Santa Barbara’s Community Development Department Hit Hard Over Lack of Leadership, Inefficiences

Hours-long meeting focuses on perceived problems that hobble business development, economy

 Santa Barbara's Community Development Department is broken and suffers from a lack of leadership and poor morale, according to two recent reports and members of the City Council.

A Santa Barbara County Civil Grand Jury report just released stated that "there is a lack of strong leadership at several levels, insufficient coordination and communication between the Building and Safety Division and the Planning Division, an impression of a slow growth policy, inconsistent customer service and a fee structure which could be a deterrent to building development."

The Grand Jury report coincides with a $86,000 consultant's report from Novak Consulting Group that suggested a multitude of inefficiencies, but also contained major holes, according to some council members.

"This Novak memo is incomplete and I want to say that with exclamation points," Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon said. "It is not strong enough to match the intensity of what we have heard for years. I don't think it is truly reflective of the community frustration in addressing these pent-up issues."

City Administrator Paul Casey and Community Development Director George Buell have been under fire in recent months over a variety of problems in the department.

The business community asserts that the planning process is inefficient and inconsistent, individual staff members make arbitrary decisions, and there's a city vs. the community attitude when it comes to permits, regulations and development.

The frustration and anger with the department was thick, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the problems were cast under a spotlight, as business frustrations intensified.

As a political matter, members of the council are also becoming increasingly frustrated with Casey's leadership, and have sense of urgency to make changes in the Community Development Department.

The City Council only hires and fires two people: the city administrator and the city attorney. Among the council members, there's a growing sense and inclination toward shaking up the department and City Hall, amid constant pressure from an array of business sectors and influences in the community.

Tuesday night's work-in-progress Novak report, which was summarized into a memo, did little to quell — and may have exacerbated — some of the dysfunction at City Hall.

The report, which was stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic, revealed that no one from the company interviewed anyone from the accessibility community, nor did it analyze the design review boards.

"It's like keystone cops with all these separate design review boards," Sneddon said. "We need that overarching vision."

Sneddon said she was interviewed by the consultants, and her comments were not properly represented in the report.

There are too many inconsistencies in the department, she said.

"It needs to be predictable and efficient, and it is neither of those things," Sneddon said.

Jarret Gorin, principal with Vanguard Planning, said the memo "soft-pedals" the work that came out of the discussion groups with the consultant.

He said the consultant's findings are also lacking in a big way.

"One thing I didn't see is a discussion at all of a workplace culture change," Gorin said. "Are we going to see any meaningful improvements? Not unless you demand it. Not unless you hold your staff accountable. And I have never seen that happen before. I really hope this time it will be different."

Councilwoman Alejandra Gutierrez pulled no punches in her frustration with the situation.

She said the consultants did their job and the holes in the report are the fault of Casey and Buell.

"They were hired by that same leadership that community members are complaining about," Gutierrez said. "The same leadership that the grand jury is complaining about (is the same leadership) we are expecting to create solutions to this problem?"

Gutierrez said ultimately the City Council needs to take responsibility for the situation.

"If it is a matter of firing people or asking people to have pay cuts, then that's what we are going to have to do," Gutierrez said.

Among the Novak report findings are to define a consistent land development process vision, targeted outcomes, and customer service expectations; reduce the use of application resubmittals; clearly define the starting point of a plan submittal process and the documentation required; assign individual building plan checkers throughout the length of the project; and create clear, objective design guidelines for each design review board.

Steve Amerikaner, a land-use attorney, said Santa Barbara's future rests on a healthy economy, which includes profitable businesses, a strong employment base and enough local housing with a wide variety of housing types so that people who work in the city don't have to commute 30 to 50 miles.

"All of these elements require supportive local government that makes it fast and easy to get the needed permits," Amerikaner said. "Our current permitting system cannot be described as fast and easy."

Amerikaner said the permit process should be "predictable and quick."

"We need people willing to invest in our community's future," he said. "We need to attract people willing to buy property, or sign a five-year-lease in order to open a restaurant or a clothing store or build new rental housing."

Amerikaner said if they can't predict the process, they won't invest in Santa Barbara.

"Our current permitting system is not predictable," Amerikaner said. "It's time for a bold, new approach."

The meeting, which began at 2 p.m., stretched to 10:30 p.m.

The council agreed to "receive" the report, send the business advisory task force recommendations to community development for review, and then return to the council to form an "accountability subcommittee."

Noozhawk
By Joshua Molina, Noozhawk Staff Writer | @JECMolina
June 2, 2020