DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES

July 15, 2004

Members Present Bob Ford Carlo Gegen Chris Gentis Herb Hacker Jake Jacobsen Barbara Koffron Scott Mardian Herman Orcutt Danny Ortega Kenneth Roth Steve Speer Patricia Thornham, Members Absent Ben Barcon Mike Colletto Stephen Elssmann Michael Fries Pete Hemingway Greg Russell Paul Scott Darrell Wilson

Staff Karen Beckley, City of Phoenix, DSD Carole Borrego,City of Phoenix, DSD Mark Gustafson, City of Phoenix, DSD Larry Litchfield, City of Phoenix,DSD Fred Luna, City of Phoenix, DSD Joe McElvaney, City of Phoenix, DSD Joanne Owens, City of Phoenix, DSD Anne Sobsczk, City of Phoenix, DSD John Watson, Phoenix Fire Ex-Officio's Present Jim Baughman, City of Phoenix, Planning Martha Draper, City of Phoenix, NSD Chaun Hill, City of Phoenix, Streets Aaron LaRoque, City of Phoenix, Water Services Derek Horn, City of Phoenix, DSD Ex-Officio's Absent Mike Hamblin, City of Phoenix, Law Others in Attendance Rus Brock, Homebuilders Association

CALL TO ORDER
Herman Orcutt, DAB Chairperson, convened the meeting at 3:05p.m.

Approval of June 17, 2004 Minutes

Motion was made by Barbara Koffron, seconded by Ken Roth, to approve the meeting minutes of June 17, 2004. Motion carried unanimously.

CALL TO THE PUBLIC
Mr. Rus Brock, Homebuilders Association, stated that they are currently experiencing long turn around times in receiving permits for standard plans issued for single family homes. He continued to say that since the beginning of the Development Advisory Board he has never seen the board look at, review, or question the service level of Development Services for the month. Mr. Brock would like to the DAB to consider reviewing graphs of the service level provided out of the Development Services Department.

DISCUSSION OF SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS:

Process and Procedures Subcommittee:
Patricia Thornham stated that she listened to the meeting by telephone. The subcommittee discussed the finalization on concrete curb stamps on sidewalks required by the City of Phoenix, which states "Private Street - No City Maintenance" in front of all homes in gated communities. She stated that they would have a DRAFT policy to present at the next DAB meeting.

Fiscal and Performance Subcommittee:
Subcommittee did not meet

Fence:
Subcommittee did not meet

Water Services Subcommittee:
Carlo Gegen stated that the subcommittee met and discussed some of the policies and procedures that are currently being developed. Topics discussed were reduced easement standards for infill housing and the coordination for cluster homes with regard to coordinating with DSD and accounting for Water Services for cluster homes.

By-Laws and Mission Statement:
Ms. Thornham stated that a meeting would be scheduled prior to the September 2004 DAB meeting

Discussion/Information/Possible Action on the Nominations and Election of 2004-2005 Development Advisory Development Advisory Board Chairperson/Vice Chairperson:

Motion was made by Barbara Koffron, seconded by Ken Roth, to nominate Herman Orcutt to serve one additional term as Chairperson for the Development Advisory Board.
Motion carried unanimously.

Motion was made by Scott Mardian, seconded by Danny Ortega, to nominate Barbara Koffron to serve one additional term as Vice-Chairperson for the Development Advisory Board. Motion carried unanimously

Discussion/Update/Possible Action on the status of Applebee's Restaurant, 4609 East Chandler Boulevard ISSUE: To create an accessible bar service counter location that meets all current City of Phoenix regulations and accessible codes as adopted for accessibility in a bar environment.

Larry Litchfield, DSD Assistant Director, stated that Applebee's Restaurant filed a modification located at 48th Street and Chandler Boulevard several years ago to eliminate a low bar setting at the bar. After the City adopted the local amendments with restrictions, they challenged that and filed a modification. At that time, staff denied the modification and they appealed to the Development Advisory Board and the Board denied it as well. The applicant then took it to Circuit court and lost the case, they then took it to the District Court. District Court has upheld the code, the process, and has indicated that a low-level bar has to be provided. Since then DSD has met with the applicant and the Chandler facility has a low-bar area on one side.

Currently DSD has received an additional Applebee's Restaurant on 24th Street and Baseline and filed another modification request. DSD has denied this modification as well.

Discussion/Information/Possible Action on Residential Plan Review and Inspections:
Per the request of the Homebuilders Association, Bob Goodhue, DSD Deputy Director, made a brief presentation on DSD Residential Services based on the concern from the Homebuilders regarding turn around time.

Mr. Goodhue stated that as of December 9, 2003 two-day turn around times were being met on plot plans and ten-day turn around times for first reviews for regular plans submittals were being met. In April 2004 turn around times started backing up.

Construction has been booming. 10,000 new single-family dwelling unit permits have been applied for since 2000/2001. The Homebuilders are very concerned with plot plans. The last two years are much different than the previous years. In April 2004 over 1,600 plot plans were submitted. To attempt to get caught up with the workload, overtime was given to staff. Overtime was not enough. DSD staff was being promoted to other positions within the City within Water Services, Streets, and Engineering/Architectural Services.

To help with the increase of work, 28 new positions have been added to Development Services, which is a 55% net increase. To meet the 2-day turnaround of the plan review backlog 7 Engineering Techs will be used and they will be working 20 hours per work of overtime. The Backlog should be current by August 13, 2004.

To assist with the inspections, the reporting of reporting of carryovers with the general inspection supervisors will be coordinated and the inspector's will be reallocated to areas with consistent carryovers. Five residential field inspectors have been hired, along with 2 temporary inspectors. Other inspection resources consist of:

• Commercial Inspectors - Reconfiguration of Inspection areas
  
• New Inspection Team in 2004 - Evaluation of Commercial Inspection Group for Additional Assistance
  
• Evaluating Temporary Inspectors - Contract Inspectors (If not enough resources in Commercial or temporary)
  

If the residential fence permits are reinstated, the proposed process and procedures would apply:

• When that medium becomes available.
  
• An 8½" X 11" exhibit is attached to the application showing the location of the fence, height, and setbacks from the right of way. In the case of subdivisions, fences may be shown on the site plan or with the plot plan for each house.
• Fence permit applications are reviewed and approved by the Engineering Technicians at Fence permit applications may be submitted in person at Counter 4, by fax, or electronically Counter 4.
  
• Fence permits are issued in accordance with the DSD fee schedule.
  
• Inspections are conducted by the General Inspectors at the footing stage and final.
  
• Fence construction is approved with a green tag.

Motion was made by Patricia Thornham, seconded by Barbara Koffron, to accept this process for residential fence permits if adopted by the City Council.
Motion carried unanimously.

Discussion/Information/Possible Action on the City of Phoenix Building Code:
Larry Litchfield, DSD Assistant Director, stated that the DAB approved the Five-Step Process in December of 2000 and City Council approved it as well.

With the motion to adopt the International Codes, the process has returned to Step-one of the process. Step-one is completed with the new version of the building code. The City is in compliance with the new Resolution No. 20044, and the International Codes are the codes of preference.

Currently, Development Services is working on Step 2. The Residential Code and the Building Code are the codes that are currently being worked on. The codes will be reviewed by two sections of Development Services, those being Residential and Commercial. Mr. Litchfield stated that the Mechanical Code and the adoption of the State Plumbing Code would also be worked on in the near future.

DAB Subcommittee's will be form in Step-three of the process and code amendments packages will be made. When the process gets to that step, Mr. Litchfield, would like the amendment packages to be 95% complete for the DAB to approve.

Discussion/Information/Possible Action to Create a DAB Study Committee on a Residential Sprinkler Ordinance:
Mr. Orcutt stated that this item is on the DAB agenda due to Jim Ford's, Fire Marshal, presentation at the June 2004 DAB meeting regarding "Scottsdale's 20 year report on Residential Sprinkler Performance". He stated that he was intrigued by Mr. Ford's presentation and mentioned that sprinklers are very effective in residences, along with not being to expensive for homeowner to install.

Mr. Orcutt suggested that the Development Advisory Board form a subcommittee and meet with the Fire Safety Advisory Board review this together to come up with common ground to make this work for the residents of Phoenix.

Motion was made by Ken Roth, seconded by Barbara Koffron, to formulate a study committee with the Development Advisory Board, the Fire Safety Advisory Board, and a representative from the Water Services Department to work on adopting a Residential Sprinkler Ordinance for the City of Phoenix. Motion carried unanimously.

Mr. Horn suggested that we ask for volunteers from the Development Advisory Board who wish to work on the committee.

• Barbara Koffron, DAB
  
• Ken Roth, DAB
  
• Carlo Gegen, DAB
  
• Chistopher Gentis, DAB
  
• Aaron LaRoque, Water Services Department

Discussion/Information/Possible Action on the 2004 Elevator Code:
Mr. Horn stated that in the past several years the DAB reviewed and approved the 2000 Elevator Codes. This was held up by other code discussion over the past years and now more recent elevator codes are available on the market, the 2004 Edition. These codes have been reviewed and a draft package of amendments has been completed.

Mr. Horn suggested that a DAB study committee be formed to review the code and amendments to present to the DAB at the September 2004 meeting. It was decided through discussion that this would be assigned to the Technical Subcommittee for review. If the chairperson of the Technical Subcommittee is not available, this would be assigned to the Process and Procedures Subcommittee for review.

Discussion/Information/Possible Action of a Summer Hiatus for the Development Advisory Board (Does not include the DAB Subcommittees):

Motion was made by Herb Hacker, seconded by Danny Ortega, for the Development Advisory Board to take a summer break for the month of August 2004.
Motion carried unanimously

Request for future agenda items
None

Adjournment

MOTION was made by Bob Ford, seconded by Carlo Gegen , to adjourn the July 15, 2004 DAB meeting. Motion carried unanimously.

Respectfully submitted:

Derek Horn, P.E. CBO
DSD Deputy Director

Minutes Prepared by:
Carole Borrego, Secretary III