Fact sheet

City of Austin partnership

Noetic is in pilot with the City of Austin’s Development Services Department to test AI-assisted pre-review for site plans. The pilot launched April 2026; first AI-assisted submissions went in May 2026.

The endorsement

“Noetic is addressing the site plan review challenge with an AI-driven review solution that has the potential to transform the way we do business.”

Dr. Johnson’s endorsement came after the first review of the product in January 2026.

Why the city is doing this

The Development Services Department’s own data shows the problem. In February 2026, DSD reported that 85% of recently submitted applications had to be rejected for completeness issues — not substantive code failures, but missing pieces that triggered another cycle. That figure was cited by KVUE in its May 2026 coverage of the pilot.

What the pilot actually is

Civil engineering firms run a Noetic review on a site plan before submitting it to the city. The city has agreed to eventually waive its own completeness check on Noetic-backed submissions, so the plan moves directly into formal departmental review. The city measures whether plans that came through Noetic produce fewer review cycles and faster approvals.

The pilot is not a procurement contract. The city is not paying Noetic. Civil engineering firms pay Noetic on a per-project basis, and the city participates because better submissions mean shorter queues.