PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RECOGNIZED FOR WORK BUILDING BETTER COMMUNITIES

Bellevue, WA - The Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties (MBA) and the Puget Sound Section, Washington Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA) recognized two area government officials for their leadership yesterday. The organizations presented "Public Employee of the Year" awards to Bellevue's Development Services Director Mike Brennan and Everett's Planning and Community Development Director Allan Giffen.

Robert Thorpe, AICP, past president of the Puget Sound Chapter of the APA, and principal of Robert W. Thorpe & Associates in Seattle, joined David Hoffman and Jennifer Jerabek of the MBA in presenting the awards to Brennan and Giffen at the APA's annual holiday celebration, held at the World Trade Center in Seattle.

The "Public Employee of the Year" award program, now in its second year, was created to honor public employees who best exemplify the spirit of seeking meaningful solutions to the challenges presented by growth while maintaining responsible environmental stewardship.

"Mike Brennan and Allan Giffen have distinguished themselves as outstanding leaders in the planning world and in the communities they serve," said Thorpe. "This recognition is a real tribute to their dedication to building better communities."

Brennan was honored for his outstanding work helping to guide the largest downtown building boom in the city of Bellevue's history. Brennan previously served as a deputy director of the city's Planning and Community Development Department, where he led a major effort to improve delivery of development services, focusing on high-quality customer service and timely and predictable development review. Also, Brennan and the city have worked with other Eastside cities to create MyBuildingPermit.com, a common point of access to obtain permits and deliver technical information.

Giffen was named a "Public Employee of the Year" for his leadership on Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson's Vision Team process, which led to a new downtown plan and several development projects that have recently occurred in the city's downtown core. Giffen has also been a valuable player in driving several redevelopment projects on the city's waterfront and riverfront areas. During his tenure with the city of Everett, Giffen has re-written the city's zoning code, several sections of the comprehensive plan and has worked on transportation funding and planning issues.

"Mike Brennan and Allan Giffen are well deserving of these awards. We congratulate them for their leadership on planning issues and for the many contributions they make in the cities of Bellevue and Everett," said MBA Executive Officer Sam Anderson.

Founded in 1909, MBA is a trade association comprised of more than 4,300 companies involved in the residential construction industry. It is the nation's largest local home building association affiliated with the National Association of Home Builders.

The Washington Chapter of the American Planning Association is an organization of people with an interest in land use, housing, transportation, environmental, economic and social planning. Among others, our membership includes citizen planners, planning commissioners and other planning officials, and professional planners within the State of Washington and elsewhere.

Contacts:
Allison Butcher, Public Affairs Director
Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties
(425) 460-8223
abutcher@mbaks.com

Robert Thorpe, AICP, Past President
American Planning Association, Puget Sound Chapter
(206) 624-6239
rwta@rwta.com

SAVE THE DATE - THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2009 PLANNING LAW CONFERENCE

Please join us as we present the 2009 Planning Law Conference put on by the Puget Sound Section of the American Planning Association. The legal environment for planning is changing day to day and planners need to stay up to date to succeed. New laws have been passed or are under consideration. This year's conference is here to help understand how these changes affect planners.

The biennial Planning Law Conference will, once again, be held at Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue.

Registration is available online only at:
www.regonline.com/apaplanninglawconference

Payment may be made by credit card, check or purchase order. The registration fee of $99 is available through Friday, April 10, 2009. Late registration will be $120 if space is available. Registration closes at 5:00 pm on Tuesday, April 14, 2009.

No onsite registration will be offered.

There are three tracks with the following topics:

Legal & Legislative Track	Climate Change & Sustainability Track	Smart Growth Track
Case Law Update	Sustainability & Construction	Transfer of Development Rights
GMA Update	Leadership in Sustainability and Climate Change	Vesting and Regulatory Takings
Legislative Update	Complete Streets	Affordable Housing
Shoreline Update - Legal Issues	FEMA Case Law Update	Construction Bonding and Finance

WINTER '09 BROWN BAG SCHEDULE

APA Brown Bag Winter 2008 Series Schedule

By Stan May

Announcing the Puget Sound Section APA Winter '09 Brown Bag Series of continuing education

Come to the FREE session you need to do your job better! APA-subsidized lunches, only $5! RSVPs are not required to attend or to buy a lunch. RSVPs are used to estimate the number of lunches to order. Please RSVP before 9:00 am Monday morning each week to Stan May: stan.may@bhcconsultants.com or (206) 505-3400.

Topic	Time	Place	Speakers!
Recent Decisions of the Boards and Courts and the Changing Climate for GMA	Noon to 1:15, Wed. Feb 25	Mercer Island City Council Chambers, 9611 SE 36th St.	Ed McGuire, CPSGMHB Joe Tovar, City of Shoreline
A Strategy for Sustainability - Learning from and Building on the Shoreline Model Stumped about how to attack sustainability? You can start now, where you are at, with what you have. Hear about the process used in creating the innovative Shoreline Sustainability Strategy and the common components you should include in your effort regardless of your budget or technical expertise. Also hear lessons learned and thoughts on how to attack this issue with limited resources.	Noon to 1:15, Wed. Mar 4	Mercer Island City Council Chambers, 9611 SE 36th St.	Juniper Nammi, City of Shoreline Gabe Snedeker, AICP, AHBL
Reality Check & the Quality Growth Alliance What did Reality Check participants learn from LEGOs, yarn and a lively discussion about future growth? What are the key strategies to removing the barriers to quality growth, stimulating infrastructure investment, and promoting livability in the Puget Sound region? On April 30, 2008, ULI Seattle and the Reality Check partners hosted 250 regional leaders to pause for a day and think big about how we want our region to grow. Old assumptions were put to the test with new ideas and energy to fuel change. Join us as we share the results and the Quality Growth Alliance’s groundbreaking effort to move the region’s leadership toward a shared vision.	Noon to 1:15, Wed. Mar 18	Renton City Hall, 1055 S. Grady, 7th floor	Kamuron Gurol, City of Samammish Shawna Sherman, Urban Land Institute Seattle
Energy Planning Since energy and in particular liquid fossil fuels is the Master Resource that drives our economy and society any constraint on supply will radically reshape both. Land use policy over the last 100 years has been supported by near free liquid fuels resulting in a very dispersed living arrangement. Zoning regulations constructed around the idea that liquid fuels and cheap individual transportation modes will remain could strap future governments and a generation of tax payers with useless infrastructure and debt financing. These land use decisions as you know are major drivers in carbon emissions both in the long and short term.	Noon to 1:15, Wed. Mar 25	Mercer Island City Council Chambers, 9611 SE 36th St.	Jim Hansen, KMS Financial Services

BROWN BAG RECAPS

"The Six Best Practices for Permit Processing for Highly Effective Local Governments"

Moderator: Faith Lumsden, Washington State Governor's Office of Regulatory Assistance

Presenters:
Leonard Bauer, AICP, Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development
Bill Dowe, Skagit County
Kurt Latimore, The Latimore Company, LLC

The Washington State Governor's Office of Regulatory Assistance conducted a series of outreach sessions this spring to collect and report best practices from local government. The focus was on development permit processing. This session will present the results of the outreach sessions. The second half of the presentation will include audience participation. Join us to hear the top six best practices and share with us how these practices compare to your experiences."

The Washington State Office of Regulatory Assistance has been conducting a study of Local Jurisdiction Best Practices is also available on their web site at www.ora.wa.gov.

Two groups were polled: applicants and city administrators. In addition to the information below, the concept of "Customer Service" was considered to be very important.

Handouts convey a list with a header of "Straw Poll Responses" which are the 18 existing practices of local governments that seem like good practices. Everyone ranked them 4 or 5 on an importance scale (5 being most important)

The second handout is a general list of Permitting Best Practices:

1. Create mutual understanding
   • Some agencies use a weblog to track activity on projects. This guides and informs citizen comments
   
   
2. Contact Stakeholders Early
   
   
3. Ensure Complete Applications
   • Develop clear intake checklists
   • If agencies charge a fee for pre application conferences, make sure the fee is not set so high that it discourages participation
   • For small projects consider screening for completeness at the counter. If the application is missing material don't take it in that day.
   • For large and complex projects schedule an intake meeting with all parties who will review the project
   
   
4. Analyze Process, Performance, and Costs
   • Optimize the process and adopt old processes to new technology where feasible
   • Map the process and see how the actual process is working versus how the process could work
   • Analyze the costs of service (permit costs). Many jurisdictions are challenging (or being challenged in) the way they are charging fees.
   
   
5. Use Information Technology
   • Online access to forms
   • Use GIS to its full potential
   • Enable a Parallel review through permit tracking system and "web room" to coordinate comments as they are being developed. Parallel review versus sequential review
   • Parallel review is being tested in a Pilot Project with Clark County where several agencies will concurrently accomplish review (WSFWS, Army Corps, etc.) As this integrated system is further developed it will be important for cities to have a software framework that is also an "integrated" system so it can tap into and track other systems
   • Tap into the MyBuildingPermit.com system through eCityGov Alliance
   
   
6. Implement Systems for Staffing Flexibility
   • The market creates a huge fluctuation in the number of permits taken and cities need to be able to respond.
   • Kirkland institutes staffing flexibility in two ways:
   1. expedited review process where the applicant pays the difference in fee between in house review and outside review.
   2. consultant review to manage work flow during peak periods
   • King County is developing protocol where technical and scientific consulting firms can become a "Certified Consultant" with King County. This means the firm is very familiar with what King County is looking for in the application process. King County must be careful not to recommend any particular firm but using Certified Consultants is thought to expedite the application process.

COMMENT ON THE AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT OF 2009

The Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) is seeking public comment on projects recommended for funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. A complete list of projects is available at www.psrc.org.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 was signed into law by President Obama on February 17, 2009. PSRC plays two roles in implementing the ARRA: 1) it must approve all projects for inclusion in the regional Transportation Improvement Program and 2) it is responsible for project selection for portions of Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration funds the state expects to receive via the ARRA.

PSRC has been working since November with cities, counties, ports and the state on developing a list of ready-to-go projects that would be candidates for economic recovery funds -- an estimated $78 million in FHWA funding and $136 million in FTA funding. All projects recommended for FHWA funding today have been deemed capable of securing approvals for federal funds within the next three months -- following rigorous peer-to-peer scrutiny.

On March 12, PSRC's Transportation Policy Board will review and recommend projects for funding. Following that meeting, the PSRC Executive Board will take action to approve the projects for funding and add them to the regional Transportation Improvement Program, and also expects to approve a list of state projects currently being selected by the legislature and the Governor.

Written comments will be accepted until close of business March 10 and will be distributed to PSRC board members prior to the meeting.

How to Make a Comment
E-mail:
krichter@psrc.org
Mail:
Puget Sound Regional Council
ATTN: Karen Richter
1011 Western Avenue, Suite 500
Seattle, Washington 98104-1035
Phone:
206-971-3289
In Person:
March 12, 2009 at PSRC Boardroom