TRC Process Improvement

updated February 5, 2019

Novak Consulting Group and TRC staff made 23 recommendations for improving the City's Technical Review Committee. After thoughtful review and consideration of impact, ease of implementation and resources needed to complete, the team prioritized the recommendations and plan to implement as identified below. Quarterly updates will be provided to demonstrate progress.

RecommendationStatusExpected/Actual Completion
1st Quarter 2019
Appoint an empowered TRC Chair.2018 Q4
Begin tracking and monitoring the number of labor hours required for TRC plan review and administrative activities per project.2019 Q1
Require plan reviewer TRC meeting attendance for all plans they have reviewed.2019 Q1
Provide comments to applicants in advance of TRC meeting (all disciplines).2019.02.04
Conduct quarterly workshops with the development community on TRC Manual/ expectations.2019 Q1
Conduct quarterly workshops with the development community on TRC Manual/ expectations.2019 Q1
2nd Quarter 2019
Establish a mechanism to track and report outcomes to all TRC members and the development community.2019 Q1
Monitor the need to fill a TRC Coordinator role.2019 Q2
Convene a group to create a definition for multi-family requirements for TRC.2019 Q2
Revise TRC comment and response format to increase consistency across review disciplines.2019 Q2
3rd Quarter 2019
Go live with e-Review in Energov.2019 Q3
Better define and utilize pre-application meetings.

2019 Q3
Convene a committee to review threshold requirements for TRC Site Plan Approval process.
2019 Q3
Develop plan review cycle-time performance standards and a performance measurement reporting process.
2019 Q4
4th Quarter 2019
Complete a TRC Manual overhaul to provide a more detailed and flexible checklist.
In Progress2020 Q1
Establish flexible plan review cycle time targets based on project type and complexity.

2019 Q4

RECOMMENDATIONS ON HOLD

RecommendationNotes
Establish and standardize guidelines for customer interaction and follow-up.
Resolves with go live of e-Reviews
Create a mechanism to deny submittals when reasonable quality standards have not been met and conduct technical completeness review within 48 hours of application delivery to Plan Review Staff.This has been greatly improved with the increase in plan submittal fees.
Create definitions/standards for major and minor comments.Resolves with go live of e-Reviews.
Require developer revisions to be “clouded” for easier recognition by review staff.
Resolves with go live of e-Reviews.
Incorporate PDF reviews from previous week’s TRC meeting as the first agenda item on each TRC meeting agenda.Resolves with go live of e-Reviews.
Provide training for intake personnel to elevate their understanding of what to look for in plan submittals.Reevaluate in 2019 Q4
Create a structure and process for regular engagement with the Developers Council and Developers Working Group to identify and resolve issues and communicate process changes.Duplicate
Limit discussion of comments during TRC meetings.Evaluate with more data and once pre-application meetings are more functional.
Consider limiting the number of TRC submittals each week.Already capped in Nov/Dec - need to monitor and evaluate later with more data.