HomeMy WebLinkAboutAccept the Fourth Quarter Fiscal Year 2011 Planning Report.pdfPlanning Department Fiscal Year 2011 Fourth Quarter
Update.
Commission Memorandum
REPORT TO: Honorable Mayor and City Commission
FROM: Tim McHarg, Director of Planning and Community Development
SUBJECT: Planning Department Fourth Quarter FY11 (April 1, 2011 – June 30,
2011) Budget Update
MEETING DATE: August 15, 2011
AGENDA ITEM TYPE: Consent
RECOMMENDATION: Reduce Planning Department staff levels per recommended FY12
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, Planning
Staff provides quarterly reports to the City Commission. The quarterly reports are intended to
assist in making decisions regarding staffing levels and operating costs in the department.
Planning Department highlights for the Fourth 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.
Fourth Quarter FY11 Planning Fee Revenues were as follows:
Month Application Fee Revenue
(Rounded)
April 2011 $21,677
May 2011 $2,151
June 2011 $7,064
Q4 FY11 Total Fee Revenues $30,892
Average Per Month $10,297
Application revenues for May and June fell short of the $10,500 monthly target. As a
result, the 4th Quarter FY11 monthly average of $10,297 did not meet the target for
monthly revenues. For the quarter as a whole, revenues were 1.9% below the
projected level. The following chart compares actual revenues to projected revenues:
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2. Revenue Comparisons: Because of the low application revenues in May and June,
the 4th Quarter FY11 actual revenues did not compare favorably to the revenues
generated during Q4FY10. For the 4th Quarter as a whole, FY11 revenues were
below those of FY10 by approximately 9.2%. The comparison is illustrated in the
following chart:
3. FY11 Revenues To Date: On a more positive note, the application revenues for
FY11 were 30% 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
Q3 FY11 $31,500 $25,118 ($6,382)
Q4 FY11 $31,500 $30,892 ($608)
Total $94,500 $126,000 $38,135
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4. Budget Expenditures: The Department’s FY11 budget is approved for an average
of $64,814 in monthly expenditures, or $777,768 annually. Actual spending for
FY11 averaged $57,391 per month, or 11.4% under budget. We remain committed to
continuing to contain costs effectively in FY12.
5. Applications Received: The following table lists the planning applications that were
received each month of this quarter. In the 4th Quarter of FY11, the Department
averaged 53 project applications and 28 sign permit applications per month.
Application Type April May June
Q4 FY11
Total
Percent of
Total
Pre-Application 1 1 1%
Prelim. Plat 0 0%
Final Plat 0 0%
Sub. Exempt. 11 2 1%
Flood Plain 0 0%
BOA 1 1 1%
Admin. Appeals 1 1 1%
Master Plan Amend 0 0%
UDO Amend 1 1 1%
CUP 2114 3%
ZMA 1 1 1%
Conservation Update 0 0%
Entryway Update 0 0%
PUD 1 1 1%
PUD Final 0 0%
Re-use 54413 8%
Annexation 1 1 1%
Prel. Site Plan 2 1 3 2%
Master Site Plan 0 0%
Final Site Plan 1 3 4 3%
Mods to FSP 45211 7%
Informal 325 3%
STUP 2 2 1%
COA 22 37 37 96 60%
Imprvmnts Agrmnt 3 1 4 3%
Variance 1 1 1%
Comp. Sign Plan 2327 4%
Condo Conversion 1 1 1%
Monthly Totals 44 59 57 160 100%
Signs 29 27 28 84
6. Application Trends and Comparisons: As illustrated in the chart below, the
volume of project applications in the 4th Quarter of FY11 compares favorably to the
4th Quarters of FY10, FY09, and FY08.
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(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 4th Quarter of FY11 represents an increase in application volumes from
the 3rd Quarters of FY10 and FY09, the types of applications being submitted to the
department is concerning relative to projections for future development activity.
The majority (60%) of project applications in the 4th Quarter of FY11 were
Certificates of Appropriateness (COAs). These COA applications are generally
small scale projects without significant economic impacts to the overall community.
There were very few applications submitted in the 4th Quarter of FY11 for larger
scale commercial, industrial or multifamily development projects.
However, it appears that this may be an issue that can be attributed to the seasonal
nature of the application process. In discussing potential larger scale development
projects with the local real estate community, it appears that several applications for
commercial projects will be submitted in the 1st and 2nd Quarters of FY12 in order to
be permitted for construction in the Spring of 2012. In combination with the
positive trends that the City has seen in single family residential building permits in
the 3rd and 4th Quarters of FY11, the local economic recovery appears to be stable,
albeit moderate in scale.
The City Commission recently adopted amendments to the Unified Development
Ordinance (UDO) that will exempt small projects in the Neighborhood Conservation
Overlay District (NCOD) from the COA requirement provided the project complies
with defined standards. This UDO amendment will go into effect on August 10.
Once effective, 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. This reduced volume of COAs will be reflected in the
application numbers moving forward, so trailing comparisons to previous quarters
and fiscal years will need to be evaluated accordingly.
Because of the uncertainty associated with application volumes, the overall City
revenue projections, and competing budget priorities, the Planning Director, Finance
Director and City Manager have recommended eliminating the Code Enforcement
Officer position within the Planning Department. This is a critical function of the
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department, and this decision was made only after considering every other
alternative. The code compliance functions will be reallocated to remaining staff in
the department, along with a thorough evaluation of our methods and approaches to
code compliance. We will track this reallocated workload and evaluate the effects of
these changes to the community as we move forward in FY12.
7. Accomplishments and Milestones: The level of construction activity has been
noticeably higher this spring and summer than in recent years. Several relatively
large scale projects are completing building permits. These projects have begun
construction or should be initiating construction shortly. These projects include:
• Kohl’s;
• Billion Auto Plaza;
• Safeway; and,
• Goodwill.
Staff continues to devote resources to implementing the Commission’s Work Plan.
The highlights from the 4th Quarter are summarized as follows:
• Completed the REMU annexation and initial zoning;
• Adopted UDO amendments for the following purposes:
Delegating broader administrative decision making authority to Staff;
Exempting small projects from COA requirements provided defined
criteria are met;
Clarifying sign requirements.
• Supported TIF Boards to implement district plans;
• Adopted an ordinance to amend Workforce Housing Ordinance;
• Drafted a scope and RFP for an update to the Affordable Housing Needs
Assessment;
• Finalized contract for Impact Fee Updates and initiated update process with the
Impact Fee Advisory Committee; 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 Evaluate Site Plan/DRC/DRB processes
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 Evaluate administrative deviation and alternative compliance processes
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
• Continue the update process for the Impact Fee Studies
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• Evaluate code compliance methods and approaches
FISCAL EFFECTS: FY11 total expenditures finished under budget, and application fee
revenues were 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 FY12.
ALTERNATIVES: As suggested by the City Commission.
Report Compiled: July 29, 2011
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