The City of Carlsbad has always enjoyed a broad industry base that provides jobs, fuels the local economy and maintains a high quality of life for residents and visitors. One of the city's roles is to help pave the way for local businesses to achieve success.
This role is even more important during a bad economy. That's why the City Council directed staff about two years ago to reach out to the development community and find ways to forge a stronger partnership.
A big step in this endeavor was the formation of a working group that looked into the development review process with an eye toward cutting out the red tape, increasing efficiency and saving money for developers and taxpayers alike. This working group was made up of members of the local development community and city staff.
The result was nine initiatives and a list of 48 individual recommendations that touched on nearly every aspect of the development review process, from speeding up project reviews to extending the life of permits for projects on the verge of expiration. Over the past 18 months, we have moved our way down the list and are now working on the final two areas of focus: decision-making levels and a landscape manual update.
"This process is a great example of what can be accomplished by getting in a room together, rolling up our sleeves and focusing on the critical issues," said Gary Barberio, the City of Carlsbad's director of community and economic development.
"We're reducing redundancy and ambiguity in our process, cutting out unnecessary steps and trimming costs for both the city and project applicants, which benefits everyone," Barberio said.
The sooner projects get approval and pull their permits, the sooner construction can begin and those projects can start contributing to the community, both in terms of jobs and tax revenue for the city, which helps pay for your vital services like streets maintenance, parks, and police and fire protection.
Maintaining the validity of projects by extending their permit life was vital because many approved projects have been unable to secure financing during the economic downturn. We believe it's essential for those projects to move forward when the economy improves without having to go through the approval process all over again.
Another key recommendation was to ensure that decisions were made at the appropriate level, whether that was City Council, Planning Commission or staff. It's unnecessary to require routine, non-controversial projects to go to the top rung of the ladder for approvals.
The city has undertaken other initiatives to ensure that development applications proceed without unnecessary delay. One initiative was the creation of the Development Review Team in 2008, which consists of managers and high-level staff involved in the permitting process. This group meets monthly to monitor major projects and make sure they stay on track.
Another city initiative was the consolidation of most of the staff involved in development review into a single department, Community & Economic Development.
This accomplished two things. It made it easier for applicants to communicate with the city, because now they could deal with a single department, rather than two or three. It also improved communication among staff members involved in development review, as divergent functions that had been spread out are now gathered under one umbrella.
Working through this process has been a great experience, not just because it allowed us to focus our streamlining efforts where it would make the greatest difference for businesses, but because it opened an ongoing dialogue. By working together and maintaining open communication, the city and the development community can promote Carlsbad's future vitality while maintaining the high standards that make Carlsbad special.
This role is even more important during a bad economy. That's why the City Council directed staff about two years ago to reach out to the development community and find ways to forge a stronger partnership.
A big step in this endeavor was the formation of a working group that looked into the development review process with an eye toward cutting out the red tape, increasing efficiency and saving money for developers and taxpayers alike. This working group was made up of members of the local development community and city staff.
The result was nine initiatives and a list of 48 individual recommendations that touched on nearly every aspect of the development review process, from speeding up project reviews to extending the life of permits for projects on the verge of expiration. Over the past 18 months, we have moved our way down the list and are now working on the final two areas of focus: decision-making levels and a landscape manual update.
"This process is a great example of what can be accomplished by getting in a room together, rolling up our sleeves and focusing on the critical issues," said Gary Barberio, the City of Carlsbad's director of community and economic development.
"We're reducing redundancy and ambiguity in our process, cutting out unnecessary steps and trimming costs for both the city and project applicants, which benefits everyone," Barberio said.
The sooner projects get approval and pull their permits, the sooner construction can begin and those projects can start contributing to the community, both in terms of jobs and tax revenue for the city, which helps pay for your vital services like streets maintenance, parks, and police and fire protection.
Maintaining the validity of projects by extending their permit life was vital because many approved projects have been unable to secure financing during the economic downturn. We believe it's essential for those projects to move forward when the economy improves without having to go through the approval process all over again.
Another key recommendation was to ensure that decisions were made at the appropriate level, whether that was City Council, Planning Commission or staff. It's unnecessary to require routine, non-controversial projects to go to the top rung of the ladder for approvals.
The city has undertaken other initiatives to ensure that development applications proceed without unnecessary delay. One initiative was the creation of the Development Review Team in 2008, which consists of managers and high-level staff involved in the permitting process. This group meets monthly to monitor major projects and make sure they stay on track.
Another city initiative was the consolidation of most of the staff involved in development review into a single department, Community & Economic Development.
This accomplished two things. It made it easier for applicants to communicate with the city, because now they could deal with a single department, rather than two or three. It also improved communication among staff members involved in development review, as divergent functions that had been spread out are now gathered under one umbrella.
Working through this process has been a great experience, not just because it allowed us to focus our streamlining efforts where it would make the greatest difference for businesses, but because it opened an ongoing dialogue. By working together and maintaining open communication, the city and the development community can promote Carlsbad's future vitality while maintaining the high standards that make Carlsbad special.