HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning Department 3rd Quarter Report, 2011.pdfPlanning Department Fiscal Year 2011 Third Quarter
Update.
Commission Memorandum
REPORT TO: Honorable Mayor and City Commission
FROM: Tim McHarg, Director of Planning and Community Development
SUBJECT: Planning Department 3rd Quarter FY11 (January 1, 2011 – March 31,
2011) Budget Update
MEETING DATE: May 2, 2011
AGENDA ITEM TYPE: Consent
RECOMMENDATION: Move forward with current Planning Department staff levels per
FY11 Adopted Budget; continue to monitor revenue situation closely.
BACKGROUND: Because of the anticipated difficulty estimating current planning
workloads (land use and subdivision applications) and resulting fee revenues in FY11, we
committed to make quarterly decisions regarding staffing levels and operating costs in the
department.
Planning Department highlights for the Second Quarter of FY11 are summarized below:
1. Monthly Planning Fee Revenues. The Department budget for FY11 projected
planning fee revenues of $10,500 per month. The FY11 projected revenue figure
represents a reduction of 33% from the FY10 monthly revenue target of $14,000.
Second Quarter FY11 Planning Fee Revenues were as follows:
Month Application Fee Revenue
(Rounded)
January 2011 $18,502
February 2011 $3,570
March 2011 $3,045
Q3 FY11 Total Fee Revenues $25,118
Average Per Month $8,373
Application revenues for February and March fell well short of the $10,500 monthly
target. As a result, the 3rd Quarter FY11 monthly average of $8,373 did not meet the
target for monthly revenues. For the quarter as a whole, revenues were 20.3% below
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the projected level. The following chart compares actual revenues to projected
revenues:
2. Revenue Comparisons: Because of the low application revenues in February and
March, the Q3FY11 actual revenues did not compare favorably to the revenues
generated during Q3FY10. For the 3rd Quarter as a whole, FY11 revenues were
below those of FY10 by approximately 40%. The comparison is illustrated in the
following chart:
3. FY11 Revenues To Date: On a more positive note, the application revenues for
FY11 are running 41% ahead of projections, as shown below:
Quarter Projected Fee
Revenue
Actual Fee
Revenue Surplus/(Deficit)
Q1 FY11 $31,500 $57,900 $26,400
Q2 FY11 $31,500 $50,225 $18,725
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Q3 FY11 $31,500 $25,118 ($6,382)
Total $94,500 $133,243 $38,743
4. Budget Expenditures: The Department’s FY11 budget is approved for an average
of $61,402 in monthly expenditures, or $736,828 annually. The FY11 expenditure
level represents a reduction of 6% from the annual expenditure $784,287 for FY10.
Actual spending through February 2011 averaged $57,934 per month, or 5.6% under
budget.
5. Applications Received: The following table lists the planning applications that were
received each month of this quarter. In the 3rd Quarter of FY11, the Department
averaged 31 project applications and 22 sign permit applications per month.
Application Type January February March
Q3 FY11
Total
Percent of
Total
Pre-Application 0 0%
Prelim. Plat 1 1 1%
Final Plat 0 0%
Sub. Exempt. 1 3 4 4%
Flood Plain 0 0%
BOA (COA-DEV) 1 1 1%
Admin. Appeals 1 1 1%
Master Plan Amend 0 0%
UDO Amend 1 1 1%
CUP 1 1 1%
ZMA 2 2 2%
Conservation Update 0 0%
Entryway Update 0 0%
PUD 0 0%
PUD Final 0 0%
Re-use 1 3 1 5 5%
Annexation 0 0%
Prel. Site Plan 2 2 2%
Master Site Plan 0 0%
Final Site Plan 5 4 1 10 11%
Mods to FSP 1 1 6 8 9%
Informal 1 2 1 4 4%
STUP 1 1 1%
COA 14 10 23 47 51%
Improvements Agreement 1 1 2 2%
Variance 0 0%
Comp. Sign Plan 1 1 1%
Condo Conversion 1 1 1%
Monthly Totals 29 24 39 92 100%
Signs 16 19 32 67
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6. Application Trends and Comparisons: As illustrated in the chart below, the
volume of project applications in the 3rd Quarter of FY11 compares favorably to the
3rd Quarters of FY10, FY09, and FY08.
(Please note: Application volumes aggregated by quarter are not available prior to
Q1 of FY08, which would allow comparisons to pre-recession levels.)
While the 3rd Quarter of FY11 represents a decrease in application volumes from the
3rd Quarters of FY10 and FY09, the trend of increased volumes of project
applications remains positive.
However, the majority (51%) of project applications in the 3rd Quarter of FY11 were
Certificates of Appropriateness (COAs). Staff is initiating changes to the Unified
Development Ordinance (UDO) that will exempt small projects in the Neighborhood
Conservation Overlay District (NCOD) from a COA provided the project complies
with defined standards. This UDO amendment will be going to the Planning Board
in May and the City Commission in June. If approved, this amendment will reduce
the volume of COAs received by the City and the corresponding administrative
workload without reducing the quality of development in the NCOD.
While application volumes and revenues decreased in the months of February and
March, it appears that this was a short term trend. The application volumes and
revenues have picked back up based upon the applications submitted in April, as of
the writing of this report.
7. Accomplishments and Milestones: We anticipate the level of construction activity
to be noticeably higher this spring and summer than in recent years. Several
relatively large scale projects have recently received building permits. These projects
have begun construction or should be initiating construction shortly. These projects
include:
· Kohl’s;
· Billion Auto Plaza;
· Safeway;
· Norton East Subdivision; and,
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· Meadow Creek Subdivision.
Staff continues to devote resources to implementing the Commission’s Work Plan.
The highlights from the 3rd Quarter are summarized as follows:
· Adopted the new REMU zone district;
· Drafted UDO amendments delegating broader administrative decision making
authority to Staff, which will be presented to the Planning Board in May and the
City Commission in June;
· Continued work with Planning Board to evaluate and improve the project review
process;
· Supported TIF Boards to implement district plans;
· Continued evaluation of Workforce Housing Ordinance;
· Completed selection process for Impact Fee Updates; and,
· Modified procedures for code enforcement activities.
8. Workload for Next Quarter: The Department will continue to allocate a significant
additional amount of staff resources to long range planning efforts and, specifically,
the Commission’s Work Plan.
Highlights of anticipated work items in the upcoming quarter include the following:
· Implement Commission Work Plan items:
o Sign Code Revisions
o Complete Planning Board evaluation of Site Plan/DRC/DRB processes
o Facilitate Downtown Development, including evaluation of parkland
requirements and Babcock/Mendenhall conversion
o Evaluate Workforce Housing Ordinance
o Expand Planning Director administrative approvals
o Evaluate opportunities for over the counter approvals
o Simplify reuse application process
o Evaluate options for efficient re-platting of subdivisions
o Reduce conditional uses
o Implement administrative deviation and alternative compliance processes
o Revise Workforce Housing standards and process
o Consolidate regulatory structure of zone district standards and overlay zone
guidelines (entryway corridor design standards)
o Evaluate approaches for conversion of condominium lots to townhome lots
· Continue support of TIF Boards to implement district plans
· Initiate the update process for the Impact Fee Studies
FISCAL EFFECTS: FY11 total expenditures are running slightly under budget, and
application fee revenues are ahead of projected levels in the budget. We will continue to monitor
and control expenditures at or below levels projected in the budget. We are hopeful that the
trends in revenues will rebound in the 4th Quarter.
ALTERNATIVES: As suggested by the City Commission.
Report Compiled: April 22, 2010
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