17 - DEVELOPMENT PROCESS AND PERMITTINGItem No. 17
memorandum
TO: Mayor & City Council
FROM: John Godwin, City Manager
SUBJECT: DEVELOPMENT PROCESS & PERMITTING
DATE: February 6, 2017
BACKGROUND: Our development and permitting processes have been in flux for over a year.
This is due to two factors: a majority of the city staff in charge of this function, including the
chief building official and the building inspector, left city employment; and we have made an
attempt to update our processes and enforce the standard codes we have in place. For the most
part things have gone well, but we do get complaints —some legitimate and some not so much.
Of course, one usually only hears from those who are unhappy.
We discovered for example, that we were not doing a thorough job on gas inspections. The
council changed its own standard (set in 2012) on that matter in any case, from 90 days to twelve
months. We are now required to perform far fewer inspections, and those we do perform are
completed thoroughly.
Personnel has been a continuing problem. We have never been able to find a new chief building
official, so we use Bureau Veritas for all of our plan reviews. BV is very good and very
thorough, but they are located out of town, so turnaround is not as fast as we or our customers
would like. In addition, because of the type operation this national company runs, they are more
thorough in their review than many local builders are accustomed to. Over time, this can and
should improve the quality of local construction; in the short run, it understandably frustrates our
customers who are often not used to that level of specificity.
We had a recent project on which an applicant was unhappy because of issues we had with a type
of interior foam that was used. It had been used by others on other projects, so he felt like he
should be able to as well. However this product is clearly not meant for this type of use, since it
emits a poisonous gas when a fire occurs. Our problem becomes: do we enforce the code to help
ensure safety, or do we grant an exception because others have gotten one? Similarly, fire
sprinklering has caused us problems, because in the past some city staff apparently did not
enforce requirements completely. Doing so now makes people think they are being treated
unfairly, or that we have changed the rules.
We had a recent complaint from a gentleman from whom we needed to acquire an easement for
utility construction. He refused to work with us on the easement until we gave him a building
permit for a business expansion. That might seem like a reasonable trade on the face of it, but he
has still never applied for a building permit, and by law, one issue cannot have to do with the
other.
Another issue we have relates to owners and builders not utilizing professional guidance for
maj or proj ects. Many j obs really need an architect or engineer, but owners choose to use other
professionals who are less likely to know the relevant codes. In some instances this involves
state law requirements like accessibility and licensing. This can be a cost saving tool for many
owners, but they need to be cognizant of the difference between an engineer and a drafter, for
example. This difference often leads applicants to expect city staff to provide more specific
design assistance than we are set up to give.
Finally, many code requirements come from the state, and we have no control over those.
Further, if we locally decide not to enforce some such requirements thoroughly, the city and
licensed staff members can be penalized.
STATUS OF ISSUE: We recently replaced the contract building inspector with an in -house
employee. Our previous contractor was very knowledgeable, but too nit -picky and apparently
often abrupt. This change should increasingly improve working relationships, quality of service,
and timeliness. As an example of the improvement after only a few weeks, Dr. Hashmi's
contractors recently went out of their way to compliment our new inspector. In addition we will
continue to encourage pre- meetings so applicants will better know what to expect, and we will
do more proactive follow -up once the process begins. We are also developing new printed
materials to help guide "amateur" builders, will provide opportunities to get feedback on service
quality issues to identify and remedy problem areas, host some educational /feedback meetings,
provide more data on web and social media, and improve and expand our use of MyGov project
management software. And hopefully we will fill the remainder of our vacant positions.
We recommend the council reactivate the building board. This board is already established in
our local code; members simply need to be appointed. It provides an opportunity for applicants
who think they have been aggrieved by city staff to appeal their case. Members come from
building trades, so they have specific expertise. Presently, builders are most likely to appeal to
council members, who rarely have the expertise to help properly.
We also recommend the adoption of the newest versions of the various building codes (with
appropriate local amendments to ensure relevance and practicality). Our codes are outdated,
which causes confusion for out -of -town builders. In addition the Insurance Services
Organization penalizes us for having the old codes; adoption of the newer versions could reduce
insurance rates for many property- owners.
Finally, although we certainly need to be reasonable (and sometimes we may not have been), the
quality of our codes and the enforcement thereof affects the quality and durability of
construction. Dr. Clifford rightly demanded that we complete all inspections and perform all
work exactly as it should be on our utility projects, and that is why we have an inspector from
EST on site daily. Several of the roads on our potential bond list did not last as long as they
should have because no subgrade was built in order to save cost and time. The recent apartment
fire spread like it did because that building's attic space was not in compliance with the fire code.
We need to do better, and I believe we will, but we have to be careful not to go too far.
BUDGET: NA.
RECOMMENDATION: Provide direction to staff as appropriate.