Transfer of zoning-related activities to Area Plan Commission from the Building Department

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RE-ALIGNMENT AND TRANSFER OF ZONING-RELATED ACTIVITIES AND PROCESSES TO THE ST.JOSEPH COUNTY AREA PLAN COMMISSION FROM THE BUILDING DEPARTMENT many discussions dealing with interpretation issues.This task can be easily absorbed with current staff and within the normal workday. Task#2. Zoning inquiries—Staff receives many inquiries, approximately 11 per day,ranging from property zoning verification, questions on development standards and rezoning potential.The Building Department fields approximately 25 zoning-related calls per day. The increased call volume will substantially increase our daily work load, and impact the amount of time necessaroprocess petitions filed with the department. Task 43. Written requests—this task involves responding in writing(letter or form)to zoning verifications and State approvals(@ 100/year),business license reviews(@700/year), and legal non-conforming certificates (@11/year). This task in combination with Task#2,will substantially increase our daily work load impact the amount of time necessary to process petitions filed with the department. Task 94. Plan review—Twice a week, staff goes over to the Building Department to review project site plans that have filed for a building permit; one review session for the County and one session for South Bend. Staff,at this point does not see an increase in time required to perform this task. Task#S. Zoning violations—This new task would become the responsibility of the Staff,unless the County contracts with South Bend for Code Enforcement.The Building Department responds to about 1,000 violations a year. Violations mostly involve inappropriate land uses and junk vehicles. Site plan violations have historically not been addressed due to lack of staff time. This task would result in a significant increase in staff time, and cannot be accomplished without an additional FTE. Support& Task Requirements: 1. An electronic tracking system would be needed. It is not known at this time whether the South Bend system can be used. 2. Additional FTE to accomplish Tasks#3 and#5. 3. Implement an Improvement Location Permit Fee(Commercial only) to help cover the Staff time for Task#4. Budget Impact: 1. The Department(County)will see an increase in income from the implementation of an Improvement Location Permit(ILP)fee and zoning verification fees. Zoning verification letters are currently$30 or$50 depending on the amount of research required.At @ 100 requests per year,that equals$300 to$500.ILP fees could range from$10 to$100. Between site plan reviews and sign permit reviews, a conservative estimate of$35,000($100/ILP), could be collected. Page 517