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Planning Department outlines overhaul of public notice rules in Universal Planning Notification project
Summary
Planning Department staff proposed a new Universal Planning Notification (UPN) to standardize and expand how the public is notified about land-use cases, recommending online plans, consolidated notice types, and a shift toward 20-day hearings while recommending careful outreach on BBN removal and 3.11/3.12 changes.
The Planning Department on Aug. 13 presented its Universal Planning Notification (UPN) project, a departmental plan to standardize how it mails, posts and publishes notices for building permits, environmental documents and discretionary hearings. Scott Sanchez, the department's staff presenter, said the project aims to "streamline notification standards" to make notice types clearer, reduce duplication and move many plans online.
The draft proposals would keep Section 3.11/3.12 building notifications but move more hearing notices online and consolidate other notices into 20-day and 30-day bands (the "thirty-twenty" idea). Staff modeled mailing costs and found that expanding mailed notice from 150 to 300 feet and adding occupants would more than double postage costs. They proposed a new "3.11-lite" track for small, low-impact projects and recommended phasing out block-book notations (BBNs), a paid private notice service used by some businesses.
Commissioners and scores of neighborhood groups urged caution. Several commenters said 20 days is too short for neighborhood groups that meet monthly, and local sign and billboard companies warned that eliminating BBNs could cut a critical alert channel for businesses. Other speakers pressed staff to improve the department's website and provide opt-in notification lists for residents and merchants.
Staff said they will pilot online plans and posters, run additional outreach sessions in September and consider a trial on a variance hearing with the new notice format. Sanchez and Tara Sullivan, who led technical sections of the presentation, asked commissioners for guidance particularly on the 20-day window, the treatment of minor projects, and the future of newspaper ads.
Next steps listed by staff include more community outreach, a trial run of new notices and poster formats, and technical work to allow online plans and updated mailing lists. The department said it will return with revised proposals after the public meetings and pilots.
