Meeting # 1 of the
“MAKE IT HAPPEN” TASK FORCE
TOWN OF
Mayor’s Boardroom,
January 30, 2007
MINUTES
Attendance
Councillor D. Horchik, Chair
Deputy Mayor J. Jones
Regional Councillor G. Landon
Councillor J. Virgilio
Councillor J. Webster
Councillor A. Chiu
Staff
J. Baird, Commissioner of Development Services
C. Conrad, Town Solicitor
B. Lee, Manager of Development Engineering
V. Shuttleworth, Director of Planning and Urban Design
J. Wright, Director, Building Standards
K. Bavington, Committee Clerk
The Committee convened at 2:00 p.m. with Councillor D. Horchik in the Chair.
1. ANNOUNCEMENT
Committee received a copy of the Mayor’s announcement and an excerpt from
his speech
on January 11, 2007, regarding the formation of
this Task Force to help streamline the development process.
2. PROPOSED TIMETABLE FOR REPORTING
It was agreed that a tentative time frame be established to produce an
interim report by June, and a final report by the end
of 2007. This would be subject to the scope of the Task Force’s mandate, once
established.
3. MANDATE
/ GATHERING IDEAS
The scope of the mandate was debated: to examine the time frames and work done between:
- approvals by Council and issuance of Building Permit, i.e. – agreement and site plan processes;
- whole process from receipt of application to occupancy.
Discussions included the following:
- interim report may consist of a summary of current practices, then invite development community to be involved
- problem solving process charts from the Town’s training handbook were provided for consideration
- delegated approvals of site plans may be a separate issue
- important to understand exactly what staff do in the process
- staff advised that a survey of development clients on processes has recently been completed and results are being analysed. A summary will be available at the next meeting.
- Planning Department produced detailed process mapping last year, and will bring them to the next meeting
- Amanda program will demonstrate the Town’s timelines and show benchmarks
- Building Permit process is highly automated. Building Code has mandated regulations and timelines with respect to agreements and conditions of approvals. Processes prior to approvals are a different process and would be the subject of a separate review
- regular citizens with small, simple projects can be overwhelmed by the process. Some municipalities have specific one-stop consultation/permit events for small projects.
- review process of other municipalities for best practices
- delays caused by incomplete applications. Bill 51 recently added regulations for a complete application, subject to O.P. policy update. An education program to the development industry would deal with unrealistic expectations.
- quality of application and determination of “complete”.
- “Jet Team” to streamline completed quality applications as an incentive to the industry
- staff will try to get information to compare processes with other municipalities in statistical terms – caution on comparatives: apples to apples
- codify forms; streamline processes; increase resources
- BMW and Honeywell applications went quickly – what went right?
- TRCA and Regional involvement can cause delays
- Incoming Applications Report tries to identify stages and timeframes for the applications
- compare current timeframes with timeframes from 3 or 4 years ago,
and consider factors such as high density issues which are new to
- Town has to determine priorities – site plan or architectural control
- timelines and processes have to be understood before discussions with developers. Round Table should be followed by a focus group with a good selection of participants, and possible anonymous electronic feedback
- keep public apprised of the work of the Task Force and make them aware that their input will be sought later in the year. Involve Corporate Communications.
4. NEXT MEETING
The chair will work on a schedule of events.
Staff will present timelines, process mapping information, and Amanda samples.
Staff will present results of recent developer survey.
Date – TBA, (2 hours)
ADJOURNMENT
The Make It Happen Task Force adjourned at 3:30 p.m.