Development Services Review. Final Report. Zucker July 2016

IV.

BUILDING DIVISION

A. P ROFILE

Overview The Building Division is a portion of the Community Development Department (CDD) and temporarily reports directly to the Assistant City Manager for Community Development in order to provide additional leadership during a time of high project volume. The Building Division serves the City of Morgan Hill by providing permit; plan review and inspections service through the enforcement of local and State Mandated Codes. All jurisdictions in California must enforce the minimum construction standards adopted by the State but have the option of adopting additional local amendments that are at least as restrictive as the State Codes. Additionally, the Building Division is also responsible for investigating and resolving code enforcement related violations of the various City adopted Codes. Like most jurisdictions in the country, the City of Morgan Hill experienced tremendous change since the collapse of the residential construction market after 2008. Though the City had established a program intended to pace the rate of residential development to no more than 250 units per year, actual development during the recovery period was substantially less than the anticipated 250 units per year. In response to this significant reduction in permit activity the City was forced to undertake the painful process of eliminating jobs. The most significant impact on the building division was the loss of the Plans Examiner position. At this time the duties of the former Plans Examiner are being performed by the Building Official and the Supervising Building Inspector. During the years when construction activity was substantially below the anticipated level of 250 units per year, the developers of those previously approved projects successfully obtained extensions of their projects and additional new projects continued to be allocated. As the overall economy improved and construction activity increased the City was faced with the challenge of not only providing services to support the anticipated 250 residential units per year but also the backlog of units previously approved. Staff reports that their permit volume has increased dramatically to approximately 1,400 residential units per year and commercial/industrial activity has also increased to represent approximately 20% of total permit activity. This increase in demand for services has resulted in the City’s inability to provide plan review and inspection services at the level consistent with best practices. For example, the national standard is to provide next-day building inspections; Morgan Hill has had periods during their heavy construction months when inspections have been delayed by as much as two weeks. Similar delays have been experienced in plan review

Morgan Hill, California

35

Zucker Systems