Industry leaders discuss the impact of AI on development and permitting

“The AI Era of the Built Environment is Here” was the theme of the Council for Quality Growth’s annual INTERSECTION Development Conference on Aug. 14 at the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center.

This year’s keynote speaker — Greg Lindsay, Urbanist-in-Residence at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities — said there’s fragmentation across the building industry, limiting collaboration.

“The building industry is self-optimizing for market failure, meaning every link operates in its own silo that solves its own problems, and that, of course, reduces all the back and forth that leads to change orders, RFIs, and so forth and so on,” Lindsay said. “If you simply apply AI to what we’re doing right now, you will just do more of it.”

What’s driving AI?

The CQG, metro Atlanta’s leading trade organization focused on economic planning and infrastructure needs, invited nearly two dozen public policy and private business leaders to share how their organizations use artificial intelligence to reshape the future of development and land use.

Lindsay spoke with Barry Clark, chief technology officer of Zero RFI, and Brent Reid, CEO of The Winter Companies, about how the industry is responding to AI.

Clark, who has a doctorate in mechanical engineering, works for a company that uses artificial intelligence to help owners manage construction projects. He said “the data center rush” is likely to drive builders to use new technology.

“Putting everything else aside, the speed of delivery there is something that is necessary,” Clark said. “It could actually drive differences in the way things are built because that’s a non-negotiable for those companies … it has to be done faster. We have to figure out a new way to do things. That type of thinking, I think, is what’s going to be required to adopt these tools and think a little differently about how the system works.”

Each year, CQG’s nonprofit Quality Growth Institute invites the public and private sectors to learn about critical issues facing the metro Atlanta region and how it compares nationally.

When asked about AI’s threat to entry-level jobs and younger professionals, Reid — CEO of a local commercial construction firm — said the technology looks to be freeing up leaders to teach more. However, some larger firms are spending millions in capital on AI, rather than on a talent pipeline.

Private sector use

In the infrastructure sector, AI already has real-world use cases and opportunities to increase speed, efficiency, and decision-making throughout the development life cycle.

Leaders from Holder Construction, Alynea, Dominium, and AECOM shared their firms’ practical applications of AI across different building phases, from planning, design, and permitting to construction.

Greer Gallagher, senior vice president of Holder Construction, said AI is good at answering specific, straightforward questions, but struggles to understand processes.

“I don’t necessarily think AI is saving us a huge amount of time, but it’s allowing us to spend more time in critical thinking mode,” she said. “Less, you know, data entry and data collection.”

With site selection, the benefits are clearer. Dominium Apartments Development Associate Adam Hodges said it saves researchers hours.

Jeff Hiller, co-founder and CEO of AI permitting platform Alynea, said his company “plugs into” local government systems to provide nearly instant feedback on permits. The program scans through local codes and zoning regulations to provide applicants a non-human review.

“Instead of waiting weeks … months, how do you submit something and instantly get feedback?” he said. “It basically acts as a filter at the beginning of the process, so as you’re submitting your application, there’s no way to move forward to the reviewer’s desk unless you’ve actually been pre-approved.”

Speeding up government

The local government panel, including Woodstock Mayor Michael Caldwell, Mableton Mayor Michael Owens, and Atlanta City Council member Matt Westmoreland, discussed how their cities are responsibly embracing innovation to improve infrastructure planning, permitting, constituent engagement, and service delivery.

More than 100 elected officials from the region’s 87 local governments were in the crowd at City Springs, according to the Council for Quality Growth. Another 400 industry professionals also attended.

Caldwell, a former state representative and technology entrepreneur, said the process of local government review gives citizens time to understand the new developments being proposed in their community.

“These tool sets allow us to compress what would have taken time to review down to zero, and we start to see increased rapidity in both planning review and approvals,” Caldwell said. “How does that get reflected in public sentiment?

Caldwell said he is in favor of utilizing AI technology for the bureaucratic and administrative aspects of government, but elected officials may need to slow the process down to account for public feedback.

Sandy Springs hired Keith McMellen as the city’s first director of data strategy, analytics & AI integration in January 2025 to lead the implementation of the latest in AI technology.

Related story:
• Sandy Springs introduces AI assistant to enhance resident services

The community development department and its permitting and licensing software vendor, OpenGov, are collaborating on new AI features to reduce the average number of cycles a permit is reviewed.

Read more about the Sandy Springs Digital Innovation Initiative here.

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