TO: COMMUNITY AND
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
COMMITTEE
FROM: Chris Burton
SUBJECT: SEE BELOW DATE: March 10, 2025
Approved Date:
3/14/25
SUBJECT: Development Services Process Improvement and Dashboard Report
RECOMMENDATION
Accept the Development Services Process Improvement and Dashboard Report, including an update on metrics and dashboard data that detail bottlenecks in the development process, as well as recommendations for short and long-term improvements.
BACKGROUND
On January 18, 2022, former Mayor Sam Liccardo issued a memorandum to the Joint Meeting of the Rules and Open Government Committee and Committee of the Whole recommending an addition to the Community and Economic Development (CED) Committee Work Plan to include a status update of metrics and dashboard that provides insights to the bottlenecks in the development process along with recommendations for improvements. The item was scheduled to return to the CED Committee twice a year.
The initial updates were presented to the CED Committee in February 2022, with five additional presentations to the committee since then.
The original measures, as part of the Development Services Dashboard update in February 2022, were replaced by the introduction of the Planning, Building and Code Enforcement (PBCE) Customer Service Charter (CSC) at the February 2023 CED Committee meeting. That presentation outlined the background and purpose of the CSC, including definitions of the various dashboard components.
COMMITTEE AGENDA: 3/24/25
ITEM: (d)3
COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
March 10, 2025
Subject: Development Services Process Improvement and Dashboard Report
ANALYSIS
The CSC was created from the main department strategy document, the PBCE Management Framework. The Management Framework is built around four key areas:
(1) Informed Management Decisions, (2) Telling Our Story, (3) Workforce, and (4) Budget. Each of these areas is critical for improving the management and operations of the department, with the end goal of producing excellent customer outcomes. A critical component to all of these core areas is the recognition that a new paradigm around customer service was required that aligned the front-line customer-facing activities with the high-level outcomes desired for PBCE customers. This necessitated the publishing of public-facing dashboards that describe the operations of the Department.
The CSC also commits to improving the process and providing customers with information. One of the major improvements made over the past six months was creating the permit fee estimator tool. Initially launched in September 2024, the first phase was only for accessory dwelling units and new single-family residential construction. A second phase for Commercial Tenant Improvements was then launched in December 2024, that helps new retail, businesses, and restaurants get insight into the typical cost associated with getting a permit for setting up their new business. The team is currently working on the third phase, focusing on new construction multifamily residential permits. The team anticipates launching it in Spring 2025.
Building Permit Fee Estimator
Development Services Rules Committee Memorandum - November 1, 2023 On November 1, 2023, the Rules and Open Government Committee approved a memorandum providing direction to PBCE to implement recommendations from the 2023 Transition Committee on Planning and Permitting. The department previously completed seven items from the memo and presented the outcome to the CED Committee in March and September 2024. Over the last six months, the department has advanced two additional items, which are detailed below.
COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
March 10, 2025
Subject: Development Services Process Improvement and Dashboard Report
6.b Potential process improvements that could reduce the need for multiple rounds of review.
In a review of a sample of residential permit applications, the most common causes for multiple rounds of review include: (1) incomplete submittals, (2) poor quality plan sets, (3) significant design changes, and (4) additional comments found after the first round of review. All of these reasons slow down the application process and prevent plan review staff from completing project review. The department has already implemented several improvements to reduce the number of reviews. First, the department has consolidated information on our web pages to make application requirements clearer, so customers are successful in the first submittal. Second, the Building Division has implemented a new review policy that after the third round of reviews, the plan reviewers should schedule a meeting with the applicant to discuss and clarify the comments. Finally, for larger projects, particularly with large affordable housing projects, co-creating project schedules that include the expected number of rounds of review is important. More complex projects will always require more rounds of review. But this agreement at the onset has motivated both the City and the applicant to produce good quality plan sets early. However, this model is difficult to scale to smaller permits where the applicant designer may work towards many permits simultaneously. One other improvement that has removed the need for review cycles completely is the introduction of the Best Prepared Designer program. The permits that have been removed from review were typically projects that would only need a minimal number of review cycles, which means only the more challenging ones were left in the pipeline.
6.f. The resource implications of dedicated staffing to provide clarifications to the development community by phone rather than through formal submission of responses.
The Department has the ability to provide this service today, but the time spent on these calls must be in addition to the formal submission of comments to applicants. The calls would be informal and could not constitute complete submission of comments. These calls would likely require 2-3 hours of staff time for scheduling, preparation, and holding the meeting for the lead reviewer and their supervisor (dependent on the applicant and the reviewer). These additional hours would be charged to the applicant and would not present a funding issue but rather would take additional staff time that could be spent on the next application review. This would likely lengthen the timeline for other projects.
This meeting could be more efficient, which is why the Building Plan Review team has established the policy of holding a call with applicants at the third round of comments if a fourth round is required. In these instances, usually a misunderstanding about the comments exists where a call would help clarify them.
Economic Slowdown
Since the last update to the CED Committee in September 2024, Development Services has experienced a general slowdown in several key operational areas. The CSC metrics, particularly those related to permitting activities in both Planning and Building
COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
March 10, 2025
Subject: Development Services Process Improvement and Dashboard Report
permit issuance, clearly reflect this economic decline, showing steady or moderate decreases over the past six months.
For the Building Division, two key metrics—applications processed and permits issued—highlight the downturn in economic activity. The number of applications processed has decreased by 6%, with the average dropping from 178 permits per week in the previous six months to 167 permits in the most recent period. Additionally, the number of permits issued has fallen by 11%, dropping from an average of 143 per week between March and September 2024 to 133 per month in the following six months.
These reductions are common during periods of economic uncertainty, when businesses and homeowners may postpone large-scale renovations or construction projects due to caution. In a strong economy, we generally see an increase in these permits as businesses and developers move forward with new projects. However, the recent decline indicates that developers, homeowners, and other organizations are scaling back their development plans due to concerns about economic stability.
The Planning Permit Center is also responsible for reviewing new building permit applications to ensure conformance with zoning ordinances and other planning regulations. The number of buildings conformance reviews processed is closely tied to the total number of new building applications processed, as discussed above. The number of new building permit conformance reviews have decreased 8% over the past six months, representing a larger decrease than the overall building application pipeline.
This is likely because conformance reviews only happen for larger applications, including those that impact the exterior of a structure, tenant improvements, changes in use/occupancy, site improvements, or new construction.
Another example of this trend in the Planning Permit Center, which also processes administrative applications, has seen a noticeable decrease in the number of new planning applications. These applications typically involve smaller projects, such as minor adjustments to previously approved permits, sign permits, zoning verification letters, tree removal permits, and similar requests. While these tasks may seem minor, the volume of such applications is a good indicator of overall development activity.
Over the past six months, the Planning Permit Center has experienced an 11% decrease in new planning applications, dropping from an average of 25 per month to
22.5 per month. This decline signals a reduced demand for planning services, often serving as an early indicator of economic downturns, as businesses and property owners are less likely to initiate new projects or make changes during uncertain economic times.
Together, these reductions in applications result in a decrease in fee revenue for the fee-funded Development Services team. Currently, the team is budgeted for one division manager, two planning supervisors, seven planners, and two planning technicians. The decrease in applications may cause subsequent adjustments to staffing as the department continues to align capacity with fee revenue. The team attempts to increase fee revenue by being diligent in pre-screening applications before
COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
March 10, 2025
Subject: Development Services Process Improvement and Dashboard Report
they get to an appointment, which helps prevent appointments from being taken up by non-Planning fee generating customers who are not ready or who do not need a Planning appointment. While this results in an increase in availability for permit appointments, this translates to customers having a shorter wait time for their application appointments, faster processing of Planning applications submitted online, and faster building permit conformance reviews.
Enhancements to Customer Service Dashboards
In line with the commitment to enhancing service delivery, staff is continually refining the CSC to ensure it remains a valuable tool for data-driven management and better communicates our story to customers, setting clear expectations and increasing transparency. A recent key improvement has been integrating staffing indicators across all dashboards. These icons display the number of staff dedicated to each metric, providing greater transparency into operations.
Customer Service Charter Staffing Indicator
Another improvement staff has been working on is increasing the visibility of our customer service. Previously, customers could only access our CSC dashboard from the main Customer Service Charter webpage. In the last CED update, staff announced the launch of the first Customer Centric Dashboard located on the Building Permit Services webpage. To further enhance visibility, staff continued to embed the CSC dashboard across the main PBCE webpage, including the Planning Public Info Email Response Times dashboard located on the Contact Us page. This new dashboard provides customers with the data they want to know when trying to reach the Planning Division: how many days until a response and how many days until issues are resolved on average. Finally, staff has added the days to the next building inspection available on the inspection webpage so customers can better manage their construction timeline and know when to book an inspection.
COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
March 10, 2025
Subject: Development Services Process Improvement and Dashboard Report
Another key improvement to the CSC has been the implementation of new customercentric metrics, such as Wait Time to Permit Appointment for the Planning Permit Center. These metrics help inform customers how long they can expect until an appointment is available and also keep the department informed as to whether staff capacity is meeting demand. Similarly, the Building Permit Center introduced the percentage of in-person customers served in less than 30 minutes metric to monitor efficiency in serving walk-in customers, especially as walk-ins have increased in recent months. By tracking and publicly sharing this metric, staff can better set customer expectations and adjust staffing or redistribute tasks to maintain service levels, ensuring demand is met and upholding high-quality service across both Permit Centers.
In conclusion, these ongoing improvements reflect staff’s dedication to not only improving department operations but also enhancing the overall customer experience.
By making data more accessible and transparent, integrating staffing indicators, and introducing customer-centric metrics, staff is better equipped to manage fluctuations in demand and can continue to provide clear expectations for customers. As the CSC continues to evolve, staff will remain focused on making data-driven decisions that foster transparency, improve service delivery, and ensure that customers are wellinformed and satisfied.
COORDINATION
The memorandum was coordinated with the City Attorney’s Office. /s/
Chris Burton
Director of Planning, Building
and Code Enforcement
For questions, please contact Alex Powell, Chief of Staff, Planning, Building and Code Enforcement, at (408) 535-1258 or [email protected].