John Walsh, former president of Friendswood Development Co., leads the 10-member task force, which has been reviewing a process that most often takes 12 months to clear a commercial project. The goal is to whittle the time to eight months.

"The city competes for economic activity so we should be as customer friendly and efficient as we can," Mayor Bill White said of the just-released report. "We must reduce the time and inconvenience of obtaining a building permit. We can encourage responsible building without compromising neighborhood protection or flood control. The task force members and hundreds of stakeholders have given us a roadmap for progress."

The task force surveyed 171 members of the development community. The findings showed Houston's building permit process compares favorably with other major cities in code standards and review process, but needed to improve customer service. According to the report, city bureaucracy is weighing down the process as is a lack of knowledge by permit seekers. "There are large numbers of units involved in the process and communication channels are not well developed," concluded a team consisting of one mayor-appointed representative, four real estate professionals and four representatives from the city.