TITLE
Recommendation to direct City Attorney and Department of Development Services to propose amendments to Long Beach Municipal Code Chapter 21.21 that will enhance public noticing and transparency while reducing unnecessary costs imposed on businesses by out-of-date, discretionary and less effective noticing, and refer said amendments to the Planning Commission, in support of Business Development.
DISCUSSION
Mayor Garcia and the City Council have demonstrated a strong commitment to growing our economic development efforts citywide. As part of the City's economic development plan we will need to support the businesses that have made Long Beach their home. We also need to support effective communication between business applicants and their neighbors by utilizing technology to enhance our processes and reduce costs.
After meeting with several business owners and having discussions with the Economic Development and Development Services departments, we feel changes in the public hearing noticing process will support business growth, enhance communication and increasing transparency to residents.
Zone changes, Conditional Use Permits, Administrative Use Permits and other land use matters are detailed in Long Beach Municipal Code sections 21.21.302, 304 and 306. The out-dated noticing requirements contribute to the overall cost of a discretionary permit, often contributing a $1,000 in overall costs. By resetting the noticing requirements to be consistent with State law and adding a modem electronic noticing requirement, we can reduce permit costs, increase efficiency, increase access and improve service
Request the City Attorney to work with the Department of Development Services to amend LBMC 21.21 to reset the noticing requirements for all public hearings with the goal of reducing the mailing costs associated with these applications, and to refer the matter to the Planning Commission for their consideration. Part of this effort will reset the noticing requirement to State standards and reset the size of notices which get posted on site to a commercially available standard size, while still maintaining readability. In addition, the amendments should add a requirement to post all public notices via a digital media posting plan. The digital media posting plan should be updated and provided to the City Council via memorandum annually.
We would like the City Managers office to propose a FY 15, minimum digital media posting plan that includes Nextdoor.com, Facebook at www.facebook.com/cityofLongBeachCA (over 15,000 followers) and twitter @LongBeachCity (almost 15,000 followers) where original posts can be read and quickly re-posted/re-tweet to their own community of followers.
As a result of these efforts, it is expected that staff would be able to recommend reductions in the permit cost for these discretionary permits and that amendments to Master Fee and Charges Schedule could be made as a part of the improvements.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully Submitted,
STACY MUNGO,
COUNCILWOMAN, FIFTH DISTRICT
LENA GONZALEZ,
COUNCILWOMAN, FIRST DISTRICT
SUZIE PRICE
COUNCILWOMAN, THIRD DISTRICT
AL AUSTIN,
COUNCILMAN, EIGHTH DISTRICT