SR-400-004-03 (3)
City Council Meeting: July 8, 2003 Santa Monica, California
TO: City Council
FROM: City Staff
SUBJECT: Consideration of Development Related Fees for Systematic Inspection
and Enforcement of Compliance with Certain Discretionary Planning
Permits in Commercial Zones
Introduction
This staff report recommends that Council direct staff to establish proactive monitoring
fees for certain discretionary permits in order to fund an ongoing program of periodic
compliance inspections and enforcement.
Background
During the FY 01/02 year-end report in October 2002, City Council considered fees for
proactive monitoring of new conditional use and development review permits. Staff
recommended implementing a proactive inspection cycle for restaurants with conditional
use permits and projects with design compatibility or development review permits. As
then envisioned, proactive inspections would occur three times over ten years for
conditional use permits and design compatibility permits and twice in ten years for
development review permits. The proposed one-time fees were $2,100 for new
conditional use permits and development review permits and $1,400 for development
review permits. Council directed staff to return with additional recommendations and
input from the Planning Commission.
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On December 11, 2002, staff presented options to and asked for recommendations
from the Planning Commission on the types of permits, uses, frequency and duration of
proactive monitoring that should occur. The Planning Commission made the following
recommendations:
1. All commercial sites with new and existing conditional use, development review
and performance standards permits should be monitored.
2. Monitoring should be unannounced but occur quarterly for the first year after
establishing the use and annually thereafter.
3. Costs should be higher for sites with after-hours use that rely on police response
or overtime for code enforcement staff.
4. Monitoring should be adjusted based on the rate of compliance demonstrated by
the permit holder.
Based on certain assumptions of approval and business closure rates, staff estimates
that approximately 500 conditional use, development review and performance
standards permits currently exist in commercially zoned districts within the City.
Discussion
Proactive monitoring of existing and new conditional use, development review and
performance standard permit types pursuant to Planning Commission recommendations
would require the dedication of two full time code compliance officers in FY 03/04. The
other five staff members must respond to over 2,700 complaints annually and it will be
necessary to reprioritize enforcement goals, increase response times and overall time to
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resolve cases and limit other proactive efforts. Overall enforcement will likely decline if
enforcement is scheduled as recommended by the Planning Commission.
Staff recommends initiating a monitoring program for only new conditional use,
development review and performance standards permits on commercially zoned
properties, providing quarterly inspections for the first year and annual inspections for
the next four years. The staff cost and proposed fee for this five-year monitoring
program would equal $4,720. Fees assume a non-compliance rate of 50%. Staff will
monitor the actual compliance rate as the inspection program evolves and advise
Council if changes in fees or monitoring periods are appropriate.
The new fee of $4,720 would be additive to the existing fees of $7,317 for Conditional
Use and Development Review permits and $872 for Performance Standards permits,
effectively raising the total fee for these permits to $12,037 and $5,592 respectively.
Proactive enforcement of the new permits going forward from FY 03/04 would
immediately engage the time of approximately 0.55 FTE Code Compliance Officers and
0.05 FTE Associate Planner for the first year and could increase to require the time of
1.1 FTE Code Compliance Officer and 0.10 FTE Associate Planner at the end of five
years. This approach could be absorbed within existing staff resources for the next
fiscal year without significantly impacting enforcement goals, response times and overall
time to resolve other cases.
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Budget/Financial Impacts
Based on the present economic climate and budgetary constraints, the addition of
enforcement staff is difficult given other budget priorities. Assuming existing staff will
absorb any new work and that it will be limited to the monitoring of new conditional use,
development review and performance standards permits going forward from FY 03/04,
the following revenue estimate is made.
Based on an annual volume of 40 permits that require monitoring at a cost of $4,720
each, general fund revenues should increase $188,800 in revenue account
01.321.400570. Adjusted permit fees offset the cost of this proactive enforcement.
Therefore, there should be no impact to the general fund.
Recommendation
Staff recommends that City Council take the following actions:
1) Adopt the attached resolution setting fees for the proactive monitoring of
conditional use, development review and performance standards permits on
commercially zoned properties.
2) Approve budget changes as set forth in the Budget/ Financial Impact section.
Prepared by: Suzanne Frick, Director of Planning and Community Development
Timothy P. McCormick, P.E., Building Officer
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Attachment A: Resolution Of The City Council Of The City Of Santa Monica Setting New
User Fees In The Planning And Community Development Department Related To
Proactive Monitoring Of Conditional Use, Development Review And Performance
Standards Permits In Commercial Zones
Attachment B: Estimated Costs and Proposed Fees To Provide Periodic Monitoring Of
Compliance with Conditions of Approval for Developments In Commercial Zones With
Conditional Use, Development Review Or Performance Standard Permits
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Attachment A
City Council Meeting 07-08-03
Santa Monica, California
RESOLUTION NO. (CCS)
(CITY COUNCIL SERIES)
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF SANTA MONICA SETTING NEW USER FEES IN THE
PLANNING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
RELATED TO SYSTEMATIC INSPECTIONS AND ENFORCEMENT OF COMPLIANCE
WITH CONDITIONS OF APPROVAL OF CONDITIONAL USE, DEVELOPMENT
REVIEW AND PERFORMANCE STANDARDS PERMITS
FOR DEVELOPMENTS LOCATED IN COMMERCIAL ZONES
WHEREAS, the City of Santa Monica is committed to protecting its resident’s
health, safety, welfare, and quality of life; and
WHEREAS, the City is also committed to preserving aesthetic qualities and
charm which enrich resident’s lives and attract visitors; and
WHEREAS, effective code enforcement is vital to effectuation of these
commitments; and
WHEREAS, achieving effective code enforcement in Santa Monica is
complicated by various factors including the City’s unusual density, its age, and the
variety of sometimes conflicting activities and land uses occurring within the City’s eight
square miles; and
WHEREAS, the City has a broad array of regulations and permit requirements
governing the use of land in the City; and
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WHEREAS, code enforcement is the method by which the City assures that the
use of land continues to comply with local regulations after permits have been issued;
and
WHEREAS, it is critical that the City have a full panoply of remedies available to
it to ensure compliance with local law and, where necessary, to penalize violators for
the failure to comply with these laws; and
WHEREAS, to protect resident’s quality of life, preserve public safety, effectuate
the community’s aesthetic values, and promote the City’s continued economic success,
the City Council in November 1999 directed staff to research implementing penalties
and costs recovery for Code enforcement; and
WHEREAS, a comprehensive code enforcement system that uses a combination
of judicial and administrative remedies is critical to ensure Code compliance; and
WHEREAS, enforcement of this Code and conditions on entitlements are matters
of local concern and serve important public purposes; and
WHEREAS, the City of Santa Monica recently completed a study of existing and
proposed City fees charged for the provision of a variety of services and the processing
of a variety of applications for the purpose of updating fee amounts to reflect current
costs of services and processing; and
WHEREAS the recent study of fees demonstrates that in many instances the full
costs of services to particular individuals are not being paid by those individuals
because fees do not reflect full costs; and
WHEREAS it is the policy of the City of Santa Monica to charge for the full costs
of services provided by City Staff when such services benefit individual users rather
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than members of the community as a whole; and
WHEREAS, Ordinance Number 1754 (CCS) (the "Ordinance"), adopted July 12,
1994, governs the setting of the amount of user fees or fees for services provided to or
for the benefit of particular individuals rather than the general public; and
WHEREAS, the Ordinance allows such user fees or fees for services to be set by
ordinance, by a resolution adopted by the City Council or by any other means
authorized by law; and
WHEREAS, the City desires to permit and user fees charged by the Planning
and Community Development Department by this resolution in order to preserve public
resources for the benefit of the community as a whole and avoid diverting these
resources to the benefit of individuals; and,
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA
DOES RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The user fees for services related to systematic inspections and
enforcement of compliance with conditions of approval of conditional use, development
review and performance standards permits for developments located in commercial
zones, as shown in the attached Table A, is hereby adopted. Such fee shall be payable
at time of building permit issuance, or if no building permit is required, at time of
approval of the conditional use, development review and/or performance standards
permit itself.
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SECTION 2. Commencing upon July 1, 2004 and on July 1 of each fiscal year
thereafter, all fees established by this resolution shall be administratively revised
annually by a factor equal to the difference in the Los Angeles-Anaheim-Riverside
Consumer Price Index for Wage Earners and Clerical Workers for the twelve (12) month
period April through April of the prior fiscal year. No later than January 1, 2008 and at
least five (5) year intervals thereafter, the City will conduct a comprehensive study of all
fees set by this resolution to determine if fees are adequately recovering City costs for
these services and the results of the comprehensive study shall be reported to the
Council.
SECTION 3. The user fees for services shall be effective on October 1, 2003,
which is at least sixty (60) days after adoption, in accordance with Government Code
section 66017.
SECTION 4. The City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of this resolution and
thenceforth and thereafter the same shall be in full force and effect.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
_______________________
MARSHA JONES MOUTRIE
City Attorney
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Attachment B
User Fees and Administrative Costs
Dollars
Per SF
Item Flat Fee
1 Code Enforcement-Permit Fees
Five Year Proactive Monitoring In Commercial Zones
Conditional Use Permit $4,720
Development Review Permit $4,720
Performance Standards Permit $4,720
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