HomeMy WebLinkAboutPCD 2023-03-06 Item 1B - Budget - Budget Amendment for Community DevelopmentCity of Tukwila
Allan Ekberg, Mayor
INFORMATIONAL MEMORANDUM
TO: Planning and Community Development Committee
FROM: Rachel Bianchi, Deputy City Administrator
CC: Mayor Ekberg
DATE: February 27, 2023
SUBJECT: Code, Permit Process and Culture Review
ISSUE
Staff is proposing to undertake a review of City building and fire codes, infrastructure
regulations, permit review processes, and customer service culture to identify ways to improve
the permitting experience for customers while ensuring that life/safety issues and compliance
with state law are retained. This effort will likely require a budget amendment to support an
audit of our building code, Public Works standards and other requirements. Because this effort
would require significant staff time and a budget amendment, staff is seeking Committee
consensus to move forward.
DISCUSSION
The overall goal of the review of City codes, regulations, and processes as it relates to
permitting is to better align the City of Tukwila's regulations with neighboring cities, while
retaining protections for life/safety issues. This effort is also underway with the Fire Code with
the City's recent contractual relationship with the Puget Sound Fire Authority (PSRFA). The
Council can expect to see proposed Fire Code changes in the second quarter before their
required adoption by June 1, 2023, in accordance with the Washington State Code update.
Such alignment could provide reduced workloads in the Permit Center that would free up time
for other critical reviews. Already the PSRFA and the Permit Center have been collaborating to
remove the PSRFA from reviews of permits not germane to the Fire Marshal, such as
mechanical permits, eliminating another `required' touch in the permit process. We would like to
take a similar approach to Tukwila specific amendments to the International Building and
Residential Codes.
The review of the permit process and customer service culture will be a collaborative effort with
staff in the Department of Community Development as they are the subject matter experts in
this field. We will look to other cities for examples of best practices and benchmarks. However,
having a non-DCD staff lead this effort, who has specific experience as the Program Manager
on capital projects in Tukwila, provides an additional perspective staff hopes will be informative
to the process.
The proposed steps for this effort include:
• Staff and industry interviews
• Code and regulations audit and potential legislation
• Review best practice on board of architectural review
• Permit process deep dive and review
• Develop a culture of customer service
• Develop Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for process and customer service
Staff expects that there will be a cost associated with this effort, specifically the audit to better
understand how Tukwila's Code and regulations differ from neighboring jurisdictions. While that
cost is currently unknown, staff is seeking Committee consensus that there is support for this
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INFORMATIONAL MEMO
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effort. If that is the case, staff will prepare a short process to identify potential consultants and
costs to assist in this work. In the meantime, staff will initiate the interviews and process deep
dive referenced above.
RECOM MENDATION
Staff is seeking Committee consensus to move forward with this effort.
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