Every place, of course, has its own way of doing things – lots of variations, lots of different emphases. A local system depends on the interests and skills of the department and division chiefs, on what issues are seen as problems by the local Board or Council, on local ‘tradition’ (i.e., ‘that is the way we’ve always done it). I’ll describe what things are like here.
In general, applications come to the Counter, which is staffed by a workgroup separate from the planners. The applications are to be vetted against a checklist for completeness, whatever is missing is to be asked for, and the application is advertised for objections. (There are no public hearings on these applications – interested parties can come look at the plans and offer written comments that would be carried to the Board during their consideration of the application. Neither the agents/applicants nor the public is able to attend the Board's weekly meetings.)
Then the applications, relatively untouched, go into an ‘application yard’ – file drawers in a central spot – where they wait until they are assigned to a planner.
Once assigned, the planner ‘books’ the file out to themselves on BEMIS, the local data/workflow management system, which pulls up some base information, keeps track of where the casefiles are located, and coordinates with something like Crystal Reports to make the production of Committee and Board agendas, a few types of basic letters, and Board reports more routinized. Then we start our reviews…
The planner does a site visit, takes photos, assesses the plan against the Draft Bermuda Plan 2008 and reviews it for completeness and accuracy. Once the back and forth with the applicant is done, the case will go either to the Development Applications Committee (a 2-person – sometimes only 1 person – subcommittee) or the full Development Applications Board (12 members, appointed). They will either approve or ‘refuse’ the application.
Often, tho, applicants will take a refusal so they can fast-track to an appeal before the Minister. In that scenario, an outside ‘investigator’ reviews the file and offers a recommendation, which the Minister may or may not accept. From what I understand, the chances are that the Minister will decide for the applicant – one of the many faults of a down-to-one-person’s-decision system.
Approvals are for two years, and can be extended once or twice. Whatever is approved at planning is what is to be permitted for construction, which makes the building and inspections side crazy – the system is not set up to involve them in the application review, and it seems that often things get approved that don’t meet building code standards but have to be permitted.
That is the basic idea. The realities to stuff into that outline are these:
• The vetting process to date has been far from robust. Part of that is the traditional “lets all get along, don’t make trouble” cultural thing. Of course, it just gets passed along to the case planner to nail, which makes for a delay, a heap of frustration and what by then is a rather unexpected expense, since the applicant thinks all is well, having gotten past the vetting stage. Our bosses have no problem with requiring what is needed to adequately review the proposal; as a planner, you get seriously challenged in the case review meetings if you have let things drift.
• Similarly, the advertisements are often far less than adequately informative about the proposal. I required a readvertisement today for a project that went out as “internal renovations, stair and amendments to porch for a second unit”. In fact –and the plan has not changed from submittal, this is all perfectly evident – there was a two-story addition to the building, a second floor was being added, an external staircase was being added, some smallish storage/pumphouse space too - and portions of all that were proposed to encroach into the setback by more than 50%. At least the addition of a second unit part was right.
• The time in the “application yard” is now down to 3 to 4 months; it had been twice that until recently.
• There is no land registry system, which makes it even more important that surveys be a part of the submittal. (They rarely are.)
• There are public roads and private estate roads, and hanging a dozen lots on a 4’ wide private estate road r/w is not at all uncommon.
• At least there is not much in the way of easements to keep track of…primarily, water supply is the result of watercatch on the roof (ergo the stunningly beautiful, tiered and channeled white limestone pyramidical roofs on most buildings – rainwater is caught and channeled into a tank below every single structure on the island.) And, when you depend on rainfall for your watersupply, you are pretty water conscious. If your water tank is inadequately sized or it is a dry year, you can buy trucked-in water to fill the tank. Mostly this is reverse osmosis water, with a different taste and smell and mineral content – and the process results in a highly saline waste stream. There are also a few places on the island where wells can be tapped into the water ‘lens’; the water is not considered potable and is used exclusively for flushing toilets, irrigation, and similar.
• Neither is there much in the way of sewer treatment; most residences and some non-residential development depend on cesspits. (I’m learning all sorts of things about the one sewer plant's capacity issues given that the cruise ships often want to ‘discharge’ when in port, the stuff comes into the system at a rate well above what the lines and pumps can handle – esp with the super big ships that start arriving April 29 -, the plant hasn’t been upgraded in a long while and is scheduled for capacity and equipment upgrades but not yet. Some interim measures to ’step down’ the pressure of the off-loading are to be in place – maybe.) But mostly boreholes and cesspits.
• All comments are written, there is no mark-up, we aren’t to mark on plans, and the phrasing and expectations of how things will be stated in a letter are both very formal. It seems a strange mismatch, given the relative laxity of the requirements and process.
Talking with the Director today, capacity building and outreach in the development community has not happened at all, although it is something he feels should be a priority - staffing is not yet up to the funded level.
• The Board, or Committee, as it might be, get an agenda and the reports a day ahead of the meeting, there are no site visits, no one but staff and Board attends the meeting. The plans are out at the meeting, sort of handed around or tacked to the board.
• The fees are nominal, probably haven’t been changed in years.
• 5 copies of the plans are provided as part of the application, which rarely are distributed to anyone else but are stamped after approval/refusal. Since they almost always need corrections and additions before they can be stamped for approval, this is an area I have some questions about.
Agents tend towards the highly defensive and nasty-tongued., tho there are notable exceptions, and those professional and pleasant people are a relief from the drama queens.
• Applications are recommended for approval or refusal. Refusals can be for a lack of information, refusal to comply with regulation or policy, a distaste for the proposal generally, etc. Most often the Board follows the staff recommendation. A lot of times – a LOT of times – applicants take the refusal and trot it immediately to the Minister for his consideration – a one-person appeal body, and you can imagine how easily that can be impacted.
- You do note that this is the Draft Plan. In the US are used to waiting to apply a code until it has been adopted. Not so, here.
To be fair, everyone is trying to do a good, and fair job, without being especially onerous about it. The system is in flux, and the changes are not comfortable for anyone.
An Atlanta-based company was brought in to evaluate process and organization, and their report is expected shortly. Everyone who comes into the organization (including the new Director and my boss) sees places where the system needs work, and things that need to change and can change. Inertia can be a big problem to overcome, though – that is not just a localized condition.
Lots to learn!
No comments:
Post a Comment