REPORT TO PLANNING COMMISSION
SUBJECT
Title
Review Planning Program Budget and Fees for FY 2021/22
Report
BACKGROUND
Sunnyvale’s budget process alternates each year between an operating and projects budget. This year’s budget is focused on the City’s projects plan, which is comprised of capital and infrastructure projects, strategic initiatives, and multi-year efforts. The full recommended Fiscal Year (FY) 2021/22 budget is available online at:
https://sunnyvale.ca.gov/government/budget.htm>
At a minimum, staff recommends that the PC review the following sections:
Volume I, Page 3 - City Manager’s Letter of Transmittal
Volume 1, Page 305 - Community Development Department Overview
Volume 2, Page 200 (of PDF) - Project 833700 - Lawrence Station Area Plan- Housing and Sense of Place
Volume 2, Page 203 - Project 835190 - Updates to the Single-family Home Design Techniques Document
Volume 2, Page 514 - Project 825700 - General Plan Updates
Volume 2, Page 529 - Project 832640 - Climate Action Plan and Green Building Updates
Boards and Commissions are asked to provide comments to the City Council on the recommended City budget where it could affect the Commission’s work. Comments will be forwarded to the City Council for their consideration on the budget adoption on June 15, 2021.
Attached is the CDD/Planning Program budget proposed for Fiscal Year 2021-22(FY). The full recommended budget is available online at:
• <https://sunnyvale.ca.gov/government/budget.htm>
Boards and Commissions are asked to provide comments to the City Council on the recommended City budget where it could affect the Commission’s work.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The recommendation of the Planning Commission on the budget is not subject to environmental review.
DISCUSSION
Community Development Department (CDD) Overview
CDD is responsible for land use policy planning and development review to ensure compliance with the Sunnyvale Municipal Code and other government regulations related to the physical development of the City and welfare of community members. CDD is organized into four programs: Planning, Building Safety, Housing/Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Department Management. A list of CDD accomplishments for the previous FY 2021/22 are included on page 306-307 of the full budget document, a list of staffing on pages 318-319, and a summary of Planning Performance Indicators on page 323-325.
Changes to the division structure includes freezing an Associate Planner position.
The Planning Division is continuing to experience heavy workload from several complex development applications, creation or updating of three large area plans (Moffett Park, El Camino Real, and Lawrence Station), grant-funded efforts to update standards for objective criteria in policy documents, establish Village Center standards, and other efforts (such as new state laws for housing).
Hours
The Planning Program oversees policy planning and zoning approvals. Below is the budget summary for the Planning Program. Staff recommends a decrease to the budget by 13.2% from the current fiscal year (FY 2020/21) to the next fiscal year (FY 2021/22). The Land Use/Development Review budget is based on fees collected with applications. The summary is as follows:
Projects Budget
The PC also advises the City Council on policy study issues. The City Council has approved funding in previous fiscal years for issues such as: Usable Open Space, Downtown Parking, Murphy Street Design Standards, updating of the Air Quality and Noise elements of the General Plan, update of the telecommunications Design Criteria, etc.
Given competing priorities for limited resources and an already very high CDD workload, the City Council approved funding for only study issue- an item for the Heritage Preservation Commission.
Fee Schedule
A recommended fee schedule is considered by the City Council along with the recommended budget (Attachment 2). Although most of the recommended increases for fees are primarily changed due to general cost of living increases, several fees will increase to reflect the increased staff time to complete the work, including: Design Review (with and without public hearings), Preliminary Review, and large development application fees.
PUBLIC HEARING
The PC has the option to make comments on the budget or to make a motion on the budget, which will be provided to the City Council for the public hearing on the recommended budget on June 8, 2021, with adoption scheduled for June 15, 2021.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made through posting the agenda on the City’s official notice bulletin board and the agenda and staff report on the City’s website.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Provide comments to the City Council or make a formal recommendation to the City Council on the Recommended FY 2021/22 budget.
Staff
Prepared by: Andrew Miner, Assistant Director, Community Development
Attachments
ATTACHMENTS
1. Department Narrative and Performance Indicators Draft FY 2021/22
2. Draft FY 2021-2022 Planning Division Fee Schedule