|
In This Issue...
|
|
New County Planning Director Wants a Clearer, Easier Process
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
New County Planning Director Wants a Clearer, Easier Process
Previsich Will Soon Have Senior Staff in Place to Begin Dialogue with the Community
By Linda Fridy
Earlier this year something happened at Santa Cruz County's planning department that hasn't happened in modern history. Virtually all the executive staff retired, including former planning chief Tom Burns. The void was huge and the chance to recreate the county's most contentious department was great.
While Burns had been credited for streamlining some of the department's bureaucracy during his nearly decade-long tenure, he never got the accolades he collected in his previous job as chief of the county's redevelopment agency.
This time may be different, as the department's two assistant directors also retired with Burns, not long after a much publicized and litigated raucous over who should hear technical appeals to department decisions — the county's board of supervisors or a citizen's panel.
While supervisors decided to disband the citizen's panel and won the lawsuit over that vote, Burns' early work with community outreach was challenged.
In March, long-time Aptos resident Kathy Molloy Previsich took over as planning director at a department still reputed for unclear rules, inconsistently applied practice and began the monumental task of making a new day with a community on edge.
Previsich has seen the role of government in planning neighborhoods and commercial districts and overseeing building standards from various sides – private and public. Probably most foretelling is her work with Capitola, where one of her recommendations was to change her title from planning director to community development director. Her tenure left the city with a reputation of being developer friendly – not too friendly, but not too restrictive either.
During her stay she updated the minitropolist's general plan, overseeing a modest level of residential and commercial growth. She also rewrote some of the city's codes.
Previsich sees some of the problems the county has had managing its department.
"Our code is complicated and subject to interpretation," she acknowledged, and while regulation is not going away, she says people are more likely to accept rules if they understand them.
"Most people don't mind rules that are clear and that are consistently applied," she said.
"We need to strike the right balance so that people say, 'OK, that makes sense.' If following the code is subject to too much risk and uncertainty because it's open to interpretation and discretion, people are reluctant to come in."
Will She Get the Job Done?
The 2008 Summit Fire highlighted the downside of a troubled rule book, since many of the mountain structures destroyed in the wildfires were originally built as cabins, often before codes were applied or in some cases without proper permits.
"It's worse for public health and safety if people are building homes outside the permit process," Previsich said.
In an interview in the early '90s, then veteran supervisor Gary Patton agreed with Previsich. He suggested that a week of time spent doing nothing but rewriting codes would fix the problem, which many believed were created by the anti-growth movement Patton championed in the '70s.
Previsich says she is going to apply her 30 years of planning experience to clarify the county code and process. Can she do it?
Most recently she worked in Morgan Hill, but her resume includes nine years in Capitola as community development director and seven years with the city of Santa Cruz. That background gives her an understanding of coastal development. She also worked as a consultant and said the job on either side of the counter requires a customer service approach. "Planning is a balancing act between serving the greater community goals and the needs and rights of individual property owners. … Within that is a win-win. A lot of it is about understanding and looking at alternatives," she said.
Open for Business
Streamlining the planning process has benefits beyond safety — it can also encourage business development and employment, she said.
Previsich said she shares the recent emphasis county supervisors have placed on economic development and believes planning plays an important role.
"If the business sector and people looking at starting a business here feel the regulations or process is not 'open for business' it's easier to go somewhere else."
This week Marshalls announced the decision to move into the former Circuit City store in Live Oak, but the area's sales tax is down suggesting much needs to be done to renovate the region's older shopping centers in a fashion that won't rile residents.
Planning staff has already been discussing ways to simplify upgrades of commercial buildings and for new business to take over existing spaces. The goal is to help businesses to avoid a planning or zoning review and go straight to the building permit stage. Amending parking and sign regulations would be part of that effort.
To make such adjustments, the county does not have to start from scratch, but can look at examples from other counties and cities, she said.
Special Circumstances
Santa Cruz County has a large share of non-conforming buildings, homes and businesses that are not built to current standards or zoning requirements.
The department had already begun reform efforts for such residences, but Previsich recently reported to the Board of Supervisors that she thinks commercial buildings should be dealt with at the same time.
She would also like to revisit the county's current method guiding remodeling or rebuilding a non-conforming structure.
"We have a pretty complicated and somewhat unusual approach to dealing with non-conforming structures," she said. "We go wall by wall."
That can lead to trouble when, in the midst of a project, contractors find trouble with a wall that was to remain in place, she explained.
Instead, she favors looking at what percentage of the whole structure is undergoing work. That model is more common in other jurisdictions, she added.
She has already recommended that the county create a minor exception process to deal with issues such as small deviations from setback requirements.
Understanding the Environment
While the county's range of housing extends from century-old cabins that were not built as year-round residences to elaborate estate-type homes, Previsich says the greatest challenge is not addressing this mix, but coping with the environmental constraints.
She points to the riparian corridors of the many rivers and streams, mountains and coastal where people want to build. Along the coast, for instance, projects are subject to state review by the California Coastal Commission, which adds another layer of complexity.
Such concerns also matter to local residents. "It's a community value to manage the environment," she said.
Changing the Guard
Previsich's director's spot is not the only leadership position in the planning department undergoing a change. Two assistant planning directors also retired at the same time as former director Burns, and Previsich is hiring a new chief building official as well.
The county is filling only one of the assistant spots, which should be announced soon.
Once the new staff members are in place and have some time to acclimate, Previsich plans to start outreach efforts this fall.
Meeting with stakeholders around the county will let staff explain current reform efforts and then listen to feedback about community concerns.
She said her experience in with a smaller staff, such as she had in Capitola, will help as her department deals with cutbacks in funding.
"You really learn prioritization and allocation of time," she said. "We may not be able to do things the way we used to [at the county.]"
A recent addition to her department's assignments is an ordinance addressing vacation homes.
"I've lived here in Aptos for 23 years and frankly, I didn't realize you could [maintain] a vacation home without some kind of permitting process. I was surprised we didn't already have some kind of regulation around that," she said.
She was pleased with the thoughtful input from the community when the Board of Supervisors recently discussed the need for an ordinance.
"Most folks realize the need to get our arms around this is valid. At some point you reach a tipping point and it's a commercial zone, not residential."
Her staff is starting by identifying how many short-term vacation rentals the county has and where they are located.
Easing the Frustration
Previsich is well aware of last year's public battle between a newly seated appeals board and planning staff that ended with the Board of Supervisors disbanding the appeals board. However, she hopes that outreach and ongoing reform will demonstrate the county's openness and willingness to reduce the level of frustration.
"Unfortunately, the department does have the reputation of being difficult to work with," she said, but lays the blame on the way the code is written.
"We have a very talented staff that's hard-working and committed to helping people achieve their objectives," she said.
Even as the planning department continues its reform efforts, frustrations and emotions can run high. Previsich said she's learned to separate herself from the issues as she's dealt with controversy over the years.
"It's not about me. It's about change. People have varying amounts of capacity for change, and it's all valid. … That is part of the process," she said.
Yet she believes most people will support the right kind of change and she is committed to leading improvement efforts.
"The public deserves it, the staff deserves it and the decision makers deserve it," she said.
|
