Building Division Update
Agenda Item 13-A
March 10, 2025
History
of
Building
& Safety
Contract
Since the City incorporated in 1957 until 1997, the
City’s Building & Safety Services were provided by
the County of Los Angeles.
To provide better customer service at reduced cost,
the City Council approved a transition to a
combination of both in-house staff and contracted
staff in 1997.
Service Providers: Transtech Engineers (1997-
2000), P&D Consultants (2000-2006), BroadSpec
(2006-2020), and Safebuilt (2020-2024).
Beginning in 2019, the service provider also
provided fire code review and inspection services.
Award of Contract to Willdan Engineering
•The City began to receive complaints regarding the timing and comments received through the plan check process.
•The City released a RFP for several reasons, one of which included that he personnel changes at the time impacted the level of service provided and the effectiveness and consistency of the Division.
•On 09/09/24, the City Council awarded an agreement to Willdan Engineering. •The City terminated its agreement with Safebuilt on 09/27/24 and Willdan began operations on 09/29/24.
New Service Provider
•Willdan was tasked with:
✓Assessing the current operations
✓Identifying areas for improvements
✓Making the necessary changes to have an efficient, effective, and well-functioning Building and Safety Division.
Front Counter Activity and Staffing
Before Now
Building Official 1 full-time 1 full-time
Plan Checker 1 full-time & 1 part-time 2 part-time w/ additional help provided*
Plan Checker/Building
Inspector/Admin. Asst.*
None 1 full-time
Building Inspector 1 full-time 1 full-time w/ additional help provided*
Permit Technician 2 full-time 3 full-time
Self-Certification
•Program was established in 2016 to streamline the permitting processing by expediting construction approvals, improve customer service delivery, and encourage economic development. •Program allows a licensed Design Professional to accept the risk associated with proceeding to construction. Any noted deficiencies are identified during required inspections, and if necessary, the project is stopped until corrections are made.
•Bellflower was one of the first cities in CA to make a self-certification process available as an option.
•Recently, Bellflower has received attention for our long-standing efforts to expedite construction.
Self-
Certification
•To facilitate and encourage more use of the program and avoid costly and untimely delays related to more
complicated inspections, the focus will be on the
following:
✓Residential: Single-story and two-story
residential, residential additions, and ADUs
✓Commercial: Single-story commercial building
✓Others: Building Official will consider on a
case-by-case basis
•To identify any code deficiencies and for inspection
purposes, the Building Official will maintain the authority to require that any necessary plan checks be conducted. •The courtesy correction list will be provided to the
inspector to ensure compliance with the Building Code
during the inspection process.
•A resolution will be brought back to the Council for
consideration at a future date.
Soils Report
•The Building Official also identified inconsistency with the City’s requirements for the submission of soils reports for various projects.
•Bellflower is located within a high liquefaction area. •Soils reports are prepared by and are the professional work product of a licensed geotechnical engineer and describe what specific standards need to be included in the foundation plan.
•Soils conditions are site specific and may change throughout the block.
Soils Report
•To provide more clarity and flexibility for applicants and to reduce building costs and expedite lower risk
project where possible, the Building Official will
develop prescriptive design standards.
•The Building Official recommends the following:
✓Prescriptive Design Method: For projects
consisting of one-story structures 750 sq. ft. or
less for which the foundation plans conform to
the prescriptive design standards, no soils report
will be required.
✓Projects consisting of one-story structures
exceeding 750 sq. ft., two-story structures, etc.
must provide a site specific soils report and
foundation must be designed in accordance with
the recommendations outlined in the soils
report.
Documents Required for Plan Check
Submittal
•Staff has received complaints related to inconsistent submittal requirements for plan check.
Complaints relate to requirements for particular documents (e.g. grading plans and fire flow certifications) that may not have been required for a similar project in the past. In addition, the number of plan sets required for submittal have also changed. •To provide clarity to applicants and standardize our processes, the Building Official has prepared a handout listing all required submittal items and will make this handout readily available at the counter and on the City’s website. The handout also provides a list of outside agency approvals that may be required (e.g. Health Dept., AQMD, etc.).
Electronic Plan Checking and Online
Permitting
•Several projects have been reviewed through Willdan’s electronic plan checking portal. The portal has proved to be an asset to the City and has highlighted the need to modernize our Planning, Public Works, and Finance procedures as well.
•To improve and modernize the plan checking and permitting process, staff is currently in negotiations with companies that provide online permitting and electronic plan checking for those additional internal review.
•Improvements to the payment process with the Finance Department will also be integrated into these new procedures.
Building Plan Check and Permit Fees
Development Impact Fees
•Building and Planning staff consistently receive complaints related to the City’s permit and fee structure. The plan check and permit fees are collected together as a single fee at the time of plan check submittal. This presents challenges from an accounting standpoint. •City staff will be working to bring revisions to the City’s fees structures and rates that separate the plan check and permit fees and ensure appropriate cost recovery. •Building and Planning staff also consistency receive complaints related to DIFs. Generally, complaints claim the DIFs are too high compared to our surrounding cities and deter development.
The City’s DIFs are designed to defray the costs and impacts of development on the surrounding community and ensure the City’s ability to provide the associated services and infrastructure necessary to support that development.
Conclusion
•With the transition of Building Division services, the City charged the Building Official with identifying beneficial improvements to our processes and practices to improve the applicant experience.
•Based on that review, the Building Official has begun to make the necessary changes and has worked with City staff to bring amendments requiring City Council approval, including fee adjustments, resolution clarifying the Self Certification Program, and others will be brought back to the Council in the near future for consideration.
Recommendation
1.Receive and file this report; or
2.Alternatively, discuss and take other action
related to this item.
Building Division Update
Agenda Item 13-A
March 10, 2025