Agenda Index City of Vancouver

REPORT TO COUNCIL

COMMUNITY/INDUSTRY ADVISORY COMMITTEE
FOR THE REZONING, PERMITTING AND INSPECTION PROCESS

October 15, 1999

CC File No.3151
RTS File No. 01066

INFORMATION Council: November 2, 1999

· Third Report to Council

· CIAC’S Submission to the Task Force

· Revised Implementation Plan for the DBR Process

CIAC’S PRELIMINARY COMMENTS ON THE REVISED PLAN

The Committee is encouraged by the work that is being undertaken by the staff teams to implement the revised plan for the DBR process. As the process evolves, CIAC is of the opinion that it is important to do the following:

· Keep staff fully informed and involved in implementing the plan; encourage teamwork.

· Develop ways for the community to be meaningfully involved in projects early on in the process.

· Attempt to operate on a cost recovery basis (e.g., may need to collect a fee for the project scoping documents which require a significant amount of staff time to produce).

· Review plan on a regular basis; amend strategy as needed.

In conclusion, CIAC is pleased with the direction that the DBR process is moving. Under the revised plan, it is taking incremental steps; incorporating some good aspects of the legacy system; and setting up a management structure that will better coordinate the various permitting processes. CIAC is hopeful that this approach will address the concerns which led to the task force review.


Sophia Lum, Chair Dimas Craveiro, Co-Chair
Community/Industry Advisory Committee Community/Industry Advisory Committee

Appendices: A & B

Community Representatives:

Industry Representatives:

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. Accelerate the training of DBR staff by existing “expert” staff.

2. Expand and confirm the authority of DBR Facilitators and Coordinators.

3. Support the concept of the Area Generalist as an initial means of providing early community input at the first team meeting or sooner and facilitating ongoing community input.

4. Ensure that there are opportunities for the community to provide input on a proposed project as early as possible and throughout the process.

5. Seek ways to further enhance the scoping process, on an on-going basis.

6. Make incremental improvements in IT available to customers on a cost recovery basis as soon as possible.

7. Remember the results of the 1996 visioning conference and use them as a means of clarifying organizational directions.

8. DBR should create and publish a Strategic Plan and accompanying workplans clearly outlining its Goals, Objectives and Strategies for implementation, and update the Plan on a continuous basis as a means of measuring progress.

9. Recognize and support empowered leadership of the New Process, and confirm broad city government support.

10. Accelerate the implementation of the New Process as originally proposed in order to achieve promised organizational and cost efficiencies, while acknowledging emergent financial constraints.

11. Accelerate reclassification of DBR staff positions. This is absolutely key to the success of the New Process.

12. Regularly inform staff and the public of incremental service improvements and the progress in implementing the New Process.

13. Ensure senior management are aware that some process problems and shortcomings may be attributed to lack of response by legacy or “expert” staff or management.

14. Outline the Regulatory Review Process now. Accelerate the commencement of the review process .

15. Recruit Facilitators and Coordinators with enough expertise to include enough critical “expert” content to reduce “late hits.”

16. Collect a retainer for each project which is formally scoped, with that retainer applied against regular permit fees if the project proceeds. If a project is abandoned, staff time costs should be reimbursed from the retainer before any balance is refunded to the customer.


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