Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 9/1/2020 - Information From Darin Atteberry Re: Development Review Fees Effective DateDocuSign Envelope ID: 46F223B9-B90E-454E-91C6-F05646E2BD91 Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 970.416.2740 970.224.6134- fax fcgov.com MEMORANDUM DATE: March 3, 2020 TO: Darin Atteberry, City Manager THRU: Jeff Mihelich, Deputy City Travis Storin, Interim Chief Financial Officer Kevin Gertig, Utilities Executive Director Caryn Champine, Planning, Development & Transportation FROM: Tom Leeson, Community, Development & Neighborhood Services Director Noelle Currell, Planning, Development & Transportation Finance RE: Development Review Fees Effective Date Introduction The purpose of this memo is to inform the City Manager of the updates to the Development Review, Engineering Inspection and Building Permit fees. Staff was originally planning on implementing the new fee schedule on April 1, 2020; however, the extensive effort to update the fees in the Accela program conflicts with the work the Accela team is currently working on to upgrade the electronic building permit review process. Staff is recommending delaying the fee implementation until the fall of 2020, so there is no delay to the building permit review project. Project Details The updates to the development review fees require a significant amount of coding in the Accela software to ensure the new fees are calculated correctly, the new building permit calculation methodology from valuation to square footage is accurately coded, and all the fees are allocated to the correct accounts (funds). The existing city staff (and the City’s consultant) that would be updating the development review fees in the Accela program are at capacity working on integrating the electronic building permit review into Accela. This has been a major effort and a priority for the last couple years. Shifting their time to the development review fees would delay that project. August 27, 2020 TO: Mayor & City Council FROM: Darin Atteberry FYI /sek DocuSign Envelope ID: 46F223B9-B90E-454E-91C6-F05646E2BD91 Discussions with the Accela team presented the following options: • Shift all the IT resources to upgrade the development review fees and delay the building permit integration project by at least 8 weeks. • Shift some of the IT resources to work on a limited scope of the development review fee revisions and continue to work on the building permit integration with limited resources. This would delay the building permit integration project by at least 4-6 weeks. • Delay the development review fee update project until after completion of the building permit integration project. This would most likely mean the development reviews could be effective in the fall of 2020. The option of adding additional resources to update the development review fees into Accela was discussed; however, given that the IT team is in the Accela system as part of the building permit integration project, this would cause conflicts and delay both projects as well. Given the importance of the building permit integration project and the momentum that project currently has, staff is recommending the implementation of the development review fee update be delayed until the fall. Next Steps Once a date is determined for when fee updates can be input into Accela, staff will ensure customers are given at least two months of communication on the pending fee changes. Staff will also ensure all stakeholders who were consulted during public outreach are informed of the delay. - 2 -