GHD consultant outlines permit-streamlining steps; Imperial City planning commission recommends report to council and asks staff to consider Spanish translation

The Imperial City Planning Commission voted May 13 to recommend a permit-streamlining report prepared for the city'19s Community Development department, following a presentation from GHD consultant Brady Woods.

The consultant said the project, funded through an early-action REAP grant administered by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), aims to accelerate housing approvals by producing user-friendly visual guides, evaluating local policy documents for compliance with state streamlining laws, and improving coordination among planning, building, engineering and fire divisions. "The project aims to streamline development approvals through clear guidance and simplify permitting to support housing production," Woods said during the presentation.

Woods told the commission his team conducted stakeholder interviews with departmental staff, the county fire department, the Imperial Valley Housing Authority and local builders; those interviews flagged the need for clearer upfront guidance and predictable timelines, a preference for unified objective standards, and concerns that fragmented reviews can jeopardize project funding for affordable housing. The consultant said the team assessed state authorities including the Permitting Streamlining Act, the Housing Accountability Act and SB 35 against Imperial City'19s current policies.

Among the policy recommendations, Woods said the city should revise local rules that require accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to be approved through discretionary conditional use permits and instead adopt standalone ADU standards aligned with state ministerial requirements. He also recommended converting subjective downtown design guidelines into clear objective standards for multifamily and mixed-use projects to reduce discretionary conflicts with state streamlining mandates.

On operations, the consultant recommended better interdepartmental coordination: a consolidated fire-review checklist, an intake process tied to prior-file review, issuance of a single consolidated correction letter, and consideration of a dedicated staff coordinator to transmit complete packages and consolidate comments. Woods said the team identified website and contact-list deficiencies that hinder applicant communication and recommended adding division-level contact information and clearer, downloadable submittal checklists.

The consultant outlined an implementation phasing plan with near-term (0—2 months), midterm (12'4 months) and long-term (beyond 24 months) actions and presented 15 visual guides intended to walk applicants step-by-step through entitlement and permitting workflows. Woods apologized for technical difficulties during the remote presentation and closed by saying, "That is my presentation, and I truly appreciate your attention."

Commissioners asked practical questions about the deliverables. Staff said the visuals will be provided as a PDF guide rather than an online permitting submission, and that contract funding does not include translations; a commissioner suggested pursuing at least a Spanish translation to reduce staff time spent explaining steps. "I would go ahead and make that recommendation, that the process perhaps be looked into and considered for translation into at least a Spanish language once it's completed," one commissioner said during the motion.

A motion to recommend the permit-streamlining report to city council, with the added recommendation that staff consider translation to Spanish, was moved and seconded. In a roll call recorded by the clerk, Commissioners Duarte, Rosales Trujillo and Carrillo voted yes; the motion carried 3-0. Staff said the commission'19s recommendation will be forwarded to city council in June.

The presentation and the commission'19s recommendation leave several implementation details to staff and future council action: the deliverable is a PDF guidance package (not an online permitting portal), translation was requested for future consideration but was not funded in the GHD contract, and many operational changes (fire-review consolidation, staffing coordinator) will require internal process changes.