Special Notice / Hearing: 10-day__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Steve Monowitz, Community Development Director
Subject: Public Hearing to consider adoption of Planning and Building Department's proposed Building Permit and Inspection Fee Schedule
RECOMMENDATION:
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Public hearing to consider adoption of the Planning and Building Department's Proposed Building Permit and Inspection Fee Schedule:
A) Open public hearing
B) Close public hearing
C) Adopt a resolution adopting the Planning and Building Department's proposed Building Permit and Inspection Fee Schedule effective January 15, 2021.
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BACKGROUND
In 2018, the Planning and Building Department (Department) launched a technology project to upgrade Accela, its permit tracking database. The purpose of the project is to expand the Project's online permitting capability, streamline business workflows, and improve system user experience. This project prompted a review of the Department's current Building Inspection Service Fee Schedule, which was last revised in 2009. The review exposed several challenges, issues, and limitations of the current fee schedule.
Based on this review, the Department proposes to amend the fee schedule to adjust existing fees and to add new categories of fees to address services for which fees are not currently recovered. Over the last 11 years since the department's fee schedule was last revised, the cost of providing building services has increased significantly. For example, data from the California Department of Industrial Relations show a 31.6 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index between October 2009 and October 2019.
The amendments to the fee schedule will result in a new schedule that achieves the following objectives:
1. Simplify fees, so that they are easy to understand and can be used to accurately reflect permit and Inspection costs.
2. Reduce the use of project valuation as a basis for calculatin...
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