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8.A. - Page 12 of 21 FISCAL IMPACT AND RESOURCES While the City Council provided direction at prior meetings as it relates to staffing resources and workload, Planning staff continue to assess the full fiscal impacts of Covid-19 and how they affect current workload priorities. 1. Hiring Freeze - On December 16, 2019, the City Council approved two additional full-time Planning staff positions to help process complex land use applications and long range community planning initiatives. While the Planning Division did make some senior -level internal staff promotions prior to Covid-19, the economic impacts of the pandemic have resulted in a largely non-public safety hiring freeze until long-term economic impacts are better understood, likely not until later in fall of this year. As a result, these additional Planning staff positions remain vacant. The City Council has approved a new Assistant Community Development & Transportation Director classification, replacing the position of Planning Manager, that will oversee the Planning Division and recruitment will begin this fall. (see Land Use Studies and Projects Timeline, Attachment B). 2. Project Review Timeline -Staff assessed 3 recent development projects with similar entitlements to estimate how much Planning staff time was required for review from submittal to project decision: • 851 Main —This project is a 78,832 sq. ft. office and 6,900 sq. ft. retail project submitted in 2014 and was approved in 2018. In total, over the 4 years, Planning staff spent 685 hours on the project with a Principal Planner spending the majority of time (504 hours) on the project. • 1548 Maple — This project is a 131 -unit residential townhome project submitted in 2014 and approved in 2018. In total, over the 4 years, Planning staff spent 275 hours on the project with a Principal Planner spending the majority of time (135 hours) on the project. • 1401 Broadway — This project consisted of 420,000 sq. ft. of office, 400 residential units, and 26,000 sq. ft. of retail, and was submitted in 2016 and approved in 2019. In total, over 3 years, Planning staff spent 731 hours on the project with a Principal Planner spending the majority of time (593 hours) on the project. On average, these types of projects can take up to 4 years and 100-150 Planning staff hours per year before a project decision is made. The Principal Planner accounts for 74% of the review time for each project, but staff anticipates that other Senior level planners would also manage major development projects. Currently, the Planning Division includes six senior and principal level planners who may work on a potential Gatekeeper project. However, current workload should be taken into account as planners would be working on multiple major development projects at the same time as well as significant long-range policy projects, typically managed by senior staff members, in the present work plan. While some projects may utilize a consultant as a project planner, considerable internal staff resources are still needed to manage the consultant, supervise and review work. Additionally, project reviews require advice and coordination with other departments. Page 12 of 15 . mmm . City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.ore 93