An Idea Whose Time Has Come

On the other hand, we all make more money per project due to the crazy-quilt application of the code, the high turnover at the planning department, delays, lost submittals,

This is why architects complain and commiserate amongst ourselves and with our clients about the planning process, but few of us are willing to do what it would take actually fix our terribly broken system.

I have always been the exception to that rule.  For 25 years I have been trying to work with planning directors, city managers, and city council members to fix the system. I attribute my lack of success in this endeavor to the fact that elected officials, appointed officials, bureaucrats, and hired guns will never act on a recommendation, no matter how good it may be. One needs power to effect regulatory change.

When Bonnie Blue left her position as planning director 4 years ago, I realized that the only way to fix the department would be to become the planning director.  It was problematic, as I was not intending to stop being a Malibu architect, but I made a strong case for the appointment anyway.  I applied and did it all by the book.

I never even received an invitation to an interview, as Reva Feldman had pre-determined that Richard Mollica was going to be the planning director, and orchestrated a series of excuses that led to the elimination of a bonafide candidate search, and the installation of Richard as the interim, then permanent planning director.  It was government acting in its own best interest.

We all know how that turned out.

Richard’s exit, and the exit of Adrian Fernandez, has opened up the discussion, once again, of fixing the planning process and department.

This time, I have no aspirations for the position of planning director.  However, I have been lobbying the city manager, the city council, and council candidates to create the consultant position of Planning Overhaul Consultant, send out an RFP for the position, begin a candidate search, and award the position to the most qualified candidate.  I intend to apply for the position, and I can’t imagine that there will be a more qualified person for the job.

As a mere consultant not involved in any decision making role, this should allay any fears that I would somehow benefit as an architect from my work as a consultant.  In fact, as previously stated, a better planning process and planning department will reduce the hours that I and my colleagues will need to expend in processing our projects. Our clients will pay less for this portion of the project, and we will make less because of it.

For those of you familiar with the Baker Tilly report released about a year ago, the Planning Overhaul consultant would be a response to the Baker Tilly recommended “follow up” on about 10 of the 46 recommendations made in the report, plus a few additional recommendations that those of us “in the trenches” would like to see implemented.  In this regard, there is already a blueprint for what I am proposing.

The actual deliverables in the contract would be limited to analysis and recommendations.  Although this is unfortunate, as there are those of us that know what needs to be done without further discussion, bureaucracies do not work that way.  However, I am confident that once the recommendations are in, several can be quickly implemented.

Currently, the three pathways to the generation of the RFP and the commencement of the search process are by convincing either the city manager, the planning director, or 3 of the 5 city council members to embrace the concept and put the wheels in motion to make it happen.

The interim city manager has told me that he and his staff are too busy to even meet with me.  The interim planning director is temporary and part time, so I feel that she is not in any position to champion this idea.

That leaves me no choice but to make this an election issue and engage with the council members not up for re-election, those incumbents who are running for office, and the candidates for the positions.  I will talk to any of you about my strategy.  I will work with any of you to bring this to a council vote.  

If 3 of the existing council vote for this position, it no longer becomes an election issue.  That would be my preference.  I also think it is a much stronger campaign position to say that, “I acted to fix the planning process” as opposed to, “I am interested in fixing the planning process after the election.”

In the next 60 days I am making myself available to any of you that need to be convinced that my idea is a good one, and one that will work.  I would be happy to educate any of you on the issues involved in overhauling the process.

I will make my plan available to all of you, and to the general public, so that it may be transparently discussed and debated.  If someone has a concern, I am happy to respond.  If someone has an improvement, let’s talk about that, as well.

Allow me to leave you with a simple take-away.

In Malibu, it takes about 5 years from the time an applicant hires the architect until they can move in.  

Half of that time the project is in the hands of the private sector, being conceived, detailed, and analyzed by the architect, engineers, consultants and then being constructed by the contractors involved in the process.

The other half of that time the project is sitting somewhere in the bowels of the city and its various agencies, who are simply reviewing and commenting on its conformity.

The number of hours that is expended during the 2 1/2 years in the private sector is upwards of 20,000.

The number of hours that is expended for the same duration in the public sector is less than 100.

I implore you to think long and hard about this reality, the negative impacts it has on your fellow citizens, and whether or not you want to be part of the solution.

Thank you.

LT

Lester Tobias is a prolific local architect who has lived and worked in Malibu since 1994. He has been involved in many, if not all of the major planning issues in Malibu since we became a city. He has designed, permitted and built over 100 projects in the city and is perhaps the strongest advocate for code responsive, good design approved in a responsibly expedited manner.