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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 09112001 - C.191 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS - . Contra 01 Costa FROM: CARLOS BALTODANO COurit DIRECTOR, BUILDING INSPECTION Y DATE: September 11, 2001 SUBJECT: Public Comment by Charlie Pringle on July 17, 2001 SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS DIRECT the Directors of the Land Development Departments to review the permitting process and REPORT back to the Board in six months. FISCAL IMPACT None. All costs will be reimbursed through fees. BACKGROUND/REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS The review of Charlie Pringle's public comment on July 17, 2001 resulted in an investigation of the time Mr. Pringle spent at the Application and Permit Center (APC) to determine if any time saving measures could be eliminated from the process. (Pringle transcript attached.) The results of an internal review of the permitting process revealed that Mr. Pringle did spend a longer than usual time at the APC counter for plans submittal. The logs revealed that Mr. Pringle arrived at the center on May 8, 2001 at 10:30 a.m. and his first meeting was with the planning staff, which took 10 minutes. After his approval from planning he waited an additional 1 hour and 30 minutes before plan check staff began their initial review. This wait was due to the number of clients ahead of Mr. Pringle and the beginning of staff reduction due to lunch rotation. The permit center is open during lunch hours, but with a slightly reduced staff. Mr. Pringle's transaction for plans submittal was completed at 12:56 p.m., or approximately 2 '/z hours from the time he arrived at the APC. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: X SIGNATURE P`AECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE !/-APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(S): r. a ACTION OF BOAR N Stiptember 11, 2001 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED _OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE XXX UNANIMOUS(ABSENT -------- I AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE ABSENT: ABSTAIN: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. Contact: Carlos Baltodano(925)335-1108 ATTESTED: September 11, 2001 cc: County Administrator John Sweeten,Clerk of the Board of Supervisors County Counsel and County Administrator Community Development Public Works Process Improvement Committee B !EPUTY CB:nr Public Comment by Charlie Pringle on July 17, 2001 September 11, 2001 Page Two BACKGROUND/REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS continued All the steps taken by Mr. Pringle have been reviewed. It was during this analysis that a step of the permitting process was discovered to be redundant and will therefore be eliminated from the procedure. Plan check staff had been measuring the exact square footage of a project, to make an accurate determination of the fee (building fees are based on the value of project, which is based on the square footage multiplied by a dollar amount for a particular construction type). Staff has now developed a list for project types that estimates the construction cost thereby providing staff with an approximate fee, which eliminates the need to measure the square footage. Once the application is submitted and reviewed an exact dollar amount for plan review will be determined and any adjustments necessary will be made when the building permit is issued. The elimination of this step will save clients approximately 30 to 40 minutes. This is being implemented immediately. While immediate steps are being taken, a comprehensive, continual review of the process is also required. Towards this end, the three Directors of the Land Develoment Fund (Building Inspection, Community Development and Public Works) agreed at the August 1, 2001 Executive Committee Meeting to re-establish the Process Improvement Committee made up of staff from different departments involved in the permitting process with a goal to continue to improve the permit process. The Land Development Departments are committed to providing the best possible service to the residents of Contra Costa County and will continue to work toward that end. We regret that Mr. Pringle was dissatisfied with the service he received, as we strive to accommodate all of our customers. In many cases, plan review is no longer an over the counter method due to the more complicated code requirements, State mandates, etc., which has created a longer valuation process. A report will be sent back to the Board in six months after the Process Improvement Committee has had an opportunity to review the process and made its recommendations to the three Directors of the Land Development Fund. \bdord\pringle.response.9-1 1-01 f' Transcript of item under Public Comment on July 17, 2001 Charlie Pringle: Madam Chairman, ladies and gentlemen of the Board, a few weeks ago, I came over to get a building permit to build a house. It took me three hours in the second floor building and permit center to be able to get to a person to give him my $900 for the plan check fee. From the time that I came in the door, my plans went through six different people and I sat there for this three-hour period and I watched the staff behind the counter. They come in, they mill around, they go over and they talk to each other and they mill around a little more and after three hours, I finally get out of there. But to add insult to injury, then they tell me that to get my building permit it's going to take four to sik weeks for a plan check. Now, Madam Chairman, members of the Commission or Board, I've been building in Contra Costa County since 1968. Now in the old days, we used to be able to come, bring in our plans, the plan checker would check `em and make sure that they complied with code and we'd be out of there in an hour and a half. I don't know what has changed. I really don't and I saw a few plan checkers right there at the counter just milling around, not doing a thing. Now, this is very discouraging, especially when you have to wait four to six weeks for a building permit, the people who were buying the house that I wanted to build, they've taken out their construction loan, they've gotten land advances to pay for the land and 'here they are, they're sitting there paying interest on the money that has been advanced for their land and we're having to wait six weeks for a building permit. Now, I can't go to work on until after the loan goes on record, so they have to wait. Now, I don't, I'm not saying that the people in engineering up there are not good engineers or this but I'm saying that there's somebody up there, whoever schedules all these things, they've apparently never made a payroll, you know. Maybe it doesn't make `em any difference if three hours of my time means anything or if we have to wait six weeks for a building permit. And I can tell you there were two plan checkers there during this time and they were.just milling around. They didn't do anything. It's time that we get some cost saving organization in some of these departments. Now, I know that there's some very good people in some of these departments. There's even some of them on the second floor but folks it's just terrible and somebody needs to do something about it and you folks are the only ones that I know of who can. Supervisor Uilkema: Thank you Mr. Pringle. Let me suggest what 1 am going to recommend. Under items of public comment, the Board cannot take any particular action. Would you wait just a second? I'm going to refer the item to the CAO.and to Carlos Baltodano and ask him to contact you directly if necessary and see whether or not how the situation can be explained and perhaps Mr. Baltodano may wish to then give us a report back to the Board and I thank you for coming. We're sorry for the inconvenience. Charlie Pringle: May I make one statement first. Just one. Last year, we ran into the same problem. I talked to Mr. Baltodano and he was very helpful. He moved the process up from six weeks to about four and so I'm sure you know, I have talked to Mr. Baitodano about this but so ... . 1 Supervisor Uilkema: Well, maybe we can provide a little better, a little faster response. Understand that Contra Costa is a very desirable area to live. There are many people who want to build here and we appreciate your concerns. Supervisor Gerber: Madam Chair, let me just add that in fact Mr. Pringle is describing a problem that I've heard recently from several sources so while we can't take action here today, I will be talking with staff to see whether our permit streamlining which we had worked very hard on is running into some problems that perhaps were unanticipated. I think it's worth asking our staff to follow up with us. Supervisor Uilkema: Allright, would you like to have a Board report back on this? That is one way we can deal with it. I'm seeing a lot of unrecordable nods. Supervisor Glover: Madam Chair, I would also like to report that this situation is one that I think we are all very concerned about. I just hosted on Saturday an all MAC meetings for my district and over and over again I heard this concern come up, so there may need to be a close look at the way that we are doing our business and again, I would like to see a report come back to this body. Supervisor Uilkema: Okay, so I'm hearing that the Board is requesting as a result of Mr. Pringle's remarks, that we have a report back from Mr. Baltodano about or we'll refer the matter to the CAO but we would expect some report back. John Sweeten: .....mike not on. Supervisor Uilkema: Thank you. Thank you for bringing it to our attention Mr. Pringle. �4 Lt w��d CONTRA COSTA COUNTY BUILDING INSPECTION DEPARTM 'S 651 Pine Street, N. Wing— 3rd Floor RE:OF VE�� Martinez, CA 94553 Telephone: 646-2300 Fax: 646-1219 SE2001 rr'+co6nr'i I CLERK BOAUFr.r TA Co. DATE September 26, 2001 TO Gayle B. Uilkema, Supervisor, District II FROM Carlos Baltodano, Director SUBJ Mr. Charles Pringle (Item C.191 Permitting Process) As was directed by the Board on September 11"', we sent two copies of the Board Order on the permitting process to Mr. Charles Pringle at two (2) separate addresses. For the record the addresses are as follows and were the only addresses found on his most recent plan review submittals. To date the mail has not been returned. Also, we attempted to contact Mr. Pringle by telephone. The numbers he provided to us were either disconnected or reassigned. 1179 N. Denair 8300 Jantzen Road Turlock, CA 95380 Modesto, CA 95357 If you need any additional information from this office please do not hesitate to let me know. CB:nr pc: Members—Board of Supervisors John Sweeten Lara Delaney Deputy Clerk of the Board \cb\bos\pringle