HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 12/5/2023 - Memorandum From Paul Sizemore, Clay Frickey, And Lachlan Woods Re: State Of Development Review Updates
Administration
281 North College Avenue
P.O. Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580
970.221.6601
970.416.2081 - fax
fcgov.com/pdt
Planning, Development & Transportation
MEMORANDUM
Date: November 29, 2023
To: Mayor and City Councilmembers
Through: Kelly DiMartino, City Manager
Tyler Marr, Deputy City Manager
Caryn Champine, Director, Planning, Development and Transportation
From: Paul Sizemore, Director, Community Development and Neighborhood Services
Clay Frickey, Planning Manager
Lachlan Woods, Graduate Management Assistant
Subject: State of Development Review Updates
Bottom Line:
The purpose of this memo is to provide an update on process and customer experience
improvements underway within the City’s development review process. Staff responsible for
development review intend to create a comprehensive State of Development Review report in
2024 that provides a historical overview of the development review process, highlights areas of
current focus, and outlines long-term strategies to ensure continued alignment with City
priorities. As this more comprehensive report is developed, staff continu e to focus on culture,
leadership, organizational structure, and customer experience.
Background:
Fort Collins has a long history of making strategic refinements to the development review
process in order to ensure effective implementation of regulations, improve customer
experience, and make development procedures more transparent and accessible to the public.
In 2003, the City hired Zucker Systems to assess the existing development review process and
recommend improvements. In the following years, the City implemented many of the Zucker
Report’s recommendations aimed at streamlining the process. By 2017 a conflux of issues —
including the volume and complexity of new development, additional regulations, and
inconsistent reviews—created the impetus for a renewed audit of the City’s development
review process.
DocuSign Envelope ID: D51B630D-0D97-46F7-8D6B-7E206082506E
2
The 2017 audit was completed by former Planning, Development, and Transportation (PDT)
director Karen Cumbo. In addition to confirming the aforementioned issues, the Cumbo Report
highlighted the following key concerns with the City’s Development Review Process:
Conflicting standards from different departments
Lack of interdepartmental collaboration
Inconsistent interpretation of codes
Lack of distinction between requirements and preferences
Length and number of review rounds
Surprise comments late in the process
Staff not understanding the entire process
Lack of staff sensitivity to the economics of projects
Significant changes at final design stage
The Cumbo Report provided several recommendations that addressed specific process, policy,
and legal elements of development review as well as the technology and staff that facilitate it.
This memo provides a brief overview of the changes City staff have made over the past six years
to implement these recommendations and improve the development review process. Work on
a more detailed State of Development Review Report is underway and staff plan to present that
report to the Council and community partners in 2024.
Culture, Leadership, and Organizational Structure:
Planning Department Re-Organization: The City’s planning department was split into a
development review division and a long-range planning division with separate managers to
facilitate greater specialization of staff towards the development review process. As part of this
process, new positions were created in the former division: Development Review Coordinators
and the Development Review Manager. The Coordinators are frontline employees who serve as
a single point of contact for applicants and City staff as proposals and projects go through the
review process. The Manager has direct oversight of the review process and responds to any
issues or questions that arise.
Development Review Lead and Executive Teams: The direct supervisors of development review
staff from the key departments (Planning, Engineering, Utilities, Fire, and Forestry) now hold a
monthly meeting to review upcoming changes, discuss challenges, brainstorm solutions, and
build understanding. The executive staff from those departme nts also hold a monthly meeting
to build alignment and consensus behind efforts to streamline the development review
process. The collaboration fostered by these teams has had tangible impacts, including the
development of a toolbox of standards for utilit y separation requirements on infill projects. This
ongoing partnership between Planning and Utilities staff will help establish more consistent
standards across departments.
Customer Experience:
DocuSign Envelope ID: D51B630D-0D97-46F7-8D6B-7E206082506E
3
Staff of the Day: The planning department implemented a formal system for assigning a
Planner, Zoner, and Building Reviewer of the day. This ensures there is at least one such staff
member on duty and available to help customers at the counter and respond to emails and
phone calls. This improves responsiveness to customers while also freeing up other staff for
focused work.
Updated Materials: Staff worked to overhaul the applications and checklists for all development
review and building permit processes to ensure they were accurate and helpful. Providing
clearer instructions to applicants on the timelines and documents required throughout
different stages of the review process reduces customer confusion and improves the quality of
submissions. Staff also updated and consolidated webpages to ensure that information,
checklists, and forms for development applications are all in a single location. This continues to
be a point of emphasis as staff seek to improve the clarity and accessibility of information.
Customer Experience Survey: All development applicants now have the opportunity to complete
a survey at the conclusion of the development review process to provide feedback on their
experience. The results of these surveys help identify specific issues with the process and staff
members who have provided exceptional customer service. A summary report produced in
August 2022 revealed that 70% of the 30 respondents rated their experience with the
development review process as good or very good. 45% of respondents who had been through
the Fort Collins development review process before said that their recent experience was much
better or somewhat better than their previous ones.
Electronic Submission and Review: All projects are now submitted and reviewed electronically,
which significantly reduces costs for applicants and saves staff large amounts of time. Planning
is currently working through an RFP process to identify a new vendor for managing licensing,
permitting, and inspection activities to further leverage the benefits of digital rather than
manual processes. Staff also transitioned to online payments for application and permit fees
during the pandemic.
Staff Coordination and Consistency:
Weekly Project Meetings: Development review staff meet weekly on Tuesdays to discuss the
projects under review and topics requiring interdepartmental coordination. These meetings
also provide an opportunity for regular training on procedures, requirements, and expectations
across the development review process.
Completeness Review: All new development submissions are now subject to a 2-day
completeness review to verify that the application and supporting documentation provide the
necessary information for staff to complete a full review. If the submission is deemed
incomplete, it saves both staff and the applicant time because that decision is made in two days
rather than three weeks.
Accountability and Reporting:
DocuSign Envelope ID: D51B630D-0D97-46F7-8D6B-7E206082506E
4
Target Turnaround Times: Staff established a standard of 3 weeks for review, with an expedited
timeline for later rounds or affordable housing projects, and developed a deadline tracking
system to ensure all staff were meeting turnaround times. The length of review periods is now
a regularly tracked metric and this has increased accountability and performance. Deadline
tracking results are reported to supervisors monthly. Most agencies involved in the
development review process successfully provide their comments within the standard review
period about 90% of the time. Failures to meet this goal are often the result of staffing
vacancies.
Standards and Code:
Land Use Code: Some of the challenges that customers encounter when navigating the
development review process are related to administrative procedures or technology: for
example, being unable to find information intuitively on the website. However, many situations
that result in a negative customer experience stem directly from issues within adopted code
documents. In particular, the Land Use Code, adopted in 1997, has become complex and
difficult to use and in many instances is no longer aligned with community values .
Following the adoption of City Plan in 2019, Fort Collins conducted a Land Use Code Audit that
identified the primary deficiencies and challenges in the current code. Along with the Housing
Strategic Plan adopted in 2021, this led to the Land Use Code Phase One Update that focused
on reorganizing the code and improving procedures and standards for residential development.
Phase One includes several refinements that will make the code easier to use and resolve some
recurring challenges in the process. Phase two of the code update, anticipated to begin in 2024,
will further address needed process changes, particularly in non -residential development.
Other Customer Experience Initiatives Underway
As of the date of this memo, several near-term customer experience improvements have been
recently implemented or are in the process of implementation. High priority initiatives include:
Expanded in-person customer service hours in the Development Review Center .
(effective early 2023)
Bluebeam Electronic Plan Review Software Upgrade to allow unified redline comments
for customers and provide security patches. (completed in 2023)
Website navigability improvements, working toward reaching most functions “within 3
clicks”. (underway, with phased launch of features as completed)
Conceptual Review Process Improvements to allow applicants at early stages of
development to reach go/no-go decisions faster. (LEAN process initiated, underway)
Licensing, Permitting, and Inspection Digital Transformation to enable the full benefits
of online applications and reviews, and to reduce manual input. (The RFP will be
published shortly. Vendor selection is anticipated to occur in mid-2024, with
implementation completed in early 2025.)
Future Areas of Focus
An important part of the State of Development Review reporting effort is to organize and
prioritize process improvement efforts. While these themes are still being developed, some
DocuSign Envelope ID: D51B630D-0D97-46F7-8D6B-7E206082506E
5
important focus areas will continue to guide near-term work. An update on the progress that
has been made in these areas will be presented as part of the full State of Development Review
Report in 2024. The following are the key areas staff will focus on during 2024:
Customer Experience
Reducing “late in the process” comments and the number of rounds of review
Digitizing development review and project management
Staff Coordination and Consistency
Staff collaboration and cross training
Establishing a clear escalation process for decision-making
Achieving alignment across departments to minimize conflicting comments and
requirements
Standards and Code
Clearer standards for changes of use, minor amendments, and other kinds of reuse as a
part of the Land Use Code Phase Two project
Managing and mitigating the increasing volume and complexity of City regulations
DocuSign Envelope ID: D51B630D-0D97-46F7-8D6B-7E206082506E