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Receive an update on the proposed Department of Resource Management Planning Services Division’s 2024/25 Work Plan; and Provide direction on the proposed work plan
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Published Notice Required? Yes ___ No _ X_
Public Hearing Required? Yes ___ No _ X_
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
The Department of Resource Management recommends that the Board of Supervisors:
1) Receive an update on the Department of Resource Management Planning Services Division’s 2024/25 Work Plan for planning related projects and reports; and
2) Provide direction on the proposed work plan.
SUMMARY:
The 2024/25 Planning Division Work Plan (Attachment A) for the Planning Services Division reflects continued efforts to address General Plan implementation measures and other initiatives that have arisen while carrying out the Division’s responsibilities for administering the County’s land use program. The proposed 2024/25 Work Plan includes several items that carry forward from the 2022/2023 Work Plan, along with items from the 2008 General Plan implementation program, 2023 Board Priorities, CAO Office directed activities, as well as State mandated programs. This includes tasks related to the Housing Element Update, processing the Middle Green Valley Small Lot final maps, evaluating the Home Acres Fund to determine ways it could be better leveraged along with other planning related opportunities to improve housing and economic development in that area, and continuing to evaluate zoning text amendments that could be recommended to better support agriculture and agritourism in some portions of the county. The Work Plan focuses on the 2024/25 period although it is anticipated that some identified tasks will extend beyond 2025. A projection of hours required and currently allocated to the various activities and projects in the Division and the staff resources necessary to carry them out is provided to assist in understanding the overall Division workload. This can be used to understand capacities and constraints in taking on new tasks, where to consider adjusting the priority of tasks already underway, or in considering deferring some tasks.
The Work Plan anticipates staff time for coordination and evaluation of submittals from California Forever for a ballot initiative. Staff anticipates the hours associated with this support would total 1,065 for the duration of this workplan although this is a preliminary estimate that will likely change as details of the proposal become clearer.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The Planning Services Division is supported by a mix of funding sources. The Working Budget for the Planning Services Division for FY2024/25 is $4,410,403. Approximately $1,806,685, or 41%, is revenue offset. This includes revenue from fees for permits, and various services provided by Department staff and contracted professionals (32% of offset), and for federal and State grants (9% of offset) such as those related to programs promoting housing or energy efficiency to support the climate action planning efforts, and from solid waste fees to support recycling efforts. Planning staff have further refined discretionary project invoicing with Administrative staff and is seeing a marked increase in cost recovery as a result. Division work priorities such as ordinance updates, General Plan implementation measures, and providing the public with information at the public counter and over the phone is General fund supported. Total General Fund support for the Planning Division in Fiscal Year 2024/25 is $2,603,718.
The costs associated with preparing the agenda item are nominal and absorbed by the Department’s FY2023/24 Working Budget.
DISCUSSION:
Planning Services Division Overview
The Planning Services Division is one of seven operational divisions within the Department of Resource Management (in addition to the Planning Services Division there are the Building and Safety Services, Environmental Health Services, Parks and Recreation, Public Works (Operations and Engineering), and Administrative Services Divisions). The Planning Services Division consists of 10 full time planners and one full time Planning Manager with responsibilities for overseeing land use administration over the unincorporated areas of the County. A summary of the Planning Services Division’s duties is provided in Attachment B.
During implementation of the previous Work Plan period, the Department experienced an increase in development activity, including requests for land use program services. Due to partial staffing during most of 2022 and into 2023, coupled with work on existing and emerging policy and special initiatives, staff was challenged to meet the day-to-day demands and initiate other long-range planning projects and thus created a short-term back log of work for which the Division is addressing through its Planning staff and contractors. Achieving full staff employment in early 2023, the Division was able to complete several Work Plan items, including updating and adopting Chapter 29, Surface Mining and Reclamation, the Vacation House Rental Ordinance, Chapter 28 penalties and General Plan amendments for wind turbine impacts, mitigation of bird flights hazards on Travis AFB, and policy updates to the county Municipal Service Areas.
Other large projects include completing applications for the E & C Winery, Agromin rezone and zoning text amendments, Solano Landing, continued work on the Solano 360 project, and utilization of the Home Acres Neighborhood rehabilitation funds to secure contracts for 23 safety cameras and the home rehabilitation program contractor.
The Planning Services division is near completion of a draft Housing Element plan, now approved by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) and coming to the Board for approval in February. In addition, the Division has been busy collaborating with the Department of Agriculture on a Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation (SALC) grant application, which was awarded to the County in December and will require ongoing support, as well as to the County Administrator’s Office on Affordable Housing efforts in support of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Other ongoing efforts include Williamson Act standards review and economic development support.
2024/25 Work Plan
The 2024/25 Planning Division Work Plan reflects ongoing work efforts and incorporates new priorities as identified by the Board of Supervisors priority setting session on April 18th, 2023. Planning Division priority tasks were identified in four of the five priority categories - Economic Development; Agricultural Preservation and Development; Housing; and County Regulations and Policies. 12 out of 20 Board of Supervisor priorities are addressed in the 2024/25 Work Plan.
In evaluating the overall capacity of the Division to initiate and deliver new projects and Board priorities, the amount of time necessary to complete existing and backlogged projects, and to respond to ongoing day-to-day responsibilities, such as counter contacts with the public and permit review and issuance, must be considered. To carry out its responsibilities, the proposed 2024/25 Work Plan for the Planning Services Division identifies 42 tasks (up from 39 in the 2022/23 Work Plan) under five broad categories related to Permitting and Compliance; Program Implementation and Coordination Activities; General Plan / Zoning Code Updates / Economic Development / Housing; Administration; and Miscellaneous efforts. The 2024/25 Work Plan includes the remainder of this fiscal year and FY2024/25, providing a year and a half fiscal time commitment for the 11 full time allocated staff, though additional effort by contractors and extra help staff will be necessary to accomplish some tasks.
A majority of the time in the Work plan (77.5% of all staff time available) is proposed for core Planning Division obligations (shown in red in Attachment A), annual planning division tasks, and includes tasks in the categories of Permitting and Compliance, Program Implementation and Coordination Activities, General Plan / Zoning Regulation Updates / Economic Development / Housing and Administration. The inclusion of Board Priorities (shown in purple in Attachment A) plus Planning obligated tasks totals approximately 96.5% of all hours available to achieve all tasks listed in the Work Plan (assumed at 36,927 hours). As shown in Attachment A, Planning Division staff is over allocated at 114% of available hours to achieve all tasks identified the 2024/25 Work Plan. To accomplish the entire 2024/25 Work Plan, it is estimated that the Planning Division would require the equivalent of 2 additional full-time employees or the use of augmented staffing through use of outside consultants to accomplish all listed tasks in the 2024/25 Work Plan. Alternatives to additional full-time staff or use of consultants would be to seek Board input on prioritizing tasks, and/or postponing tasks to future work plans in lieu of staff augmentation.
Totaling 48% of all work tasks, the Permitting and Compliance category includes day-to-day processing of permits, answering questions from the public, performing land use permit compliance reviews/complaint response, and processing major development projects such as Solano Landing, Double T Ranch (Quail Canyon Road), Middle Green Valley Small Lot final maps, and larger subdivisions such as the Woodcreek and Dove Creek development projects.
Staff will also be working on tasks related to Program Implementation and Coordination Activities. These tasks include work related to State mandated programs for recovery and recycling of solid waste materials, including the new SB 1383 organics recycling and recovery requirements, implementation of the County’s climate action plan by overseeing various energy programs, and implementation of various housing and redevelopment programs. New work in this category which is underway includes natural disaster administration & planning (sustainability staff assists with oversight of disaster-impacted cleanup logistics in coordination with local, State, and Federal agencies), development of a specific solid waste recycling portion of hazards mitigation planning, and upon activation, staff emergency operations (coordinates management of solid waste, hazardous waste, recyclables, and organic waste services to include the development of emergency-related education and outreach to promote safety in areas of hazards). Finally, staff will support or participate in various commissions and committees, including the Airport Land Use Commission, Local Agency Formation Commission and Solano County Housing Authority. Time to support the Planning Commission is predominantly included in other categories as part of the permit processing or ordinance or plan amendments and approvals.
To support the Planning Division’s responsibilities in providing services to the public and applicants, the Work Plan allocates staff time to Administration. Tasks included in this category place a continued emphasis on improving the development permit process by enhancing customer service training for staff, maintaining and improving development review permitting, improving intra- and inter-departmental Accela coordination on permit reviews, improving communication to the public through the County website and other informational materials, and assisting in development or updates of internal software systems to promote permit processing.
Work proposed specifically on the General Plan includes updating selective portions of the Suisun Valley Strategic Plan, the Housing Element, incorporating various Airport Land Use Compatibility Plans, and clarifying Municipal Service Area criteria. Planning staff are working with a consultant to evaluate certain unincorporated interchange locations for short- and long-term economic development in preparation for the 2028 General Plan update. Work proposed related to the Zoning Code includes the Pleasant’s Valley zoning study. Other work to prepare amendments such as updating the right to farm ordinance and evaluating corporation yards in rural residential zone districts, among other proposed updates are underway, although there is not adequate time allotted, given current staffing levels, to complete this work. Additional staff or contractor resources would be necessary to perform the entirety of the Work Plan in 2024/25.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board of Supervisors could choose to amend or not to accept the 2024/25 Work Plan. This is at the Board’s discretion. The proposed Work Plan as presented reflects prior Board direction, incorporation of new priorities, and realistic and achievable levels of production given staff resources that are available and budgeted.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
None.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION