AGENDA DATE: 3/4/2020
TITLE:
Title
2020 Community Development Work Program
BODY
SUBJECT/PROPOSAL/REQUEST: Assure alignment between the Board’s interests and the Community Development Department (CDD) Work Program
ITEM TYPE: Regular Information Item
STAFF CONTACT(S): Richardson, Walker, Filardo, McCulley
PRESENTER (S): Jodie Filardo and Amelia McCulley
LEGAL REVIEW: Not Required
REVIEWED BY: Jeffrey B. Richardson
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this work session is to update the Board on the status of the work program presented at the Board meeting on 9-18-19, to review the current workload facing CDD, to review the summary of items currently awaiting prioritization and to present a way forward consistent with the Board’s interests. The Board’s Strategic Initiatives and previously established work program have provided initial direction, but staff recognizes there remain additional initiatives not yet included in CDD’s work program. The ongoing challenge is to manage the Board’s interests while addressing the needs of the department to build capacity in a world of increasing volumes in the CDD workload.
STRATEGIC PLAN: Quality Government Operations: Ensure County government’s ability to provide high quality service that achieves community priorities
DISCUSSION: At this meeting, staff is looking for Board direction related to the suggested approaches outlined in this work session. At the September 18, 2019 Board meeting, staff presented a mid-year update to the work program initially presented in February 2019 predicated on the assumption of capacity across CDD with which to address the additional initiatives. This assumption is not borne out by the data. In fact, since the implementation of KRONOS, the County’s new timekeeping system, for the first time staff can see the amount of overtime worked and the accrued compensatory time built up by individuals in an effort to keep abreast of incoming applications and other requests for service. During this work session, we will review the current CDD workload and resource capacity. Staff will outline the initiatives accomplished since last September, the upcoming targets for delivery of initiatives in the pipeline, the list of requests not yet scheduled, and a suggested way forward given the known requests for service. In Attachment A please find the work program presented to the Board at the 9-18-19 meeting. In Attachment B please find the list of project status on each project in the pipeline. Finally, in the February 2019 work program presentation last year at about this time, staff requested the Board consider the option of directing resources towards a comprehensive examination of development review starting in mid-2020. The intent was not to simply consider the development review process, but instead focus on the extent and complexity of development requirements. Having completed two major and numerous minor examinations of development review process over the last 15 years, staff believes there is not likely to be much improvement by simply looking at process. To address the root cause of process challenges involves strategic alignments of the comprehensive plan to mirror policies already adopted by the Board since 2015. Further it necessitates the re-writing of the zoning ordinance to reflect the comprehensive plan while understanding and aligning the regulations. Only then can the development process updates make sense.
BUDGET IMPACT: In this presentation, no additions to headcount are being requested. Performing the comprehensive plan review and updates, the zoning amendment re-write, and the development process realignment work will require the diversion of an estimated 3-4 FTEs over the course of an estimated 2 years to accomplish. In addition, the use of external resources from one-time funds is recommended to cover the re-write of the wireless ordinance and other specific time-sensitive plans. While no firm quotes have been sought pending this meeting and Board direction on the work program, based on previous experience with the initial writing of the wireless ordinance and other similar, sizable projects, we estimate the need for approximately $200,000 of one-time funds in FY21 to complete these projects.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
This matter is presented for discussion. Following staff’s presentation, staff requests Board direction on this work program.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment A - 9-18-19 CDD Mid-Year Work Program
Attachment B - Project Status List