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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFY 2022 Budget Presentation (Planning Department)THE DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING FY 2022 BUDGET AND OPERATIONS SYNOPSIS Ka`aina Hull Director Department: PLANNING Fund: GENERAL FUND 1. FY 2021 to FY 2022 BUDGET COMPARSION FY 2021 FY 2022 $ + / - % + / - Salary and Wages 1,863,044 1,780,529 -82,515 -4.4% Benefits 1,125,470 1,065,868 -59,602 -5.3% Utilities 0 0 0 0.0% Vehicle/Equip, Lease 1 1 0 0.0% Operations 299,400 287,218 -12,182 -4.1% 3,287,915 3,133,616 -154,299 -4.7% FY 2021 Operating Budget 0% ■ Salary and Wages 0 %� 9% ■ Benefits ■ Utilities ■ Vehicle/Equip, Lease Operations FY 2022 Operating Budget a% ■ 5alary and Wages ■ Benefits i Utilities ■ vehicle/Equip, Lease ■ Operations FY 2021 and FY 2022 Comparison 2,000,000 1,800,000 1,600,000 1,400,000 1,200,000 1,DD0,000 ■FY 2021 800,000 ■ FY 2022 600,000 400,000 200,000 0 Salary and Wages Benefits Utilities Vehicle/Equip, Operations Lease 1 2. MAJOR CHANGES AND/OR VARIANCES IN OPERATIONS BUDGET The Department's FY 2022 budget request reflects a decrease of $154,299 or 4.7% from the FY 2021 Budget. The FY 2021 Operating budget was at $3,287,915 and the proposed FY 2022 Budget is $3,133,616. The source of the change in our proposed budget comes from reductions in salaries, fringe cost, and reduction to other operational cost. Highlights of the FY 2022 operational budget are as follows: a. Reduction in Salaries ($82,515) by dollar funding ($1) vacant Planner Position No. 2009 and 6-month funding for the Planning Inspector Position No. 2029; b. Reduction of $59,602 in Fringe Cost; C. Reduction of $12,100 in other services d. Reduction of $82 in the Planning Commission Budget. e. There are no new positions proposed for the FY 2022 Budget. 3. OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES a. Maintaining level of Service to the public during the COVID Pandemic while practicing social distancing: Over the past year the County has been able to use technology in order to adapt our operations and service delivery to the public during the COVID 19 pandemic. Advances in technology, such VPN Remote Access, has allowed the Department to continue and/or maintain a level of service for issuance of permits and dissemination of information to the public, while maintaining social distancing and safety for the public and Department staff. As the Department staff and community continues to receive vaccinations for the COVID virus, we anticipate operational challenges in planning for a return to services by returning Department staff to the county offices and maintaining some form of social distancing and safety measures to reduce the threat of spread of the virus. With the limited office space available, we perceive this to be a challenge and continue to develop plans and options to address this problem. To note, we have also found that via the teleworking system, our permit technicians average twice as many building permit and zoning application reviews and actions than under the previous in -office (pre-COVID) system. Once we are all able to fully return to our office, and recognizing there will always be a need for in -office personnel from a customer service basis, the department does intend to utilize teleworking as a unique tool where appropriate (such as with the permit technicians) and within the approvals of our Administration, Human Resource Department, and our Collective Bargaining Agreements. b. E-Plan and Land Information Management System: The ePlan review program has greatly assisted in moving projects through the County Building permit system especially during this COVID pandemic. The County recognizes a need for an accompanying integrated land management system and has hired a consultant firm to assist the county with this initiative. Over the past year the Department 2 has worked with the Land Information Management System (LIMS) Consultant on creating an integrated solution for the County toward the goal of paperless process to work with the LIMS system and the EPlan system. The Department is nearing completion of the electronic Zoning Permit Application process and anticipates rolling out the project in a few months. The Department will also work the LIMS Consultant and IT Division to migrate its exiting data over to the LIMS System. 4. TOP 3 OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS FROM FY 2021 a. West Kauai Community Plan: The Planning Department has experienced a great deal of momentum with the completion of two community plans and the update of the General Plan and recognize that four of Kaua'i's Development Plans are over 35 years old. The next priority was to update the West Kaua'i Community Plan. In an effort to build upon efficiencies gained through recent planning efforts, the project updated the development plans for the Waimea-Kekaha Planning District and Hanapepe-Eleele-Port Allen Planning District. The purpose of the project was to update Kaua'i County Code Section 10-3, "Hanapepe- Eleele Development Plan," and 10-4, "Waimea-Kekaha Regional Development Plan," to implement the General Plan and ensure development is compatible with the environmental, social, economic, and cultural needs of the West Kaua'i region. The Project Team included Planning Department administration (Director and Deputy Director), the Long Range Planning Program, and various sub -consultants. The Planning Department started the project in early Summer of 2018 and went through numerous public meetings, surveys, and open house events in FY 2019 and FY2020. The plan and its recommendations were submitted and reviewed by the Planning Commission and was adopted by the County Council and Mayor on December 3, 2020. When a land use plan is adopted, generally the next several years are spent proposing zoning amendments in line with the plan's policies. As part of the West Kauai Plan, it was appropriate to line up specific amendments in tandem with the Plan to be reviewed and acted upon simultaneously. The following is a list that includes but is not limited to all of the zoning amendments that were proposed and adopted as part of the West Kauai Plan: West Form Based Code — Each of West Kauai's town cores have a newly adopted form based code that recognizes the need to allow additional mixed uses in these cores; however, these uses must be done within the form and character of each of these towns historical building types. Special Treatment - Coastal Edge — This is the first zoning overlay in the State of Hawaii that utilizes specific climate change sea level rise data to establish a regulatory framework under which proposed buildings in this extremely hazardous zone will be reviewed. While specific properties on West Kauai are now within this zoning overlay, the coastal edge mechanism can be utilized on all the other parts of the island in identifying properties that are particularly vulnerable to climate change and sea level rise, and ensuring that future developments on these properties are done in a manner that can prevent or properly mitigate their respective coastal hazards. 3 Plantation Camp Zoning — This is the first zoning district in the State of Hawaii that specifically recognizes existing historical plantation camps that currently function as thriving and active communities, and that we need to preserve the right for these communities existing building stock to be fully repaired and replaced within the historical parameters under which they were originally constructed. Burnsfield Airstrip, Special Treatment — Public — For a number of years, the operations at this Hanapepe airstrip have had detrimental impacts on the salt makers in the adjacent salt beds; and little has been done from the DOT Airports or the operators to mitigate these impacts or genuinely dialogue with the salt makers over mitigation measures. This Special Treatment Public overlay not only recognizes the Hanapepe Burnsfield Airstrip as a public asset, but it specifically requires that any new physical improvements proposed at the site would necessitate a public hearing and allow for the neighboring salt makers to be a party to any of those proceedings. b. Re -deployment of staff in response to COVID-19 Emergency In emergency response measure to the COVID-19 global pandemic, two Planning Department staff members were immediately activated to serve full time in the Kauai Emergency Management Agency's (KEMA) Logistics efforts, particularly in the setting up and distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other resources and services. These two employees continue to provide vital logistical services for KEMA. Quarantine restrictions and airport screening measures have also proven to be a key tactical approach in preventing large COVID-19 case loads here on Kauai. In April, 2020, Planning Department staff were deployed to the airport screening sites to assist the Kauai Police Department (KPD) and the National Guard in the passenger screening process. Our staff was specifically deployed to ensure that proposed passenger quarantine sites were appropriate and had the necessary facilities and/or were not functioning TVRs. While the first several months included seven-day work weeks with 10 to 14 hour shifts, the review process has begun to significantly shift, and we anticipate all of our staff currently assigned to the airport screening team to be fully back in the Planning Department by early to mid -April. C. Third Party Host Platforms Memorandums of Understanding For the past six years, the Planning Department has spent a considerable amount of energy lobbying at the State Legislature for additional authorities to regulate and restrict transient vacation rentals (TVRs). In the past two years, the primary focus of these efforts has been to ask the State for specific County authority to regulate third party host platforms, such as Airbnb and VRBO. In tandem with these lobbying efforts, the Planning Director was also engaged in direct negotiations with these platforms to get voluntary third -party host platform compliance with the County of Kauai's TVR regulations. This past summer, the County of Kauai was the first municipality in the nation to enter into a voluntary compliance program with TVR third -party host platforms when we signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with Airbnb and Expedia (the parent company for VRBO and Homeaway). These two companies constitute 70 percent of Kauai's vacation rental market share. 4 Through these MOUs, all TVRs advertising on these global platforms are required to list their properties' respective Tax Map Keys (TMKs). And on a monthly basis, these platforms are required to share a list of all of their operators and their respective TMKs with the Planning Department. The department in turn communicates with the platforms which of the TMKs are invalid or illegal operators and need to be removed from their websites. Although the MOUs are still in their infancy implementation stages, so far several hundred TVR operators have been removed from these websites for providing invalid TMKs. In addition to the MOUs, we have also secured exclusive access within the state to Airbnb's City Portal program. This program provides our enforcement team with direct access to Airbnb's operators' advertisements and history, with the unique ability to immediately track individual operators and, if necessary, flag for Airbnb to remove 5