Out-of-town planners descend on Santa Rosa for rebuild push

Faced with a backlog of applications to rebuild homes destroyed by October’s fires, a dozen planners from across the state descended on Santa Rosa last weekend to help by reviewing proposals for about 100 projects.

The planners, who scrutinize blueprints and other documents required by the city to make sure new homes conform with local standards, arrived Friday for a marathon two-day session to help Santa Rosa process the growing pile of applications awaiting city review.

The city has seen an unexpectedly high number of applications this year to rebuild homes destroyed by the October wildfires, which leveled some 3,067 homes in the city, Planning and Economic Development Director David Guhin said. Officials anticipated seeing 800 plans in the first year after the fires. In the first eight months, more than 1,000 have been received, he said. In contrast, the city issued permits for 241 single-family homes last year, he said.

“We’ve seen a just enormous uptick in the number of plans that have been coming through and we’ve been concerned that the time to turn around those plans has been taking a little longer,” Guhin said. “Our goal was to get through the backlog and try to get these plans turned around quicker. We’re still on track for turnaround times, but the volume has gotten to a point where having the additional resources was critical.”

The City Council in November inked a $9 million, two-year contract with a private contractor, Bureau Veritas North America, to establish an expedited recovery process for fire victims and a new “Resilient City Permits” office.

The company for the first time issued a call for extra staff over the weekend, summoning a dozen paid staff from Sacramento, Thousand Oaks, Santa Ana and Atascadero to provide a secondary review of plans, Guhin said.

The reinforcements came at no extra cost to the city.

Tom Harris, a structural and civil engineer who founded California Code Check, a subsidiary of Bureau Veritas, was in Santa Rosa this weekend to review plans for single-family homes and the clubhouse for the Oakmont Golf Club.

“The vibe was all business - we’re going to help these fire victims get this done,” Harris said.

For rebuilds with “little to no design change,” complete plans are expected to be reviewed in less than week, while minor to moderate design changes are reviewed in one to three weeks. Large-scale changes take three to five weeks to review, according to the city’s website.

Since the fires, nine homes have been rebuilt in the city, while 496 housing units in Santa Rosa are under construction, with additional 182 permits issued for homes where construction has not yet began. Staff are reviewing 319 permits, according the city’s website.

All nine homes rebuilt are in Coffey Park, while 692 applications to rebuild have come from that area, said Resilient Permit Center Manager Steve Jensen. The permit center is staffed with 16 full-time employees and four part-time staffers, he said.

The decision to bring in extra planners for the weekend was heartening, said Jeff Okrepkie, president of the Coffey Strong neighborhood group. Members of his group brought snacks and treats to the weekend staffers on Saturday, he said.

“It’s an outstanding effort by the city to not just try to expedite the process for all these applicants but also to solicit help from outside the city.

“People actually volunteered to give up their weekends to come and do a marathon session - it shows their commitment to getting this community back as soon as possible,” he said.

Some area staff already work on weekends to review plans, and some Bureau Veritas employees across the state review plans submitted electronically, Guhin said.

It’s not clear if another call for paid out-of-town staff will be necessary, he said.