually override any AI-generated field. Once the complete application is submitted, city staff receive an AI-generated report of the project, which is meant to speed the time from review to approval. The goal is real-time feedback so applicants can resolve issues right away, removing the need for staff and customers to repeatedly exchange documents. With AI optimizing the approval process, staff can spend more time on nuanced and complex cases. The office will track the number of cycles customers need to get through review and the number of projects accepted on the first round to measure the tool's impact. Peek called AI plan review "one part of the solution."