LAW & GOVERNMENT
In Vallejo , in 2016 community health center La Clínica Vallejo sought city permission to construct a new building downtown that would let it double the number of patients served and consolidate services scattered over a few locations . Pre-COVID-19 , the existing facility was overcrowded , with long lines and delays in service , according to city spokesperson Christina Lee .
When city offices shut down in March 2020 , the building division kept project review going by having the contractor submit revisions to the building plans digitally . With more than 300 revisions over the course of the project , that ended up saving the nonprofit on printing and delivery , says Steve Arnold , the city ’ s chief building official . This past August , La Clínica ’ s new building opened for patients . And digital plan review is here to stay in Vallejo , Arnold says .
Rocklin ’ s Community Development Department is working differently to help real estate developers who are planning projects . Previously , key city staff plus representatives of the utility and water agencies held an in-person pre-application meeting with applicants to flag potential issues , set schedules and discuss fees . Now the developers ’ project descriptions are sent to city staff electronically , and applicants get back consolidated comments from each agency .
That system takes a few weeks longer than before , but the city is getting as many proposals as ever , says Rocklin Senior Planner Dara Dungworth . In December 2020 , they had six big projects in the pipeline , and two or three of those are now active applications . “ I can tell you unequivocally that our volume did not slow down ,” she says .
In Sacramento , the city ’ s building and planning departments transitioned their construction services from in-person to online almost overnight in March 2020 . Seeking to cut wait times at the public counter and give clients the convenience of submitting building plans outside business hours , the city had plans to go virtual in place for several years and had done a trial run in February 2020 , says Tom Pace , director of the city ’ s Community Development Department . “ Had we not been ready to go , there would have been significant delays in permits ,” he says .
Today , the team is meeting or exceeding its plan review deadlines 95 percent of the time , Pace says . The city issued 17,000 permits from April 2020 to March 2021 and building permits for more than 3,700 new houses , the most in 15 years , according to the city .
Virtual building inspections — another new process — kept a critical city priority moving : the conversion of the Marshall Hotel to the Hyatt Centric in downtown Sacramento . Building department staffers and the contractor used apps like FaceTime or Google Duo to go around the site , with staff directing where to point the camera . The city did more than 51,000 such virtual inspections from April
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58 comstocksmag . com | November 2021