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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/26/2019  B A K E R S F I E L D Committee Members Staff: Chris Huot Councilmember, Bruce Freeman Chair Assistant City Manager Councilmember, Willie Rivera Councilmember, Bob Smith SPECIAL MEETING OF THE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE Tuesday, February 26, 2019 12:00 p.m. City Hall North – Conference Room A 1600 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield, CA 93301 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT The meeting was called to order at 12:00 p.m. 1. ROLL CALL Committee members present: Councilmember, Bruce Freeman, Chair Councilmember, Willie Rivera Councilmember, Bob Smith City Staff: Alan Tandy, City Manager Steven Teglia and Chris Huot, Assistant City Managers Brianna Carrier, Administrative Analyst III Nathan Gutierrez, Management Assistant Ginny Gennaro, City Attorney Richard Iger, Deputy City Attorney Nick Fidler, Public Works Director Jacqui Kitchen, Development Services Director Phil Burns, Development Services Building Director Kevin Coyle, Development Services Planning Director Paul Johnson, Planning Principal Planner Mike Hale, Bakersfield Police Captain Dianne Hoover, Recreation and Parks Director Fidel Gonzalez, Recreation and Parks Facility Planner Additional Attendees: Members of the Public 2. ADOPT APRIL 17, 2018 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT The report was adopted as submitted. /S/ Chris Huot   Planning and Development Committee February 26, 2019 Agenda Summary Report Page 2   3. PUBLIC STATEMENTS None 4. NEW BUSINESS A. Discussion Regarding Sidewalk Standards – Tandy/Fidler Public Works Director Fidler provided a brief summary of the existing arterial street sidewalk standards and reviewed the revisions to the standard provided in the memorandum of the agenda packet. Revisions to the standard would increase the sidewalk width from six feet to eight feet while continuing to allow for landscaping and meandering walk paths. He provided visual concepts by means of a PowerPoint presentation. Committee Chair Freeman and Committee member Smith concurred with the proposed changes. Committee member Smith made a motion to present the revisions to the full City Council. The motion was unanimously approved. B. Discussion Regarding Permit Streamlining – Tandy/Kitchen Committee Chair Freeman stated the purpose of the discussion was to explore areas of the permitting process that can be streamlined to be developer friendly. In response to Councilmember Freeman’s January 9, 2019 referral, Development Services Director Kitchen provided a PowerPoint presentation summarizing the current permitting process, mechanisms used by other cities, and potential mechanisms the city can use. Many cities are using software programs to process permits. The software enables multiple users from various departments to review permit submittals simultaneously. It allows for applicants to track and monitor the status of their permit during the review process as well. City Manager Tandy stated staff has been reviewing the software program option for some time but has been unable to implement such a program due to budgetary constraints. This is no longer the case due to the passage of the Public Safety and Vital Services measure. The purchase of a software program will be included in the next budget cycle for funding. Tom Dee, RGF Properties, stated he would like to see a streamline process establish to provide better timelines and guidelines for developers from the beginning of the permitting process through the end, in particular the final phases of the process. Russell Johnson, Common Sense Consulting, stated the proposed software program may improve the permitting process and should include a component which identifies the permit lifecycle and provides alerts to management when an issue arising so it may be addresses as soon as possible. Phil Gaskill, Gaskill Rose Family Homes, stated the City’s Building Division is one of the most accommodating he has every worked with and that improvements need to be made to communicating with developers regarding timeframes. He would like to see the City transition into an online-electronic based permitting process.   Planning and Development Committee February 26, 2019 Agenda Summary Report Page 3   Committee member Rivera requested staff implement into the current process a notification component to inform applicants of receipt of their application and include timeframes to complete the review process. Trent Miller, Ruetggers & Schuer, stated a flowchart identifying the person assigned to process the application and coordinate with the various departments for processing would assist developers with a point of contact for notifications and communications. Ryan Freeborn, Landscape Development, stated he has worked with other municipalities who have an electronic software program and the permitting process is very efficient. He provided staff names of different software programs he has used. Committee Chair Freeman requested staff conduct further research and meet with developers to identify additional areas of the permitting process that can be improved. Staff to present the information to the Committee at a future meeting. C. Discussion and Committee Recommendation Regarding Adoption of the 2019 Committee Meeting Schedule - Huot The Committee meeting schedule was adopted as submitted with the exception of the April and June meetings which were changed to April 30th and June 4th. 5. COMMITTEE COMMENTS Committee member Rivera asked to have the Accessory Dwelling Units topic added to the agenda for discussion at a future Committee meeting. 6. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 1:21 p.m.