2016 - city of vancouver home | city of vancouver washington · 2017. 10. 9. · annual report 2016...
TRANSCRIPT
2016 ANNUAL REPORTCommunity & Economic Development
www.cityofvancouver.us/CED
Greetings from City Hall,
This report provides an overview of the volume of work we completed in 2016, and
shows the ways we met our performance timelines in this booming economy. I am very
proud of CED’s many accomplishments from the past year - by far the busiest of my 24
years with the City - which included advancing a number of ground-breaking initiatives.
Three areas where we made some key advances in making Vancouver a better place to
live and do business:
Housing Policies: In response to the housing crisis that has hit Vancouver particularly
hard, CED staff proposed a number of bold policy changes to City Council, including
a voter initiative to create an affordable housing fund, which Council supported and
the citizens overwhelmingly approved. This seven-year measure will generate funds
that will be used for construction of new affordable housing, preservation of existing
low-cost housing, and will provide additional shelter space for homeless individuals.
Electronic Plan Review: One of CED‘s signature customer service enhancements, last
summer we launched electronic plan review (or ePlans) for all types of permit
applications, including land use, engineering, and building. Applicants can now send
their plans and applications to our permit center electronically, without having to
come to City Hall.
Transportation Planning: Last year City Council adopted staff’s recommendations
for improving two long-standing transportation-related problem areas: 1) improving
the Old Evergreen Highway Corridor for multiple users, and 2) lessening impacts of
truck traffic through West Side Neighborhoods. Both plans, which involved significant
input from business owners and residents, will lead to substantial improvements over
the next few years.
My thanks go to the hard-working professionals in CED for their continuing dedication to
providing friendly, helpful and responsive customer service in every interaction.
Finally, I would also like to thank the Mayor, City Council, and City Manager for their
leadership and support of the important work of our department.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any feedback for how we can improve
our service to you.
Warm Regards,
Chad Eiken, AICP, Director
Community and Economic Development
1 Community & Economic Development
The Community and
Economic Development
Department consists of six
main programs:
Long Range Planning
Land Use Planning
Parking
Building Permits and
Inspection
Code Compliance
CDBG and Home
“Every program within the
Community and Economic
Development (CED)
Department relates in some
way to one of three
overarching goals:
1) Neighborhood Livability,
2) Safe Buildings, and
3) a Thriving Business Sector.
In every policy we propose,
decision we make, or
interaction we have, we think
about how it will make a
positive difference in these
three areas of our
community.”
- Chad Eiken, Director
2016: Facilitated
105 pre-application
conferences
Processed
533 land use applications
ANNUAL REPORT 2016 2
2016 walk-in customers
13,423
2016 incoming telephone
calls
3,824
37,487
2015
42,511
2016
25,132
2015
29,716
2016
30,154
2014
20,896
2014
1,618
8,133
2,118
9,679
1963
9,642
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
Building Plan First Review Total Building Permits Issued
Building Permit & Plan Review
2014
2015
2016
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Pre-Applications Prelim LandDivisions
Final LandDivisions
Prelim Site Plans Final Site Plans
Planning Applications Received
2014
2015
2016
3 Community & Economic Development
The Pre-Lease Program is a resource for business owners who want to
buy or lease a commercial space or property owners wanting to
renovate/redevelop commercial space. Approximately 30% of the
2016 pre-leases resulted in a signed lease/building purchase.
The pre-lease program
was incredibly informative
and made a potentially
overwhelming task of
building out a restaurant
from scratch seem perfectly
doable to me …
- Joey Chmiko and
Alder Suttles,
Business Owners
I was just walking the dog past this house on the corner of our subdivision and noticed a trailer piled high with stuff I assume is on it's way to the dump. This property looks SO much better - no inoperable cars, the grass is all cut, the monstrous RV is gone. I wanted to thank you for your efforts on my and my neighbors behalf.
- Anonymous citizen
“
“
Pre-lease visits in 2016
43
6156
6,769
8,283
35603,809
4,624
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
2014 2015 2016
Code & Parking Complaints Received
Code Compliance
Neighborhood Parking
“
“
ANNUAL REPORT 2016 4
CED staff and City Council responded to the housing affordability crisis by
proposing a voter-approved tax initiative that will provide up to $6M/year
in grant funding for development of new affordable housing units, renovation
and preservation of existing low income housing stock, and housing the
homeless. Additionally, staff proposed several amendments to the City’s tax
abatement code to incentivize the development of new affordable housing
units, which Council adopted.
Submitting development plans from home or office is now easy!
Electronic Plan Review (ePlans) went “live” for all building plan reviews in
July, and is now available for any development review application at no
additional charge. This reduces paper, permit processing time, and space for
storage of plans.
CED and Public Works staff proposed the Evergreen Corridor Management
Strategy, which outlined a plan and steps for making SE Evergreen Highway
safer for all users while improving long-standing pavement condition issues.
Also, CED staff led the Westside Mobility Strategy, a study of the
transportation needs and conditions for people who walk, bicycle, drive a
vehicle and deliver freight in Vancouver neighborhoods and industrial areas
west of I-5. The Final Report for the study lays out short and long-term
improvements to ensure West Side neighborhoods stay livable while allowing
industrial areas to grow. Both plans were adopted by City Council last year.
CED staff held three multi-day process improvement events, (known as LEAN,
or Kaizen Events), to map out and then streamline the following processes:
Single Family Residential Permit Review Process
Neighborhood Parking Violation Process
Expired Building Permits
Recommendations for improvements to all three process have already been
mostly implemented, and we are tracking the extent of the efficiencies that
have been gained. More events are planned for 2017.
50%
of renter households
are cost burdened
(spending 30% or more of
income on housing)
5 Community & Economic Development
Land Use Reviews 2014 2015 2016 Target Status
Average Fully Complete (1st review) 23 days 16 days 17 days 21 days
Average Fully Complete (2nd + Review) 20 days 15 days 14 days 12 days
Type I:
Average Time from Fully Complete to Decision 24 days 12 days 15 days 28 days
Type II:
Average Time from Fully Complete to Decision 61 days 62 days 85 days 78 days
Type III:
Average Time from Fully Complete to Decision 90 days 85 days 101 days 90 days
Streamlined Projects
(Submittal to Final Engineering Approval) 90 days 91 days 105 days 90 days
Building Plan Reviews Average Review Times 2014 2015 2016 Target Status
New Single Family 12 days 18 days 15 days 14 days
Residential Alterations/Additions 3 days 4 days 4 days 7 days
Multi-Family High Rise
Low Rise
18 days
27 days
55 days
38 days
50 days
38 days
42 days
28 days
Commercial Plans Tenant Improvements: Minor ($5,000 or less) Tenant Improvements: Mid ($5,000 - $60,000) Tenant Improvements: Major (over $60,000) New Construction: 3 stories or less
New Construction: 4+ stories
4 days
9 days
16 days
42 days
7 days
12 days
20 days
n/a
6 days
12 days
22 days
59 days
7 days
14 days
21 days
42 days
Meeting or Exceeding
Target
Close to Target
OFI (Opportunity for
Improvement)
Engineering Review 2014 2015 2016 Status
Number of Civil Plans Reviewed Percentage of Plans Reviewed within 28 days
Average Plan Review Time
169
62%
23
days
214
50%
27
days
239
46%
27
days
Number of Mylars Signed Percentage of Mylars Reviewed/Signed within 14 days
Average Mylar Review Time
79
70%
12
days
73
52%
14
days
63
52%
15
days
5 Community & Economic Development
ANNUAL REPORT 2016 6
City Council has directed staff to proceed with the Van Mall North Annexation, an
area west of I-205 and north of Vancouver Mall. This annexation, the largest
since 1997, will add about 2 square miles of land, approximately 2,200
households, and as many as 4,600 new city neighbors. Current plans anticipate
that the annexation will be effective by early August.
Vancouver’s Waterfront is under construction! Bold investment in infrastructure and
access improvements by the City is leading to numerous development proposals
including restaurants, hotels, office buildings, retail stores, and urban residential
towers. The City is constructing the 7 acre waterfront park and pier, and at least
six separate blocks of The Waterfront project are anticipated to be under
construction this year. The Port of Vancouver is proposing an exciting mixed use
development immediately east of The Waterfront project, their master plan is
currently being reviewed by CED to ensure it’s consistent with the City’s vision for
the waterfront.
Complete streets are streets for everyone. Whether people are traveling by car,
bicycle, transit, or as pedestrians, they need safe, comfortable and convenient
travel routes. Creating and adopting a Complete Streets policy will help make
our streets safer and more accessible. The effort to develop the Complete Streets
policy is fully underway with the goal of ensuring our built environment is one of
the safest, most environmentally responsible and well maintained in the Pacific
Northwest.
Last summer CED began accepting land use, engineering and building permit
applications electronically, without having to come to the permit center. By the
end of 2017, we will be implementing new policies and procedures so everyone
submits their plans and applications online, which will save time, money, and plan
storage space! We’ll provide training on our electronic plan review software.
Stay tuned for further announcements as paper plan submittals are phased out.
www.cityofvancouver.us/CED (360) 487-7800 [email protected]
ANNUAL REPORT 2016 6