Sacramento County, CA

09/25/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/25/2024 16:23

Update on County Development Review Improvements

​At yesterday's Board of Supervisors Meeting, Dave Defanti, Deputy County Executive for Community Services, along with representatives from the County Departments of Water Resources, Transportation and Community Development, gave a report back on progress made on the County's Development Review Process (DRP) Improvement efforts over the last six months.

"When I started this job a couple years ago, I got a lot of calls and emails from developers and outside entities asking me to weigh in on relatively minor issues," said Dave Defanti, Deputy County Executives for the Community Services Agency. "Those calls have really fallen off a cliff and I attribute that to our changing culture and staff being empowered to take calculated risks and make decisions - a direct result of the DRP Improvements Initiatives."

Some notable highlights from today's presentation:

  • The Community Development Department made shelf-ready ADU plans available in June 2024. [Completed]
  • The Department of Water Resources (DWR) revised County Water Code to cap development fee collected at the plan approval stage. [Completed]
  • DWR also partnered with developers to better analyze when costly infrastructure is actually needed to minimize the constriction of costly infrastructure that may not be needed for initial phases of projects. [Completed]
  • The Department of Transportation has established on-call design consultant contracts, which will address hurdles that ordinarily could halt a project. [Completed]
  • Contracted with ThinkDev to facilitate "The Process Pros," a group of Community Services Agency employees tasked with reviewing and updating the County's development processes. [In Progress - expected to be completed in 2025]
  • Improvements are coming to Accela, the county's permitting system of record, to enhance its usability for staff and customers alike by increasing visibility and transparency, improving clarity and consistency, upgrading metrics and reporting functionality, and making it more cohesive and efficient, overall. [In Progress - expected completion TBD]

Goals of the DRP Improvements include:

  • Addressing the housing supply and affordability crisis;
  • Investing in existing communities, particularly within aging commercial corridors and Environmental Justice communities;
  • Facilitating responsible development of new, complete communities to meet the needs of current and future generations while addressing State and local goals to address climate change;
  • Providing exceptional customer service and having processes in place that are efficient and easy to navigate while being a trusted and helpful partner to all of our customers.

DPR Improvement Progress currently stands at:

  • 36% - Completed
  • 28% - In Process
  • 18% - Ongoing/Continuous
  • 18% - Pending