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HomeMy WebLinkAbout75-100REPORT #100 REPORT ON PROCESSING OF WOiiK BY PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE. Members of the Committee will find enclosed a summary of all of the work which has been assigned to the Planning Advisory Committee to date and has not yet been finally disposed of. In order that mem- bers of the Committee and Council may be kept fully appraised of the Committee's work load, I am instituting a new procedure whereby the attached work assignment will be updated at the end of each month. As members can see for themselves, the backlog of work has become quite lengthy, and a determined effort must be made in the coming months to reduce this backlog. In practice, not all of the work listed on the attached sheets could be completed at the present time. Some of these items cannot properly be dealt with until major projects such as the District Plan or Secondary Plans are completed. Other items have been referred back to the applicant for further information or have been circulated to the appropriate agencies for their comments. These items cannot be comp- leted until such information or comments have been received. Never- theless there are many items which can and should be finalized quickly. The preparation of the Interim District Plan has taken up a great deal of the time of the Committee, staff, and consultants in recent months, and it may be thought that, now that the Interim Plan has completed its passage through the Committee, a return of more routine business will be possible. However, I think that the list of major projects still requiring the Committee's attention shows that no cutt- ing back in the number of special purpose meetings will be possible - 2 - j in the next few months. I think it is particularly important that the new zoning by-law to implement the Interim Plan be dealt with quick- ly to avoid continuation of the problems which arise when the Official Plan says one thing in principle and the Zoning By-law says something else in detail. I think that there should be two meetings a month devoted to the new Zoning By-law alone until that project is completed. Now that one complete year of operation of the Planning Advisory Committee has passed, I think that it is an appropriate time to assess all procedures and make any improvements which seem to be adviseable. The following recommendations are made in order to increase the overall efficiency of the operation of the Committee itself, staff, and consult- ants. 1. Referrals by Council: Many items of correspondence are presently being referred to the Planning Advisory Committee which do not really require any consideration by the Committee. Often these letters are only requests for information or further correspondence on matters on which reports are already being prepared. In some cases such correspondence only serves to revive matters which have already been disposed of by the Committee. Many items which are presently being referred to the Planning Advisory Committee, could more simply and efficiently be referred to staff for information and/or reply. Council should determine whether or not they wish to have a report back from the P.A.C. on each item before it is referred to the Committee. In cases where there is an established pro- cedure or application form to be used, a letter or presentation - 3 - (continued......) to Council should not be permitted to become a means of avoiding the established procedure. This gives precedence to those who do not follow the rules over those who do. 2. Staff Increase*. Part of the delay which arises now in dealing with applica- tions is due to the length of time taken by our consultants to process work given to them. Even very small tasks, if they require a diagram or schedule to be produced, must be passed on to our consultants for completion. Such small tasks could more quickly and much more economically be done by staff in the municipality. In addition, too much of my own time is presently taken up by other matters which do not contribute towards the business of the P.A.C. These matters include commenting on severences, answering correspondence, answering telephone enquiries, and many other diverse tasks which could be handled by a more junior person acting under supervision. This person would hopefully also have some drafting ability. I think that at least one addition to staff is urgently needed now, and more would be required if our O.H.A.P. studies bring about a large increase in the num- ber of development applications being handled in the near future. 3. Consultants Reports: An increase in staff should resolve some of the delays invol- ved in getting work back from our consultants, but I think that further safeguards should be instituted to ensure that - 4 - (continued.....) work is done in a reasonable time. Whenever work is assig- ned in future to consultants, a completion date should be specified for the work to be done, and the Planning Director, in consultation with the Chairman, should have the authority to assign the work to someone else if it is not completed by the date specified. All consultant firms, since they receive work from many clients and have no way of forecasting their work load, inevitably become overcommitted on some occasions. This however, should not be allowed to prevent the Committee from proceeding expeditiously with the business before it. 4. General Order of Business: The above recommendations have been made in the interest of getting reports onto the agenda of the P.A.C. more quickly, and avoiding those matters which do not actually warrant the Committee's attention. The final recommendation con- tained herein is put forward in order to enable the Committee to deal more expeditiously with reports when they have been completed. ily specific concern here is with the amount of time consumed at meetings by submissions and delegations. We are all aware of meetings at which delegations took up more than half the evening. Often the Committee listened at length and discu- ssed matters which could not be resolved at the time, only to find at the end of the meeting that it had to defer a number of reports which were ready for action. Delegations (continued.....) have often been used by individuals who "walked in off the street" to take priority over those who followed the estab- lished procedure and waited their proper turn for the Comm- ittee's attention. In the interest of fairness as well as efficiency the rules governing submissions should be amended to ensure that this is not used as a means of by-passing normal procedures. I am recommending that the following changes be made: a) Delegations should be required to submit written requests to be placed on the Agenda to the Planning Director at least five working days before each regular meeting. These requests should outline in a general way the subject to be presented but need not be a full written submission. b) Delegations should not be permitted to speak on sub- jects for which there are application forms in use, unless they have completed the proper form and submi- tted it and at least 90 days have passed without their application being placed on the Committee's agenda. c) Delegations should be restricted to the first four eligible written requests, and the delegations should be placed on the Agenda in the order of receipt of their requests. d) The proposed changes should be incorporated into a revised General Order of Business for the Committee. 5. Summary of Recommendations: In conclusion, I would recommend that the following changes be made respecting the procedures of the Planning Advisory Committee: a) that Council refer to the P.A.C. only those items of correspondence on which specific reports are required and that all other correspondence of a plan- = 6 - a) (continued........) ning nature be referred to staff for information and/or reply. b) that requests for Official Plan Amendments, Zoning Changes, and Approval of plans of subdivision be considered only when the proper application has been completed and submitted and the appropriate fee paid. c) that Council request the Personnel Committee to investigate the need for additional planning staff to relieve the Planning Director of some of the work not directly related to the business of the Planning Advisory Committee. d) that, when work is referred by the P.A.C. to consult- ants, a date be specified for completion of the work; and, in the event that it is not completed by the date specified, the Planning Director and the Chair- man of the Committee be authorized to take whatever alternative measures are necessary to ensure its completion in a reasonable time. e) that the General Order of Business of the Committee be revised to read as follows. Planning Advisory Committee General Order of Business 1. Reading of Minutes 2. Reading of Submissions and Hearing of Delegations (a) including - the first four delegations to request inclusion on the agenda in writing at least 5 working days before the meeting. - applicants for Official Plan Amendments, Zoning Changes, or Approval of - 7 - e) (continued.......) 2. (a) Subdivisions whose applications have been received for at least 90 days by the municipality. (b) excluding - delegations in excess of the first four above - delegations related to items listed on the Agenda - applicants for official plan amendments, zoning changes, or approval of subdivisions whose applications have not been received or have been received for less than 90 days by the municipality. (c) time limits - 10 minutes total time alloca- tion for all speakers in support of and opp- osed to any proposal, such time allocations to be divided at the discretion of the chair- man - 5 minutes for questions by members of the Committee. 3. Items Ready for Report 4. Other Business 5. Hearing of Further Delegations (a) including - all those not heard in 2 above provided that the regular time of adjournment is not passed. (b) iMelimitts - same as in 2(c) above. 6. Adjournment Respectfully submitted, `''George F. Howden, Planning Director.