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HomeMy WebLinkAbout101-Staff Report.pdf SARATOGA CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: August 17, 2011 AGENDA ITEM: DEPARTMENT: Community Development CITY MANAGER: Dave Anderson PREPARED BY: Christopher Riordan, AICP DIRECTOR: Christopher Riordan, AICP SUBJECT: Review of the City’s “Over the Counter” Development Review Process RECOMMENDED ACTION: Provide direction to staff on the following alternatives to modify the Community Development Department’s process of reviewing non-discretionary residential building permit applications for any new structure, addition to footprint of a structure or increase in structure height as to “Over the Counter” clearance. Option One - Planning Division intakes Building Permit application for a technical review period and notices are immediately mailed to adjoining neighbors. Option Two – City Council lowers thresholds for the types of projects that would be considered discretionary and subject to Administrative Design Review. REPORT SUMMARY: During Oral Communications at the May 18, 2011 City Council (Council) meeting a resident addressed the Council regarding a residential remodel under construction on an adjoining parcel. The resident was concerned that no notice of the project application had been given prior to Over the Counter (OTC) clearance or Building Permit issuance. This project, because of the limited size of the addition, was exempt from the discretionary design review requirement and was approved with a building permit after OTC clearance. At its June 1, 2011 meeting the City Council directed staff to suggest improvements to the process of reviewing non-discretionary residential building permit applications under the OTC planning clearance process and to agendize the topic for a future meeting. Staff believes this situation has raised important issues, which have resulted in this staff recommendation to Council for changes to the current OTC procedures and noticing requirements for certain applications. Residential Development Review The OTC process is used for development applications that, because of their scope, do not require a Design Review Approval or any form of noticing to adjoining neighbors. Projects potentially eligible for OTC review are initially reviewed by the Planning Division and if the OTC Requirements Checklist has been satisfied, the application is forwarded to the Building Division for processing. In general, the City of Saratoga has two types of Design Review Approvals for residential development. One is Planning Commission Design Review (under City Code §15-45.060) and the other is Administrative Design Review by the Community Development Director (under City Code §15-45.065). The scope of the project determines which of the two Design Review processes is followed. The following is a summary list of these thresholds: Planning Commission Design Review • Any new two story main structure (normally the residence) or new two story accessory structure • A second story addition to an existing single-story structure. • Any new single-story structure over 18 feet in height. • Any remodel of a structure that would result in the floor area of all structures on site exceeding 6,000 square feet. • Any main structure to be constructed on a lot having a net site area of less than 5,000 square feet. • Any removal of fifty percent or more of the structural elements or members of the existing exterior walls that define the boundary of the building on a single story structure over eighteen feet in height, or a multi-story main structure, or an accessory structure. Administrative Design Review • New single-story residences and accessory structures with a floor area exceeding 250 square feet. • The expansion or reconstruction of 50 percent of more of an existing single-story main or accessory structure. • An addition of 100 square feet or more to an existing second story of a main or accessory structure. • A new basement or an enlargement of an existing basement. These Design Review Approvals are considered discretionary because either the Planning Commission or Planning Staff must exercise judgment in order to make the Design Review findings listed in City Code Section 15-45.080 prior to a project being approved. A list of these findings is included as Attachment #1. Both Design Review processes require public notice prior to a decision being made on the project. Planning Commission Design Review requires a notice of the Public Hearing be published in the newspaper and be mailed to all property owners within 500 feet of the project. Administrative Design Review requires a “Notice of Intent to Approve” to all property owners within 250 feet of the project. Both review processes include a 15 calendar day appeal period after an approval has been granted. Over the Counter Review Residential development that does not fall within the above Design Review parameters does not require Design Review Approval. Hence, by way of examples, the following types of projects can be approved OTC. • A single story residential addition that increases the existing floor area by less than 50 percent. • A residential addition that does not increase the building height above 18 feet. • A residential addition to an existing second floor that is less than 100 square feet. Building permit applications for new residential structures or residential additions are reviewed for OTC clearance at the Planning Division Counter. The fee for OTC clearance review is $500.00. During this review the Planner confirms compliance with the OTC Requirements Checklist (see Attachment #2), including tables regarding exterior wall demolition, floor area, impervious coverage, setbacks, and height standards, as well as (under certain circumstances) boundary and topographic surveys, tree removal and other information. If the project satisfies the OTC Requirements Checklist, the application can then be approved with only a building permit. No public notice is currently required for OTC clearance. Comparison to other Cities Staff contacted the cities of Campbell, Los Gatos, and Cupertino to determine their building permit process. The types of projects that fall within the category of non-discretionary building permit approvals with no public notice requirement vary from City to City. New one and two story homes and additions can be approved with a building permit in Campbell if not located in a particular Specific Plan boundary or in a Planned Development Zone; new one story homes and additions on slopes less than 30% can be approved in Cupertino; and one story residential additions up to a specified maximum floor area can be approved in Los Gatos. Other examples of projects that can be built with building permits are new one story accessory structures in Cupertino; accessory structures not exceeding 1,000 feet and less than 14 feet tall in Campbell, and accessory structures not exceeding 450 square feet and less than 15 feet tall in Los Gatos. A summary table of the projects that can be approved in the comparison Cities with a building permit and no public notice is included as Attachment #3. None of the three comparison cities has an OTC process similar to Saratoga. In the comparison Cities, an application for a building permit is submitted directly to the City’s Building Department without prior approval from other departments. The Building Department in these Cities collects all fees and routes copies of the plans to other departments for comment. Other departments review the plans and comments are forwarded to the Building Department within a specific number of days. The Building Department is responsible for forwarding all comments to the applicant and acting as the “hub” of the approval process. The building permit can be issued when the Building Department receives prior approval from all other involved departments. Options for Improvements to Saratoga’s OTC Process of Reviewing Non-Discretionary Residential Building Permit Applications The City Council’s direction to staff to review the current OTC process of reviewing building permit applications is a result of the concern that residential additions of a particular size can be approved without any notice to adjoining neighbors. Design Review applications include public noticing because the qualitative findings for approval involve the exercise of discretionary judgment which warrant providing an opportunity for the public or neighbors to interject their opinions into the decision-making process. Because building permit approval is based on a set of quantitative ministerial standards involving little or no personal judgment, the City Code does not require notice to neighbors inviting their input into the decision-making process. Based on City Council’s direction to increase public awareness of the OTC process of reviewing building permits, Staff is providing the City Council with the following options for procedural changes to the OTC process. Option One Planning Division staff could eliminate the OTC process of reviewing building permit plans at the Planning Counter and could instead intake the building permit plans for a Technical Review (see Attachment #4). The current $500 review fee would be charged plus an additional $150 noticing fee. Immediately upon receipt of the application, fee and plans, Staff would send out notices to all adjoining property owners notifying them that a building permit application has been submitted for a specific address and specifying a deadline to submit any comments to the Planning Division. The deadline would be in the range of ten days. Council input or direction on this time period is welcomed. This notice could include such information as the name of the applicant, a brief description of the project, and the City’s limits on construction hours. Immediately adjoining property owners would be defined to include owners of properties directly across the street. During the technical review period, Staff would perform a zoning compliance check of the plans. Also during this technical review period Staff would determine if the building permit would require City Arborist or Geotechnical review. When such review is complete, Planning Staff would notify the applicant if the project does or does not conform to the zoning standards and if City Arborist or Geotechnical review is necessary. If the plans comply with all zoning standards and no further City Arborist or Geotechnical review is required, the applicant’s plans would be approved by the Planning Division and forwarded to the Building Division. If the plans as submitted do not conform to the zoning standards they would be returned to the applicant for revision. If the plans do require City Arborist or Geotechnical review, the applicant would be notified and separate applications and fees for these reviews would be required. When any required Arborist and Geotechnical clearance has been granted, Staff would give OTC clearance for the building permit and forward it to the Building Division. If the project required Design Review Approval then the building permit would be placed on hold until Design Review Approval had been granted. In addition, the authority of the Community Development Director to require Planning Commission Design Review due to special circumstances under City Code Section 15- 45.060(a)(7) would be expanded so that the Community Development Director could choose to require Administrative Design Review instead, based on those same special circumstances, but lesser potential impacts. Administrative Design Review decisions are already appealable to the Planning Commission. A deadline for the Community Development Director to require either level of Design Review Approval would be established (for example 20 days after filing of a complete application). Again, Council input or direction on this time period is welcomed. Option one is the same as the current OTC process with the following exceptions: • Elimination of OTC review and replacement with reasonable technical review period by the Planning Division. • Noticing of immediately adjoining neighboring property owners (including property owners directly across the street of the proposed project) as to any new structure, addition to footprint of structure, or increase in structure height. • A deadline for comments to the Planning Division on the application. • Expansion of authority of Community Development Director to require Design Review under special circumstances so as to enable Administrative Design Review rather than Planning Commission Design Review; the expansion of authority would be accompanied by a deadline for the Community Development Director to act after an application is submitted. Option Two The above option would include a notice to immediately adjoining property owners. However, the Technical Review process would still be considered a non-appealable ministerial (non- discretionary) review. The notice would make the neighbors aware of a pending project. The neighbors could visit the City to review the plans, provide information regarding the Technical Review requirements and the applicability of the Design Review requirements, and the neighbors could make contact with the project applicant to express their opinion of the project. Under Option Two, however, the City Council could direct staff to return with an amendment to the City Code to make changes to Article 15-45 (Design Review) to lower the thresholds for requiring Administrative Design Review. The effect of these changes is that an increased number of projects that currently qualify for OTC would be subject to Design Review Approval. This would require that the Design Review Approval findings be made before a project could be approved, there would be a 250 foot radius notice before the project could be approved, and there would be a 15 day appeal period. As an example, single story residential additions that do not exceed more than 50 percent above the existing floor area are currently exempt from Design Review; however, the City Council could lower this percentage or decide on a square footage maximum. Unless the standards require all projects to have Administrative Design Review, an OTC process of some type would likely still be required. FISCAL IMPACTS: Making minor modifications to the processing of Building Permits as discussed above in Option one would add $150.00 dollars for noticing expenses to the existing $500.00 Planning Division OTC review fee for a total cost to the applicant of $650.00 Reducing the thresholds for residential additions to require Administrative Design Review as discussed in Option two would require an applicant to submit a Design Review application which would include a $4,550.00 permit processing fee. Additional cost would also be associated with the additional staff time required to process all the applications that would require Design Review that are presently processed as OTC. Planning staff processed 114 OTC applications in 2010 and 82 for 2011 to date. Depending on potential new thresholds for Design Review that could be established by the City Council, many of these applications would have been processed for Design Review Approval thereby requiring a considerable amount of additional staff time and resources. CONSEQUENCES OF NOT FOLLOWING RECOMMENDED ACTION: No changes would be made to the existing Over the Counter process of reviewing and approving Building Permit applications without any form of public noticing. ALTERNATIVE ACTION: None FOLLOW UP ACTION: Option one would require changes to existing polices and one amendment to City Code Section 15-45.065. Option two would require a slightly more extensive Zoning Ordinance Amendment to Article 15-45 of the City Code. ADVERTISING, NOTICING AND PUBLIC CONTACT: Pursuant to Government Code 54954.2, this item was properly posted as a City Council agenda item and was included in the packet made available on the City’s website in advance of the meeting. A copy of the agenda packet is also made available at the Saratoga Branch Library each Monday in advance of the Council meeting. ATTACHMENTS: 1. Design Review Findings 2. OTC Requirements Checklist 3. City Comparison Table 4. “Technical Review” through Planning Department Process Illustration