Planning staff present two-year work program as commissioners press on targets and mission

Planning Director John Ram and finance manager Keith DeMartini presented the department's draft two-year work program and budget at the Historic Preservation Commission's Jan. 15 meeting, describing a large increase in permit applications and resulting revenues and workload.

Ram said the department is experiencing "unprecedented" application volumes and is taking a cautious approach to revenue projection for a two-year budget. DeMartini said the mayor's instructions include general-fund reduction targets and contingency reductions that the department will accommodate while prioritizing core functions.

Historic preservation staff described shifting workload priorities: a substantial increase in CEQA-related historic resource evaluations and environmental-review documents, steady historic survey and outreach work funded by grants, and a modest allocation of staff time (0.15 FTE, about 160 hours a year) for property-owner initiated landmark designations.

Commissioners pressed staff on several issues: whether the commission had been consulted on the revised mission/vision language (several commissioners said they had not), the realism of performance targets given current workloads, the distribution of preservation planners across quadrant assignments, and whether process improvements or workload redistribution could address long turnaround times without large staff additions.

Public commenter Jim Hass urged the commission to push for a public realm plan for Civic Center (noting the 2015 centennial) and stressed that historic documentation on Civic Center contains errors that should be corrected as part of any planning exercise.

Next steps: Staff will return with a draft proposed budget, revenue and expenditures and any new position requests in early February, and preservation staff said they would continue to pursue efficiency measures and will report progress on CEQA turnaround times.