HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-02-16 City Council (7)City of Palo Alto
C ty Manager’s Report
TO:
FROM:
HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL
CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: CITY MANAGER/
PLANNING
DATE:FEBRUARY 16, 1999 CMR:152:99
SMART PERMITTING UPDATESUBJECT:
This is an information report and no Council action is required.
BACKGROUND
The City of Palo Alto has been involved in cominuous improvemems to the development
process for several years. One of the components of improving the building development
process for Palo Alto’s businesses and residents is online permitting. "Smart Permitting" is
aimed at improving the process to reduce the permit cycle time by utilizing electronic
building permit application and plan submittal, plan review and plan approval. Plans are
submitted via the Intemet to the City with departments (Building, Planning, Fire, Utilities,
Public Works, Water Quality Control) able to "redline" and comment on the drawings, make
changes and assess the plans electronically. No actual hard paper drawings are submitted.
Currently, there are two Smart Permitting initiativ.es:
¯Palo Alto Smart Permit
°Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network (JVSV) Smart Permit Project
DISCUSSION
Palo Alto Smart Permit
Staff has worked with local stakeholders to develop a system that will meet the important
objectives of shortened permit cycles and heightened efficiencies in permit processing.
Monthly training meetings bring together representatives of all aspects of the building
development process and a consortium formed to steer Palo Alto Smart Permit development.
Some of the active members include Varian, Loral/Space Systems, Roche Bioscience, MBT
architects, Bob Moberg, Architect and Rinne & Peterson, Engineers. The first meeting of
the participants was April 29, 1997 and was held at Hewlett Packard. Tremendous support
has been provided by Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network and Silicon Valley
Manufacturing Group. In addition, representatives from all City departments involved in the
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permitting process have been trained to use the plan checking software.
With the collaborative efforts of the consortium members, the Palo Alto Smart Permit
Process was developed and installed on the City web page on March 18, 1998. The process
was tested with the consortium members for several months, following the web page
installation. On December 19, 1998, the first Palo Alto Smart Permit (project designed by
MBT .architects), was approved using the Smart Permit online permitting process and was
issued to Genencor.
The Palo Alto Smart Permit web site was redesigned to be more user friendly on January 29,
1999. City Information Technology staff is working on finalizing the permit tracking
database on Internet for all Smart Permit projects.
Additional modifications and enhancements will be initiated to upgrade and expand the
system as appropriate. Currently, staff is working with Digital Signature Trust Company and
representatives of Joint Venture Silicon Valley Network on the development of digital
signatures for design drawings submitted through the Internet. The next steps will include
work with the California Board of Architectural Examiners to establish verification of
licensed architects submitting projects, a necessary step in the development process.
Additional information is available on the City of Palo Alto Website. This includes a
description of the.project, steps to participate, updates, guidelines and forms necessary to use
the Palo Alto Smart Permit process. The website address is: www.city.palo-
alto.aus/smartpennit/guidelines.html.
Joint Venture Silicon Valley Network Project.
In addition ~to the Palo Alto effort, Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network coordinates a
regional Smart Permitting effort. The goal of this project is to put the mechanisms in place
that will facilitate online permitting for Silicon Valley communities. Currently, there are six
Smart Permit pilot cities. Each city has a Smart Permit process in place in varying stages of
development. The Smart Permit pilot cities are Milpitas, Mountain View, San Carlos, Santa
Clara, Sunnyvale and Palo Alto. Palo Alto joined the original five pilot cities in December,
1998. Palo Alto City staff participate in this effort on a variety of levels.
Smart Permit Pilot City. As a JVSV Smart Permit pilot city, representatives of
several City departments interact with other JVSV pilot cities sharing mutual
concerns, opportunities for implementation, challenges and successes to facilitate the
regionalization of Smart Permitting. City staff works with JVSV representatives to
promote Palo Alto’s process while contributing to the overall regional effort to make
online permitting a reality.
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Smart Permit Standard Forms for Building, Planning, Public Works
Departments regionally. Representatives from Palo Alto’s Building Department
have been working collaboratively with representatives of other cities to develop,
implement and utilize a standard form for Building Department applications. Palo
Alto took a leadership role in the adoption of the standard form by the International
Conference of Building Officials (ICBO). The standard form for building has been
adopted by the Monterey, Peninsula and East Bay Chapters of ICBO and is on the
City ofPalo Alto’s web page for use by customers. Currently, representatives of Palo
Alto’s Public Works Department are participating in the development of a standard
public works form. Development of the regional planning application is proceeding
and Palo Alto’s Director of Planning and Community Environment will participate
in the working group developing that standard application.
Smart Permit Steering Committee. The City’s Economic Resources Planning
Manager represents Palo Alto on the JVSV Steering Committee of cities and business
representatives who guide the Smart Permit efforts of this regional organization.
Participants represent each of the pilot cities, as well as architects, engineers, business
leaders, developers and other stakeholders in regional development improvement
enhancements. Palo Alto’s Fire Department has been asked to participate in this
group. Recently, the City’s Building Division has also begun to participate, as well.
The intent of both the Palo Alto Smart Permit and JVSV Smart Permit projects is to provide
process improvements that will enhance the efficiency and shorten the time necessary for
businesses and residents to go through the City and regional development process: This is
part of a continuous process to improve customer service to local residents and businesses.
PREPARED BY: Susan Arpan, Economic Resources Planning
Sheila Lee, Assistant Building Official
CITY MANAGER APPROVAL
EMILY
Assistant City Manager
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