Title
Planning and Development Department Office and Equipment Relocation and Reconfiguration (Ordinance S-43904)
Description
Request to authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to add additional expenditures to Contract 4705000080 with Goodmans, Inc., dba Goodmans Interior Structures, in an amount of $927,000 for reconfiguration of Planning and Development office space to enhance customer service, accommodate growth due to increased development activity, and enable more efficient communication between counter and technical staff. Further request authorization for the City Controller to disburse all funds related to this item.
Report
Summary
The contractor will provide services to assist the Planning and Development Department (PDD) with a major reconfiguration project to restack the 2nd and 3rd floors of Phoenix City Hall and the 438 Adams Building. Previously, when the Planning and Development Services Departments were consolidated, staff were placed where space allowed and the department was unable to optimize counter locations and locate working teams in close proximity to the customers they served or to supporting team members. The reconfiguration project is necessary to improve customer service, accommodate staff growth, ensure compliance with ADA accessibility requirements and address identified safety and security measures. The reconfiguration will include strategically relocating the counters in the development center and associated back office space to best fit the customer needs. It will also foster improved and more efficient communication and collaboration between employees working at the counters and technical staff called to the counters. In addition to the primary consideration of customer service, the reconfiguration will ensure flexibility to address operational changes and to accommodate incorporation of new technology (i.e. larger screens to view plans electronically).
The rate of construction growth in Phoenix has increased substantially in the last few years. Customer visits to the development center have increased to over 110,000 per year, which has resulted in longer wait times at some of the counters. Initial site plans, an indicator of future development, have steadily increased over the last five years with preapplication submittals up significantly in the last two years. Single-family residential construction continues to increase and in response, PDD has focused on innovation, efficiency and utilizing contract staff to meet increased customer service and workload demands. PDD will continue over the next few years to propose increases to base level of staffing and contractors as warranted to meet higher workloads and increased customer service demands. The fiscal year (FY) 2017-18 budget added 34 new positions focused on areas where workload has increased most significantly in the last year. This is on top of the 28 positions that were added the prior year to ensure PDD could continue to meet expected customer turnaround times and address rising infill development issues.
An alternative approach to the reconfiguration of current space to accommodate growth would be to lease separate space in the downtown area outside of City Hall. For planning purposes, $28/per square foot is used to calculate rent for downtown office spaces based upon the current market. Public Works Facilities Planning staff indicates that approximately 20,000 square feet would be needed, which would cost approximately $560,000/year in rent. This would be in addition to the costs to configure the new office space. In total, the leasing alternative would be expected to cost significantly more than the proposed reconfiguration while also diminishing customer service. Under the alternative (leased-space) approach, a portion of the staff currently in City Hall would need to be located elsewhere, and some services would need to be moved off site. Customers would no longer experience the benefits of a "one-stop-shop" development center, where they can receive assistance with all aspects of the development process.
Staff recommends increasing the contract authorization amount so that development counter services can be optimized, staff can be located closer to their customers, and space for new positions can be accommodated to continue as a one-stop-shop for development within the City of Phoenix.
Financial Impact
Funding is available in the Development Services Fund. No General Funds are requested to support this request.
Concurrence/Previous Council Action
The State of Arizona contract ADSPO 13-040689 with Goodmans and contracts ADSPO 13-040686, ADSPO 13-040687, ADSPO 13-040690, ADSPO 13-040688, ADSPO 13-040691, ADSPO 13-040683, and ADSPO 13-040692 were adopted by Formal Council Action on the Oct. 30, 2013, Council agenda with an estimated annual amount of $900,000 and an aggregate amount of $4.5 million. The contracts are available to all City departments.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Mario Paniagua and the Planning and Development Department.