DEVELOPMENT OVERSIGHT COMMISSION

Chairman Holloway moved to accept the 1/12/04 synopsis as submitted.

Vote was 8-0 to approve the 1/12/04 synopsis as submitted

Communications

1. Comments from the Audience
2. Written Comments Received.

Comments from the Audience

1. No comments from the audience were noted.
2. No written comments were received.

Chairman Holloway presented Commissioner Abrahams with a letter of recognition and a plaque to honor his contributions during his tenure as Chair of the DOC in 2003-2004.

The presentation of the letter of recognition for Joy Patterson was continued until the next DOC meeting.

Art Gee made introductory remarks, outlining the background of the survey, differences in survey scope and methodology from 2000 survey, and a timeline outlining the history of the DOC and its key initiatives. Most key initiatives were noted to have started within the last year.

Dr. Jennifer Franz, from JD Franz Research Inc., presented a draft Power Point presentation outlining the methodology, selected results, brief analysis, and conclusions. She stated that the survey appeared to be more of a baseline than a follow-up to the 2000 survey due to the increase in scope, new questions, and the timing of key DOC initiatives. She continued that the positive results from the initiatives are just starting to trickle in, and that she suggests a follow-up survey in January.

Commissioner Malinowski complimented the presentation and graphics. He stated that the letter grade was very helpful, and also considers this to be a baseline survey. He added that the questions in the survey go to the heart of why the DOC was created in the first place.

Dr. Franz complimented the staff and DOC members involved in creating the survey, and added that it was gratifying to see the positive feedback regarding staff.

Chairman Holloway stated that the Business Journal has done their annual survey, and it appears that the City results have improved from last year. He asked about a presentation to City Council and to the public.

Dr. Franz replied that two additional presentations are in the budget. She suggested that the City might be interested in conducting focus groups to drill down even further into the survey results and initiatives in process.

Chairman Holloway asked for a motion regarding a proposal to Council to fund focus groups. Commissioner Malinowski moved for the proposal. Commissioner Abrahams seconded the motion.

The vote was 8-0 to approve creating the proposal.

Review and Comment

Motion passed.

Unanimous.

Art Gee reviewed the concept of streamlining, in addition to the goal of eliminating duplicative processes and meetings.

Chairman Holloway continued that DOC and Staff have reviewed the conceptual proposal to several business and community groups, including AIA, BIA, SACA, Preservation Round Table, Area 1 NAG, DRPB and CPC. He reminded the Commission that the subcommittee consisting of 2 members each of the DOC, DRPB, and CPC has met several times to generate ideas regarding the proposal. He stated that there were five important conclusions reached as a result of the presentations and meetings. The conclusions include:

1. The need for early and more effective notification;
2. The need for early public input;
3. Approval of many projects at the Staff level;
4. Planning Director mediation of conflicts or opposition, and
5. An appeal "zone" that results in the split of the Design Review Board and the Preservation Board, and that results in changing the purpose of the Design Review Board to primarily an appeal body.

Commissioner Starkweather discussed public outreach experiences and perceptions, and rights of appeal. He added that the design review appeals process is currently reactive rather than proactive, and the body should be there to set standards and forward thinking definitions.

Commissioner Malinowski complimented the subcommittee on their work, adding that the effort was much more difficult than originally envisioned.

Commissioner Nunan suggested that a process be developed to review the quality of staff decisions over a one-year period, including periodic meetings with staff.

Chairman Holloway stated that another DOC meeting would be scheduled before the annual report to Council, and that he would like direction from the Commissioners regarding the conceptual plan. He added that he would ask the subcommittee members about returning to the DRPB and the CPC prior to the presentation to Council.

Gary Stonehouse presented the draft version of the DOC Annual Report to Council. He stated that he had edited the report content to reflect one discussion of work that had been done regarding key initiatives, including an analysis of steps taken, process and next steps. The original report centered on the 10 recommendations from the DOC, and in 2004 an 11th recommendation was added- community outreach. He added that he attempted to take the staff work priorities and relate them to the 10 recommendations.

Chairman Holloway suggested the inclusion of a flow chart. Commissioner Malinowski commented that the consolidation concept was a great idea, and he added that he would deliver his edits to Gary Stonehouse.

Art Gee reviewed the background of the benchmarking standards approved by the DOC in 10/03.

Gary Lane reviewed the Planning concept for reporting performance to benchmarking standards, including the automated data gathering as a result of new screens in the Permits Plus software application. He added that the goal is to deliver performance measurements to the DOC on a quarterly basis.

Mary Elms reviewed the Public Works concept for reporting performance to benchmarking standards, including 3 components to processing time of

1. City Staff time,
2. Developer/Engineer time, and
3. number of cycles.

She distributed a graphical representation of mock data to the Commission for their review.

Dennis Richardson reviewed the Building concept, including a hand-written one-page exception report, a Crystal detail report and a Crystal summary report.

1. Betty Masuoka thanked Chairman Holloway and Commissioners Nunan, Esquivel and Starkweather for their participation in subcommittee meetings regarding the Development Services reorganization. She reviewed the general organizational structure, and added that teambuilding exercises are still planned for the department to develop a common mission, vision and values.
2. Commissioner Starkweather reviewed a San Francisco AIA SPUR Group presentation entitled "Make the Plans Work on Time", showing other municipalities with the same process challenges. He will deliver a copy of the report to Betty Masuoka.
3. Chairman Holloway thanked Staff for the amount of time spent on the streamlining efforts to date.

Communications

1. Comments from the Audience

1. John Marshack from the Boulevard Park Neighborhood Association asked about the streamlining concept regarding early public input, and added that contacts with neighbors and the community needed to be facilitated/mediated by staff. He also asked about potential conflicts regarding overlapping boundaries of preservation and design review districts.
2. Steven Ballew from the Preservation Round Table discussed the recommended qualification level of staff, and suggested that each staff director be supplied with an assistant director to protect the integrity of the process and to ensure back up.

Motion passed.

Unanimous