Title
Chief Administrative Officer recommending the Board receive and file a status report regarding the County's development review process, specifically the Technical Advisory Committee.
FUNDING: No fiscal impact.
Body
Background
On June 27, 2006, the FY 2005-06 Grand Jury released its report concerning the activities of governmental entities within El Dorado County. The Board of Supervisors issued its response to the FY 2005-06 Grand Jury Report on September 19, 2006.
Included in the FY 2005-06 report is a separate report concerning the Development Services Department. This report expressed concerns about the coordination and effectiveness of the County's TAC, an interdepartmental advisory body that provides feedback to applicants and the project planner primarily related to discretionary development projects.
Analysis
The Development Services Department formed the TAC in order to provide technical review and support for the discretionary projects submitted to the department. Through the TAC, the County offers the following services to developers in order to minimize multiple and costly changes for applicants:
TAC Meetings - The TAC meeting is scheduled weekly, as needed, to provide a forum whereby technical input from a number of departments is given to the planners and applicants who attend. The departments that usually participate include Environmental Management, Department of Transportation, and County Fire. Other departments and special districts attend on an as-needed basis. The TAC process is currently being reorganized to provide review within three weeks of application submittal. This provides an opportunity for any department to identify fatal flaws or potential inconsistencies with policies or regulations. This will allow the applicants to redesign their projects, if necessary, and avoid costly changes later on. Currently, the TAC meeting doesn't occur until after a project has been deemed complete, which can be many months into the process. A second TAC meeting will be scheduled prior to the Planning Commission or Zoning Administrator meeting to finalize comments and conditions from various departments.
Pre-Application Review Meetings - Pre-applications can be submitted by any applicant that would like to receive early feedback on a proposed project. Sometimes detailed plans are drawn; other times, only a simple project description is submitted. When the proposed project is large and/or complex, TAC is available to provide technical support to staff and the applicant.
Planning Commission Conceptual Review Workshops - When staff identify projects that could benefit from an early review by the commission, a Conceptual Review hearing is scheduled. The types of projects that can benefit from an early review include: very large or complex development projects or pre-applications, large residential subdivisions, projects with potential general plan policy inconsistencies, non-routine general plan amendment requests that raise policy issues, etc. These meeting also benefit from the TAC's input.
Staff and I are available to answer any questions you may have concerning this update.