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LTC 028-2007 Building Development Process Taskforce lD MIAMI BEACH RECEIVED 2007 JAH 3' PH 5: 06 CITY CLERK'S OFF ICE OFFICE OF THE CllY MANAGER NO. 028-2007 LETTER TO COMMISSION FROM: Mayor David Dermer and Members ofthe City Commission Jorge M. Gonzalez, City Manager J O' January 30, 2006 () TO: DATE: SUBJECT: Building Development Process Taskforce The purpose of this Letter to Commission (LTC) is to inform you of the upcoming Building Development Process Taskforce. The mission of this Taskforce is to improve the City's service delivery in the area of construction and development services through a partnership and dialogue between City departments involved throughout the process and industry representatives. The Building Development Process Taskforce will be conducted through a two-pronged approach. As part of this process, representatives from the Building Department, Public Works, Fire and Planning/Zoning will form part of an interdepartmental group that will be charged with conducting a process review and provide short-term, medium-term and long- term recommendations. I anticipate that this taskforce will reconvene periodically as recommendations and solutions are provided by the interdepartmental group to provide their insight on specific areas and their relative importance. Industry representatives will be advised of the Taskforce meeting dates in order to receive their feedback on the current process and their input on possible solutions/strategies to improve the process as identified by City staff. Attached for your reference are the industry representatives which have been identified for noticing. If you have any other members of the community who you would like invited, please provide me with those names. Additionally, the mission and charter for this Taskforce are attached for your information. The first meeting of the Building Process Taskforce has been scheduled for Thursdav. February 22M from 6-8 Dm in Commission Chambers. This meeting will be publicly noticed. Please let me know if I can provide you with any additional information regarding this issue. C: Tim Hemstreet, Assistant City Manager Floyd Jordan, Fire Chief Tom Velazquez, Building Director Jorge Gomez, Planning Director Fred Beckmann, Public Works Director Sonia Machen, Fire Marshall Attachments JMGITH/DM F:lcmgr\$ALLIL TC-06\Building Development Taskforce.doc lD MIAMI BEACH OFFICE OF THE CllY MANAGER BUILDING DEVELOPMENT PROCESS FOCUS GROUP I.PURPOSE Over the last 15 years or so the City of Miami Beach has experienced a sustained period of development and redevelopment. This period of development resulted, and continues to result, in continued high activity for the City's construction services areas, namely the Building, Fire Prevention, Public Works, and PlanninglZoning functions. The City, through it many feedback mechanisms, has consistently received input that development and construction services are areas that need attention. The City has continually addresses these concerns, mostly incrementally, but also through larger efforts, such as the Business Resolution Taskforce early in this decade. However, having had the time to implement and review the outcome of the Business Resolution Taskforce, it is appropriate to again take a close look at how we deliver services in this area. II. MISSION The mission of the Building Development Process Focus Group is to improve the City's service delivery in the area of construction and development services through a partnership and dialogue between City departments involved throughout the process and industry representatives. III. PROCESS AND OBJECTIVES The Building Development Process Focus Group will be conducted through a two-pronged approach: (1) Focus Group Meetings: Industry representatives will be advised of the focus group meeting dates in order to receive their feedback on the current process and their input on possible solutions/strategies to improve the process as identified by City staff. It is also anticipated that staff will interact with the focus group to discuss staff perspectives of the same issues with the intent of identifying "win-win" solutions. Additionally, staff has a very intimate understanding of each process and typically is able to articulate potential solutions. (2) Interdepartmental Team: As part of this process, representatives from the Building Department, Public Works Engineering, Fire Prevention, and Planning/Zoning will form part of an interdepartmental group that will be charged with conducting a process review and provide recommendations for the short-term (i.e., recommendations that can be implemented immediately or "easy fixes"), medium- term and long-range (i.e., recommendations geared toward the future vision ofthe process, which can be implemented over the next 5 to 7 years). Discussions by this team will be facilitated by Assistant City Manager Tim Hemstreet, with support provided by Special Projects Administrator Dolores Mejia. Focus group meetings will be conducted as an open forum with department representatives present to share ideas, answer questions and receive input from industry representatives. The first meeting of the Building Process Focus Group has been scheduled for Thursdav. Februarv 22"d from 6-8 Dm in Commission Chambers. This meeting will be publicly noticed. IV. EXPECTED OUTCOMES/RECOMMENDATIONS The City Commission will be kept abreast of all implemented changes as well as any recommendations that come as a result of this focus group via LTC on a regular basis until the work of this group is concluded. Expected outcomes are significant improvements to the process. It is anticipated that these improvements will come in a number of formats ranging from Administrative solutions that can be implemented at the Building Inspector level to coordinated programs that will require budget appropriations and City Commission approval. 2 PROPOSED Building Department Ad Hoc Task Force Architects Les Beilinson Charles Benson Ira Giller Kobi Karp Barry Klein Gordon Loader Arthur Marcus Jennifer McConney Luis Revuelta Dan Robertson Allan Shulman Charles Sieger Ari Sklar Jose Suarez Todd Tragash Attornevs Jeff Bercow Lucia Dougherty Alfredo Gonzalez Neisen Kasdin Michael Larkin Carter McDowell James Rauh Harold Rosen Alex Tachmes Contractors/Permit Runners Robert Arkin Damien Gallo Mahli Lee Ken Nichols David Robinson Ron Singerman Walid Wahab DeveloDers Ron Bloomberg Tom Daly Russel Galbut Scott Greenwald Gregg Koven Ron Molko Eric Sheppard Jesus Velez PROPOSED Building Department Ad Hoc Task Force - Page 2 PrODerty Owners Judith Berson Marlo Courtney Steve Levinson Melanie Muss Howard Talesnick Neli Santamarina Robert Wen nett Real Estate Michael Comras Kent Karlock Lyle Stern Others Stanley Arkin Michael Larkin Joy Malakoff Bob Raessler Dan Veitia