Development Services Review. Final Report. Zucker July 2016

B. E XPEDITED P LAN R EVIEW Our focus group meetings with industry representatives throughout the country have consistently expressed strong interest in having the ability to have their projects expedited through the plan review and approval process. They often recognize that this is an extraordinary service for which they expect to pay a premium. For many communities, the ability to offer expedited plan review is perceived to be a significant enticement to attract desirable commercial projects into their community. The City of Morgan Hill does not offer a comprehensive program that would include expedited review by staff in all of the participating departments. We are aware that developers have been advised they can expect a more rapid review of their planning applications if they agreed to have the review work performed by an outside planning consultant for an additional fee. This process is discussed in more detail in the Planning section of this report; however, it is not being offered by staff from the Building Division or Public Works/Engineering. We recommend that the City establish an Expedited Review program that would apply to all Departments participating in the review process. Jurisdictions that successfully offer this type of service structure the program so that it does not impact the normal flow of applications by securing additional resources through staff overtime or the use of outside consultant staff. To be truly effective, it is essential that projects be closely tracked to help insure that the expedited performance standard is being achieved. 5. Recommendation: The Assistant City Manager should work with the City Engineer, Community Development Director, and Building Official to create an Expedited Review Program that guarantees reduced processing times in exchange for a fee premium. 6. Recommendation : Projects participating in the Expedited Review Program should be closely monitored in the TRAKiT system to confirm that expedited performance standards are being achieved.

C.

F INANCE I SSUES

Overview Development related activities are supported primarily from the Community Development Fund (206) and the General Plan Update Fund (207). These funds are described in the FY 15-16 budget as follows:

Community Development Fund (206)

Morgan Hill, California

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Zucker Systems