HomeMy WebLinkAboutRe-alignment and transfer of zoning-related activities and processes to the St. Joseph County Area Plan Commission from the Building Department LAWRENCE P. MAGLIOZZI
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Angela M. Smith
Deputy Director
PAGREAPLLAN COMMISSION OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, IN
227 W. JEFFERSON BLVD., ROOM 1140 COUNTY-CITY Bl![LDING, SOUTH BEND, INDIANA 46601 (574) 235-9571
Filed in Cleric's Office
August 10, 2017
AUG 10 2017
Tim Scott, President KAREEMAH FOWLER
Oliver Davis, Zoning&Annexation Committee Chair CITY CLERK,SOUTH REND,IN
Common Council of the City of South Bend
227 W. Jefferson Blvd., Suite 400 S
South Bend, IN 46601
Dear Sirs,
Along with Chuck Bulot, I have been working on transferring the administration of the Area
Board of Zoning Appeals, in addition to the responsibilities of the Zoning Administrator, from
the Building Department to the Area Plan Commission.
Attached is an outline of the re-alignment proposal, initially prepared for the Plan Commission's
submittal in support of the 2018 Budget. Page 1, Summary, states the basis for the re-alignment.
Pages 6-7 provide additional detail.
I am requesting an opportunity to discuss this with the Zoning and Annexation Committee on
August 28th,at which time I will be able to answer any questions, comments or concerns about
this effort.
Sincerely,
Larry Magliozzi
SERVING ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, SOUTH BEND, LAKEVILLE, NEW CARLISLE, NORTH LIBERTY, OSCEOLA & ROSELAND
W W W.S I C I N D I A N A.C O M/3 0 6/AREA-P L A N
RE-ALIGNMENT AND TRANSFER OF ZONING-RELATED ACTIVITIES AND PROCESSES
TO THE
ST.JOSEPH COUNTY AREA PLAN COMMISSION Filed in Clerk's Office
FROM THE ---
BUILDING DEPARTMENT AUG 10 207
KAREEMAH FOWLER
CITY CLERK,SOUTH 1 014D,IN
Summary
The Area Plon Commission has provided planning services for its member jurisdictions since 1966.
Among those services is the administration of the rezoning and subdivision process, interpretive support
to the Zoning Administrators, general land use planning support to the member jurisdictions, and
ordinance text changes.
The Building Commissioner of the South Bend/St.Joseph County Building Department is the Zoning
Administrator(ZA) for the City of South Bend and the unincorporated areas of St.Joseph County.The
member towns each have their own ZA.The ZA is the individual designated as having the responsibility
for the interpretation and administration of the Zoning Ordinance, which includes the pursuit of zoning
violations. Successful pursuit of zoning violations are a particular concern.
It is unusual that most, if not all aspects, of land use planning functions are not organized under one
department.The benefits are obvious in that having land use planning, policy, management and
implementation is a more efficient approach to conducting those activities. In researching surrounding
communities, we are the only jurisdiction that follows our current structure.
The goal of the proposal outlined herein, is to enhance planning services to the public and development
community, by unifying all land use-related administrative functions under one department. In brief:
1. Assuming ABZA administration would require the services of a PTE.
2. Assuming the general responsibilities of the Zoning Administrator relative to interpretation of
the Zoning Ordinance, can be absorbed by existing staff.
3. Assuming the responsibilities of zoning violations will require the services of one FTE.
4. All fees associated with ABZA and zoning verification would be new income.
5. Implementation of Improvement Location Permit fees would be new income.
6. Capital expenses: workstation(s); desk(s); cubicle partitions;vehicle for zoning violations
This proposal does not address code enforcement. Code enforcement requires specialized staffing skills,
in-depth training, a dedicated administrative process, and considerable capital support.There have been
some discussions with South Bend Code Enforcement to contract this service out.
Recommendation
The general recommendation is to pursue to the fullest extent possible the integration of planning
services. Depending on the level of support that the County is willing to provide,there are several
options on how to accomplish this. Those options are detailed at the end of this analysis, but at a
minimum:
1. Transfer the administrative function of the ABZA from the Building Department to the APC staff;
2. Transfer the position of Zoning Administrator from the Building Commissioner to the Executive
Director of the Area Plan Commission.
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Area Board of Zoning Appeals
Statutory Basis: The Area Board of Zoning Appeals (ABZA) is established by I.C. 36-7-4-901.
Since zoning ordinances are in place for the member jurisdictions of the Area Plan
Commission(APC),the legislative bodies of those jurisdictions must establish a
board of zoning appeals-I.C. 36-7-4-901 (a).
History: Between 1966 and June of 2009,there were two boards. A South Bend Board of
Zoning Appeals,which heard appeals(variances)within the city limits of South
Bend, and an Area Board of Zoning Appeals,which heard appeals for
unincorporated St.Joseph County and the member towns of the APC. The boards
were combined to ease the administrative burden of coordinating two boards,
which met on different dates every month.
In 2012,the APC implemented a Combined Hearing Procedure where petitioners
seeking a zoning change could also request a special use and variances.
Responsibilities: The ABZA hears petitions for variances from the development standards of the
Zoning Ordinance, special uses/special use exceptions and conditional uses within
the established zoning districts. Use variances are not permitted as long as a
jurisdiction is a member of the Area Plan Commission.
Administration: The Building Department administers the appeals process, from intake of petitions
to file closure.
Bldg. Dept. Tasks: Address initial owner inquiries that could result in an application for relief from the
development standards—height, area and bulk; process applications; staff review;
site visits;notifications and agendas;ABZA meetings;transcribe minutes; post-
meeting tasks.
Current APC Tasks: Coordinates with the Building Department to ensure sufficiency of the application;
provide a staff report to the ABZA, and attend the meetings.
Increased Tasks for Staff: Staff would assume all administrative duties relative to the application
process, administrative duties,ABZA meetings,minutes,and file closure.
The added burden is in the administrative duties and the time involved in
transcribing the minutes.
Support& Task Requirements: 1. Develop a proprietary data base. Will require IT support.
2. Additional PTE to attend meetings and transcribe minutes.
3. Possibly change meeting date and time of ABZA meetings.
4. Increase filing fees for 2018.
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Budget Impact:
1. The Department(County)will see an increase in income through application fees. Current
Fee structure is $85 for the first variance, and$45 for each additional variance. Some
variances are"bundled"by the Building Department. Staff would change that policy
providing a slight increase in income.ABZA fees bring in approximately$15,000/year.
2. The hiring of a PTE will increase Personnel costs.ABZA and the implementation of an
Improvement Location Permit Fee(see separate discussion on this process)will pay for the
added administrative position.
3. Capital expenses would include one workstation, desk and chair.
Other Considerations
South Bend is considering re-establishing a separate board of zoning appeals to hear City
petitions.Approximately half of the petitions are City petitions.A City BZA would be comprised
of individuals better informed of the uniqueness of the zoning ordinance and land use issues
facing the City. If the City chooses to proceed,the administrative burden would fall on City staff,
relieving the APC staff from those responsibilities. Fewer petitions would result in less staff time
needed to administer the ABZA process, but it would also reduce income. As noted earlier,
"unbundling"variances and increasing fees would cover some of the losses in income.
i
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Zoning Administrator/Zoning Administration
Statutory Basis: The position of Zoning Administrator(ZA) is established in the respective zoning
ordinances-Chapter 154.582 of the St. Joseph County Zoning Ordinance and
Section 21-09.04 of the South Bend Zoning Ordinance. The Towns appoint their
own ZAs.
History: Prior to the merging of the South Bend and St. Joseph County building
departments,the respective Building Commissioners also held the position of ZA.
The Building Commissioner of the South Bend/St. Joseph County Building
Department is the ZA for South Bend and unincorporated St. Joseph County.
Responsibilities: The Zoning Ordinance establishes the duties of the ZA:
1. Enforce and administer the zoning ordinance
2. Investigate matters relative to the zoning ordinance(interpret&investigate)
3. Receive and review applications to the ABZA(administrative process)
4. Provide technical advice to the ABZA
5. Maintain ABZA records
6. Issue improvement location permits
Administration: The Building Commissioner performs the duties of ZA.Two FTEs spend the
majority of their time assisting the ZA in his duties. One on the tasks associated
with the ABZA, and one on the enforcement of the zoning ordinances.As noted
earlier,the Building Department does not perform zoning administration tasks for
the towns.
Bldg. Dept. Tasks: Make interpretations on permitted uses and development standards of the Zoning
Ordinances; accept and process ABZA petitions including administrative tasks
such as correspondence, agendas, meeting attendance and minutes; answer
inquiries on variance and special exception filing requirements; investigate zoning
violations and pursue fines when needed.
Current APC Tasks: Offers opinions on interpretation issues;confirms zoning district boundaries and
the zoning of properties. Since APC keeps records of past zoning actions,does
research and zoning confirmation of those actions.
Increased Tasks for Staff: Staff would assume all the responsibilities of the ZA, noted above. The
ABZA burden was addressed in the previous section. Since the tasks
associated with the balance of the responsibilities are varied, each requires a
separate discussion.
Task#1. Zoning interpretation—Staff works on a daily basis with the
zoning ordinance and drafts all of the text amendments,and participates in
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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.
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2. The hiring of a FTE will increase personnel costs.The skill requirements of this position is
different that the skill level of the one PTE noted in the ABZA discussion. Whether existing
personnel could be re-organized to cover zoning administration duties is still being studied.
3. Capital costs: workstation, desk, chair, office panels,vehicle
Other Considerations
South Bend has had some brief discussions with Staff on them withdrawing their membership
from the Area Plan Commission. If the City chooses to proceed, it most likely will not happen
until 2019 or 2020, or after the adoption of a new zoning ordinance,whichever occurs first.The
administrative burden of a City plan commission, City Board of Zoning Appeal, and Zoning
Interpretation for the City will transfer to City staff, relieving the APC staff from those
responsibilities. Fewer petitions would result in less staff time needed to administer the zoning
and subdivision process, but it would also reduce income. On the other hand, it is possible that
staff will have more time available to perform zoning enforcement.
As indicated,zoning enforcement is a concern for the staff. Without a FTE, enforcement would
VERY LIMITED, if non-existent.
Code Enforcement,as envisioned by the Council, is not possible with the scenarios discussed
here. Code is a specific task that requires specialized skills and a distinct process.
Additional Information
Status of Zoning Ordinances: Staff has been diligently pursuing modernization of the seven zoning
ordinances it oversees:New Carlisle-January 2010; Osceola—January
2015; Lakeville—projected July 2017;North Liberty—projected
November 2017.
The South Bend ordinance will be updated,potentially next year,via a
City contract. Staff will begin working on the County ordinance in
2018/19.
The County subdivision ordinance is currently being re-drafted,and is
scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.The subdivision
ordinances of the other jurisdictions will reviewed for potential
replacement in 2019.
Comprehensive Plans: Due to staff reductions over the past decade,the Comprehensive Plan
(April 2002)and targeted,neighborhood-oriented land use plans have not
been done.The age of the Comprehensive Plan is a concern, especially
with the new focus on economic development in the County.
Code Enforcement: Staff would encourage that if the County desires to implement a strong
code enforcement effort,then a fair and equitable contract with the City
of South Bend be pursued.APC does not available staff or expertise to
perform that function.
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Recommended Action (Revised 712412017)
APC staff is committed to merging all aspects of zoning activity within one department. It is our belief
that this is the appropriate path to provide a more efficient service for planning-related functions.Keys to
accomplishing this goal, is to transfer ABZA administration and ZA responsibilities to the APC staff.
ABZA fees would be increased to cover the addition personnel costs of one PTE.Additional income
generated by new fees could support one FTE that would assist in zoning violation tasks.
Scenarios:
Scenario One—Transfer ABZA administration to the Area Plan Commission. Will require one
PTE to be supported by ABZA filing fees. Leave ZA responsibilities with Building Department.
Income: $15,000 - $20,000(Increase fees from $85/$45 to $100/$45)
Scenario Two—Transfer ABZA administration and ZA responsibilities to the Area Plan
Commission. Will require one PTE and one FTE,to be supported by ABZA filing fees and
commercial ILP fees.Zoning violation fees would provide more than adequate additional revenue
to cover the FTE.
Income: ABZA: $15,000-$20,000
ILP: $35,000(new$100 plan review fees)
Business Licenses: $7,000 (new$10 verification fee)
Auto&Alcohol License Verifications: $1,000
Other Zoning Verifications: $600($35 current fee)
Scenario Three—Same as Scenario Two, but hire two PTEs. One for ABZA and one for zoning
enforcement tasks.This scenario would provide 100%coverage of ABZA administration and
limited/selected zoning enforcement.
Income: Same as above
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