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Staff proposes delegating revocable-permit approvals to director, city manager to streamline encroachments
Summary
Staff told the Planning Commission they will propose code language to let the director approve revocable permits for right-of-way encroachments and the city manager approve permits on city-owned property to reduce repeated council hearings; commissioners raised charter and appeal concerns.
City staff presented a second proposal to streamline administration of revocable permits, recommending that the director be authorized to approve revocable permits related to public right-of-way encroachments and that the city manager decide permits for encroachments on city-owned property.
A staff presenter summarized the change: "The Charter gives City Council the authority to issue and to revoke a permit for the use of any street, alley, or public place," and the proposal would delegate day-to-day approval authority to staff where council previously reviewed relatively minor, repetitive encroachments.
Staff said the change is intended to reduce repeated staff work and multiple council hearings for single projects that include many small encroachments (for example, irrigation, fences or drainage features crossing the right-of-way). The proposal also would allow a single submittal and exhibit for multiple encroachments associated with one project rather than many separate applications.
Commissioners pressed on charter limitations and safeguards. One commissioner noted, "Our city charter actually requires the city council to act on" certain matters and asked whether delegation would remove meaningful council review. Staff replied that the council would retain the authority to revoke permits and that applicants would have appeal routes if a director or city manager denied a permit.
Staff also described planned changes to submittal standards to reduce applicant burden (for example, using landscape exhibits with dimensions instead of full legal-description surveys in many cases) and gave examples of past revoked permits to show how revocations work in practice.
No formal delegation was adopted at the workshop; staff said the language would be refined and that the Planning Commission and other stakeholders (including the Housing Affordability Task Force) could review drafts before hearings.
Ending: Staff will circulate the draft code language and associated submittal standards ahead of the formal hearing process so interested groups can review appeal pathways and documentation requirements.
