Agenda Item: 5
CITY OF SANTA CLARITA
AGENDA REPORT
CONSENT CALENDAR
CITY MANAGER APPROVAL:
DATE: October 25, 2022
SUBJECT: BUILDING PLAN REVIEW, BUILDING INSPECTION, AND
PERMIT-RELATED PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
DEPARTMENT: Community Development
PRESENTER: John Caprarelli
RECOMMENDED ACTION
City Council:
1. Authorize an expenditure authority increase to the City's on-call Building & Safety consulting firms: JAS Pacific, Scott Fazekas & Associates, Interwest Consulting Group, and TRB and Associates, in the amount of $500,000, resulting in a total on-call expenditure authority amount of $1,000,000 for Fiscal Year 2022-23.
2. Authorize a one-time appropriation from the General Fund in the amount of $500,000 to Building & Safety Contractual Services expenditure account 1004100-516101.
3. Increase Building & Safety Plan Review revenue account 100-411107 (General Fund) by $1,000,000.
4. Authorize the City Manager or designee to execute all documents, subject to City Attorney approval.
BACKGROUND
The City of Santa Clarita (City) uses contractual services on an as-needed basis to assist staff with building plan review, inspection, and permit-related professional services for new buildings during periods of high construction activity. Contractual support for building plan review and building inspection helps supplement staff’s efforts to reduce plan check turnaround time and manage the inspection workload as demand fluctuates. Contractual services help maintain appropriate staffing and customer service levels.
On April 12, 2022, the City Council authorized spending in an amount not to exceed $500,00 for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022-2023 with the following consulting firms: JAS Pacific, Scott Fazekas & Associates, Interwest Consulting Group, and TRB and Associates for contractual building plan review, building inspection, and permit-related professional services.
In order to keep pace with an unanticipated volume of construction activity and maintain the City's premiere level of customer service, an additional $500,000 in expenditure authority is needed. The increased expenditure authority will allow the City to continue contracting through the duration of FY 2022-23 with qualified building inspectors and plan reviewers who are well- suited to handle the surplus demand.
To account for the unanticipated activity, the recommended action additionally includes an increase of $1 million to forecasted plan check revenues. The revenue budget would be increased to $2.85 million from $1.85 million, which was adopted with the FY 2022-23 Annual Budget and has surpassed fiscal year-to-date. Main revenue generators for FY 2022-23 include continued growth in residential activities as well as large projects, such as Needham Ranch, Riverwalk Project, Garden Terrace, and Shadowbox Studios at the Southern California Innovation Park.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION
Other action as determined by the City Council.
FISCAL IMPACT
The existing budget for Building & Safety as-needed contracts is $500,000 for FY 2022-23.
Upon approval of the recommended actions, an additional $500,000 in General Fund dollars would be budgeted to Building & Safety Contractual Services Expenditure Account 1004100- 516101. The increase in budget is being directly offset by a $1,000,000 increase in permit revenues.
ATTACHMENTS
Agenda - Tuesday, April 12, 2022 (available in the Clerk’s Reading File) TRB and Associates Proposal (available in the Clerk’s Reading File) Scott Fazekas Proposal (available in the Clerk’s Reading File) JAS Proposal (available in the Clerk’s Reading File)
Interwest Proposal (available in the Clerk’s Reading File)