4-30-03 - For ref
4-30-03 - Ref to Planning and Land Use Management Committee
4-30-03 - File to Planning and Land Use Management Committee Clerk
5-1-03 - Set for Planning and Land Use Management Committee on May 6, 2003
5-6-03 - Planning and Land Use Management Committee Disposition - Approved
5-16-03 - Letter to City Attorney for an ordinance per Planning and Land Use Management Committee Clerk letter
7-31-03 - Report and Ordinances from City Attorney R03-0352 re: establishing a trust fund for expedited permit processing in the Planning Department and R03-0353 re: establishing a fee for the expedited permit processing in the Planning Department - to Planning and Land Use Management Committee Clerk
9-3-03 - Council Action - CONTINUED TO September 17, 2003
9-17-03 - Council Action - Planning and Land Use Management Committee report ADOPTED *AS AMENDED, subject to the approval of the Mayor to:
1. FIND that this action is categorically exempt from California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Article III, Section 2, Subsection (m) of the City's Guidelines.
2. ADOPT the FINDINGS of the Planning Department as the Findings of Council.
3. PRESENT and ADOPT the accompanying ORDINANCE adding Chapter 87 to Division 5 of the Los Angeles Administrative Code (LAAC) to provide for a Planning Department Expedited Fee Trust Fund to expedite the permit process in order to reduce the current backlog of cases currently existing in the Planning Department.
4. PRESENT and ADOPT the accompanying ORDINANCE, approved by the Director of Planning, amending Section 19.01 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code (LAMC) by adding a new Subsection W to provide for an Expedited Permit Fee which establishes the fee in the sum of $5,000 to participate in the expedited permit process - Findings ADOPTED - Categorically Exempt APPROVED - 2 Ordinances ADOPTED.
9-17-03 - Council Action - *Amending Motion - Reyes Mover 2003 / Zine - ADOPTED - The Department of City Planning at the urging of the Mayor, the Chairman of the City Council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee, and the Construction Services Committee has been implementing a series of Development Reform measures one of which is to create a mechanism to expedite processing of cases through the Department. The development community and the City Planning Commission have expressed strong support for this proposal. There are two ordinances being proposed, one establishing the fee for an expediting service and the other establishing a trust fund where the fee monies would be deposited and from which the staff and other expenses are to be paid. This motion proposes in addition to enacting these two ordinances to provide the necessary staffing to implement the proposal as quickly as possible. The service is to be entirely fee funded.
Proposed is that the City Planning Department establish a case expediting service which will be entirely fee supported and thus will not impact the General Fund. The service is to be provided for a fee of five thousand dollars ($5,000) plus any cost incurred in excess of that amount. The fee would cover all the City's costs in preparing reports, setting hearing dates and preparing decision letters within accelerated and specified periods of time. The time it takes for a decision maker to take an action and the substance of the decision would not be affected by the fact that a case has otherwise been processed on an expedited basis. The implementation of this proposal advantages applicants desiring to avail themselves of this service by significantly cutting process times. Applicants not availing themselves of this service will also be benefited by shortening the queue of cases waiting processing resulting in significantly quicker processing of their cases.
The Department in implementing this program does not propose to take existing resources including overtime resources away from its current case processing activities wherever
possible to address these backlogs and is fully utilizing the number of individuals who are capable of doing this work. As a result the Department is asking that positions be established separate from existing case processing staff to process the expedited cases. The Department expects that the demand for services will eventually require 13 new positions. However, the Department will initially establish a pilot unit utilizing five new positions and fill the additional authorities as the demand for services increases beyond the capacity of the pilot unit.
Expediting services for a fee are already provided applicants who choose to utilize them in two other City Agencies supporting the Planning Departments work. Other City agencies that support the Department's case activities that do not provide this service may also utilize this tool to expedite Planning Department cases on an overtime basis. The two ordinances have been prepared with the help of the City Attorney. The proposal for staffing and administering the proposed trust fund has been developed with the cooperation and assistance of the City Administrative Officer (CAO).
THEREFORE MOVE that Council, subject to the approval of the Mayor:
1. ADOPT the accompanying Ordinance prepared by the City Attorney adding Chapter 87 to Division 5 of the Los Angeles Administrative Code establishing the Planning Department Expedited Permit Trust Fund.
2. ADOPT the accompanying Ordinance prepared by the City Attorney amending Section 19.01 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code establishing the Expedited Permit Fee.
3. APPROVE the accompanying Planning Department report on the Expedited Service program in concept.
4. RESOLVE that resolution authority for the following new positions in the Planning Department for the period September 1, 2003 through June 30, 2004, is approved, subject to allocation by the Personnel Department.
No. Class Code Class Title
2 1358 Clerk Typist
1 1539 Management Analyst
6 7941 City Planning Associate
3 7944 City Planner
1 7947 Senior City Planner
TOTAL - 13
5. RESOLVE that of the positions listed in Recommendation No. 4, the Planning Department is authorized to fill the following positions immediately and fill the remaining positions subject to the review and approval of the City Administrative Officer based on available funding and projected workload:
No. Class Code Class Title
1 1358 Clerk Typist
1 1539 Management Assistant
2 7941 City Planning Associate
1 7944 City Planner
TOTAL - 5
6. PROVIDE one-time exemption from the Hiring Freeze for the thirteen positions listed in Recommendation No. 4 and provide backfill authority.
7. AUTHORIZE the appropriation of and transfer of funds as needed, upon demand of the Director of the City Planning, subject to the approval of the City Administrative Officer, from the Expedited Permit Trust Fund No. to be designated by the Controller to Fund Nos. and accounts to be designated by the Planning Department.
8. INSTRUCT the Planning Department to reimburse the General Fund for all associated related costs with funds received in the Expedited Permit Trust fund.
9. INSTRUCT the Director of City Planning, or designee, to report back during the budget process for Fiscal Year (FY) 2004 - 2005 relative to the status of the Trust Fund, implementation of the program, demand for services, and potential need for additional resources.
9-17-03 - File to the Mayor for signature
10-7-03 - File to Calendar Clerk
10-14-03 - File to Planning and Land Use Management Committee Clerk OK
10-15-03 - File in files
9-23-04 - For ref - Communication from the Director of Planning relative to progress of the Planning Department Expedited Case Processing activities.
9-24-04 - Ref to Planning and Land Use Management Committee
9-24-04 - File to Planning and Land Use Management Committee Clerk
10-7-04 - Set for Planning and Land Use Management Committee on October 13, 2004.
10-13-04 - Planning and Land Use Management Committee Disposition - Note and File
10-29-04 - Council Action - Planning and Land Use Management Committee report ADOPTED to NOTE and FILE the September 22, 2004 Planning Department report relative to the progress of expedited case processing, inasmuch as the report is submitted for information only and no Council action is required.
11-2-04 - File to Planning and Land Use Management Committee Clerk OK
11-2-04 - File in files