Title
2023 Gated Alley Program Update
Description
This report provides the Economic Development and Housing Subcommittee an update on the Gated Alley Program, including process improvements and challenges since implementation in September 2022.
THIS ITEM IS FOR INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION.
Report
Summary
The Gated Alley Program (GAP) started as a pilot program in 2017 to help deter crime and blight, particularly in the Royal Palm Neighborhood and a portion of Sunnyslope. The success of the initial pilot prompted City Council to approve GAP’s expansion citywide in 2020, approving $498,100 in Neighborhood Block Watch Grant Program funds to be used by neighborhoods to gate their alleys. The expanded pilot program allowed for staff to establish gate standards and work with neighborhoods and contractors to install gates in alley segments identified by City Council. Through the expanded pilot program, a total of 78 alley segments were funded and gated, including nine segments in residential areas near the Human Services Campus (HSC) (see Attachment A).
A satisfaction survey sent to neighborhoods one year post-installation provided positive feedback, noting they felt their properties and their safety are better protected with the gates. Of the residents surveyed, no fires or graffiti were reported in the year since the alleys were gated; all but one reported no illegal dumping; all but one reported no encampments; and all but two reported no criminal activity. Even those who did report these activities noted a decrease in the activity since the gates were installed. An alley captain from District 3 commented they “feel so much safer, more comfortable leaving home or being home alone.” An alley captain in District 4 explained that prior to having a gated alley, their neighborhood constantly had to deal with illegal dumping issues.
In the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022-23 budget, with increasing number of requests from residents, City Council approved a new project manager position and $500,000 in general funds to make GAP an ongoing program. With this level of funding, staff estimated approximately 45 alley segments could be gated per year. In September 2022, City Council approved the implementation of the GAP framework, an online request form was established, and the project manager was tasked with processing and monitoring the progress of each request, from application phase to installation.
Update
During the first year of the GAP implementation, demand far exceeded available funding. Fortunately, additional funding was provided from Council Office participatory budget, as well as available one-time Neighborhood Services Department (NSD) funds, to gate a total of 124 alley segments (see Attachment A).
For FY 2023-24, recognizing the consistent neighborhood demand, GAP received an increase of $352,000 from the general funds bringing the total budget to $852,000. With the additional allocation, a total of up to 77 alley segments may be funded for the current fiscal year. To date, staff has received more than 80 requests. In October, the Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee recommended City Council approval to use $750,000 of available Block Watch funds to gate up to 68 additional alley segments. This item is expected to move forward to City Council in November.
Process Improvements and Challenges
While GAP has been widely successful, staff continues to modify the program to adapt to the needs of the community based on program experience. The following areas represent program process improvements and ongoing challenges.
Opt-Out Process
In many areas, properties adjacent to an alley are primarily occupied by tenants. Often, the rental property owners reside out of state. While they may be supportive of gating their alley, making contact and obtaining signatures of support is difficult. This posed an issue for specific alleys identified around the HSC. To complete these segments, staff developed an opt-out process in which owners were mailed certified letters as a last resort to inform them of the City’s intent to gate their alleys to decrease criminal activity. In the certified letter, the property owners and/or representatives were given a deadline to express concern or “opt-out” of the GAP process. A non-response by the given deadline was considered evidence that there was no opposition.
This option proved to be successful in completing an important step in the process of gaining neighborhood input before gating the alleys near the HSC. However, the process is staff-intensive as it requires investigative measures to ensure all potential owners and potential addresses are identified; individual letters created for each owner; certified mailing of each letter; and tracking of each letter to determine whether the alley is eligible. These steps are in addition to the evaluation of eligibility of each segment by NSD, Public Works, Planning and Development staff; permitting and inspections; obtaining quotes; ordering and coordinating the location and timing of the gate installations by the vendors; and coordinating final alley cleaning and lock installations. Unfortunately, staffing constraints limit the availability of this option in most scenarios and will be reserved for situations where public safety is a primary driver of gating the alley and when traditional methods of owner contact fail.
Data Tracking and Progress Monitoring
The GAP requires tracking significant data and processes, including progress monitoring and customer communication. Staff developed advanced spreadsheets to track information; however, data entry for each request continues to be a manual and time-intensive process, and reporting is very limited. With increases in funding and more requests to gate alleys, as well as more completed alley segments to track and maintain, staff is proactively exploring other mechanisms or technologies that could automate data management tasks. The desired future system will have the capability to integrate other data sets from program partners to better understand the program benefits and opportunities for improvement.
Maintenance
Staff is developing a preventative maintenance plan to implement next fiscal year, when the majority of gates will reach their one-year mark. Included in the plan is the management of a maintenance schedule of the city’s new assets, as well as the management of ongoing, real-time issues with installed gates, often related to the removal of or intentional damage to locks.
Vandalism of locks has become an ongoing issue with some of the gates installed during the pilot phase, and responding to these real-time challenges has proven to be a significant undertaking. Staff has implemented process improvements to address the frequent real-time maintenance they face, including making design changes to the locking mechanism that allows better control for the residents and/or property owners; procuring better-quality locks made of boron carbide, a much tougher material; and posting new signs on the gates with contact information for residents or utility companies to report any issues. Staff continues to research and implement process improvements to decrease or prevent repeat incidents.
Staffing Challenges
GAP’s approval process is lengthy and staff-intensive, involving several required steps and approvals by City departments, coordinated and managed by NSD staff.
When a request is received, GAP staff:
- Coordinates an informational meeting with the neighborhood to explain the process and provides guidance to the neighborhood liaison on how to acquire consent signatures from other residents/property owners.
- Reviews requests for completion and provides feedback if requests are incomplete.
- Conducts an initial visual audit of the alley to determine feasibility.
- Manually enters location description of alley segment and other pertinent information in the database.
- Informs Public Works to begin their review process that determines if solid waste service can be moved from alley to curbside and manually enters the result of the review in the database.
- Coordinates and facilitates frequent meetings with partner City departments for discussion of completed requests.
- Requests Planning and Development (PDD) staff to begin the permitting process, which starts with PDD staff assigning a unique address to every alley segment to issue a permit.
- Informs Public Works that the alley is in the permitting process with PDD, so they may begin their notification about the neighborhood’s solid waste service change from alley to curbside.
- Works with contracted vendors to receive their price quote on gate installation and then works with the accounting team to create and process the Purchase Orders once the quote from the vendors is received.
- Performs another site visit to the alley with contractors for guidance and directions before construction starts. Throughout the construction phase, staff receives reports from the contractors and discusses the progress which is entered into the database.
- Schedules a final cleanup of the alley with Public Works and schedules a final inspection with the Fire Department.
- Sends notification and instructions on locks to every property owner and/or resident.
- Locks the gate.
Without an adequate data management system, all data entry and reporting is entirely manual, from the request form to department reviews, contractor quotes to digging posts, all steps are recorded in spreadsheets. Significant time is spent with residents to inform them of the process, address questions and concerns, and support throughout the process from completing forms and petitions to training residents on how to properly enter the code for the locks.
The process can take about seven to ten months or more, depending on how quickly the neighborhood liaison obtains signatures of the property owners adjacent to the alley; how quickly partner departments complete their necessary reviews and approvals to move the request forward; and the availability and efficiency of the contractors.
Initial funding included a single project manager position to accomplish all duties related to the program oversight and management. Since implementation of the program, successful operation has required substantial additional support, including a considerable portion of the project manager’s supervisor’s time, as well as the services of the temporary project management assistant, created for the Private Property Cleanup Program Pilot. NSD will continue to evaluate the staffing requirements of the program to ensure customer service needs are met as the program continues to grow.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Gina Montes and the Neighborhood Services Department.