HAI Hackathon 2026 · Track 3, Permitting & Ordinance Assistant

Tiersel Manvel

Ask what you can build or which permit you need. Get the answer, the next step and the official source.

tiersel.com/manvel/start

The resident’s question

“Where do I find the building regulations?”
A question from Manvel staff in the challenge brief

The answer depends on where the property is. Inside the city, Manvel Development Services reviews it. In the ETJ or the county, Brazoria County can. Zoning, overlays and flood zones each live in a different map or document.

2offices that can review a permit: City of Manvel or Brazoria County

4+sources a resident checks: city limits, zoning, overlays, flood maps

Live map check

Type an address. See who reviews it and why.

Ask “What can I build at 20025 Highway 6?”
Tiersel matches the published address point, then reads city limits, zoning, overlays and flood layers in parallel.
The answer: Manvel city limits, Light Commercial, Highway 6 overlay, FEMA flood zone.
Every line links to its source, with the published and checked dates.

Captured from tiersel.com on 7 November 2026.

Tiersel Manvel answering “What can I build at 20025 Highway 6?”: inside Manvel city limits, Light Commercial District with the State Highway 6 overlay, and five dated city sources.

The right office, not just an answer

Outside city limits? It says so, and says what still applies.

“Who issues a permit at 3633 County Road 58?” The address is in Manvel’s ETJ. City zoning does not apply, but subdivision rules can, and the point sits in FEMA Zone AE on the map effective 30 December 2020.

Unknown map layers stay unknown. Out-of-state and multi-address questions are flagged instead of guessed.

Tiersel Manvel answering a permit question for 3633 County Road 58: Manvel ETJ, outside city limits, no city zoning, FEMA Zone AE, with dated city and county sources.

Published guidance and a clear referral

“Can I split my five-acre lot?”

Acreage alone cannot answer it, and Tiersel says that. It gives the three steps, the office that reviews a plat, and the Planning phone number and email.

Tiersel guides residents. The city or county still makes the decision.

Tiersel Manvel answering “Can I split my five acre lot into two lots?”: check with Planning first, three steps, a phone and email contact, and four sources.

How it works and how we checked it

Code picks the answer. Official maps supply the facts.

How it answers

The browser's speech recognition turns a spoken question into text
A fixed answer library and an address matcher choose the answer
No language model writes a rule, a zone or a phone number

Checked against sources

All 20 challenge questions return the expected answer
62 of 62 Manvel tests pass (7 Nov 2026)
Live map reads go to official city and county GIS

Honest limits

A point match cannot set the boundaries of a whole tract
Ordinance text is dated; recheck when the city publishes a new edition
Questions and addresses are not stored

A realistic next step

Put it in front of Development Services for a week

Collect the questions residents actually ask at the counter. Add the answers staff approve. Keep the ones residents use.