CITY OF SAN MATEO
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CITY OF SAN MATEO
Agenda Report
City Hall
330 W. 20th Avenue
San Mateo CA 94403
www.cityofsanmateo.org
Agenda Number: 7 Section Name: CONSENT CALENDAR Account Number: 10-4662 File ID: 26-11113 TO: City Council
FROM: Alex Khojikian, City Manager
PREPARED BY: Public Works Department
MEETING DATE: May 18, 2026
SUBJECT:
On-Call Public Works Plan Review Services — Amendments
RECOMMENDATION:
Approve Amendment No. 3 to the professional consultant services agreement with CSG Consultants, Inc. for on-call Public Works plan review support services, increasing the amount by $200,000 for a revised total amount not to exceed $800,000 and extending the term through June 30, 2027; approve Amendment No. 2 to the professional consultant services agreement with Ghirardelli Associates, Inc. for on-call Public Works plan review support services, increasing the amount by $200,000 for a revised total amount not to exceed $600,000 and extending the term through June 30, 2027; and authorize the Public Works Director to execute the amendments in substantially the form presented and issue future no-cost time extensions, if necessary.
BACKGROUND:
On November 6, 2023, the City Council approved agreements with CSG Consultants, Inc. (CSG) and Ghirardelli Associates, Inc. (GAI) for on-call Public Works plan review support services for $400,000 each, for terms until June 30, 2025, to address a significant increase in the number of planning applications and permits requiring Public Works staff review. These agreements included two optional, one-year term extensions by the City. The volume of planning applications and building permits submitted to the City has dramatically increased over the past year after Assembly Bill 130 went into effect, necessitating the use of outside consulting services to meet the Permit Streamlining Act statutory time limits for application reviews.
In May 2025, staff executed Amendment No. 1 for each agreement to issue the first one-year optional, one-year extension and extending the agreement terms to June 30, 2026. On August 18, 2025, Council approved Amendment No. 2 to the CSG agreement to increase the agreement amount by $200,000, for a revised total amount not to exceed $600,000.
Costs associated with staff time and consultant services required to review and process applications and permits are paid with funds collected through planning application deposits and building permit fees. As such, all costs associated with CSG’s and GAI's reviews of the applications are fully cost-recovered by the City. To ensure the City is providing cost- effective services for residents and developers, staff reviews consultant hourly charges to project accounts to verify plan reviews are completed efficiently.
Based on the historic level of effort and expenditures to date, the increase of $200,000 to each agreement amount is estimated to be sufficient to support staff to the end of the extended agreement term on June 30, 2027. Based on the above, staff recommends approval of Amendment No. 3 with CSG and Amendment No. 2 with GAI increasing each agreement amount by $200,000, for a revised total amount not to exceed $600,000 for CSG, and $400,000 for GAI and extending each agreement term to June 30, 2027 in order to meet the City’s immediate level of service requirements for planning applications, building permits, and encroachment permits.
CITY OF SAN MATEO
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BUDGET IMPACT:
The support services provided by these consultant firms will be charged, as services are rendered, to planning application deposit accounts as funded by project developers or by building permit fees as paid by project developers.
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION:
This approval of professional services agreement amendments to support planning review services by the Public Works Department is not a project subject to CEQA, because it is an organizational or administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment. (CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(5).)
NOTICE PROVIDED
All meeting noticing requirements were met.
ATTACHMENTS
Att 1 – Amendment No. 3 (CSG Consultants, Inc.)
Att 2 – Amendment No. 2 (Ghirardelli Associates, Inc.)
STAFF CONTACT
Jason Hallare, Senior Engineer
[email protected]
(650) 522-7316