06-23-14 Regular Meeting of La Porte City Council

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2.Host periodic forums for the development/contractor/business community to open and maintain an opportunity for dialogue. These forums can be utilized to communicate such topics as new codes, frequently encountered problems, and to receive feedback and suggestions from developers and contractors. The goal is to establish and maintain open lines of communication between the department and customers to reduce the perception that involving management or council is required in order to achieve solutions. Establishing open rapport will facilitate a collaborative problem-solving environment between staff and customers. i.Initially a quarterly schedule is recommended; re-evaluate frequency after the first year. ii.Depending on the interest of participants, the city may want to break the forums into more focused topic sub-groups (for example, separate planning, engineering, and inspections forums). The first quarterly meeting, which was held in January, addressed GIS Resources and Open Meetings. th The second quarterly meeting was held June 12 and focused on the Predevelopment & Applicant Consultation (PAC) meetings and development flow processes. Staff will seek topics of interest from the development community for discussion during future forums. 3.Establish a centralized database of previous code interpretations accessible to the staff and public; or display in a FAQ format. The ICC Code and Commentary books used for interpreting building and residential code are available for public viewing. Previous code interpretations that have been adopted by policy are also available for public viewing. 4.Ensure that the need for address verification and utility verification is communicated consistently; document the need on related forms and communicate early in the application process. The need for property identification (HCAD Number) and address, if existing, has been noted on our existing forms, the newly created predevelopment checklist, and is being communicated verbally during initial meetings with applicants. The utility verification process has been replaced by the publication of GIS utility layers on the City website. Utility verifications will be performed by Public Works on a case-by-case basis only when utility verification is in question. If a utility extension is necessary, applicant will be advised of the utility extension processes. The culvert request process has been replaced by the internal permit review process, wherein staff will determine culvert size for any driveway construction or culvert installation. Local driveway permits will be issued regardless of jurisdictional status; the most onerous regulation will govern. 5 Planning Department Review Mueller Management/Ron Cox Consulting