Development Insight - April 2018

In this Issue:

Electronic Plan Review is Back
The Latest on 2018 ICC Codes
Short-Term Rentals Ordinance Update
In the know - BuildSA
Online Resources
Performance Measures
Department News

Electronic Plan Review is Back

The Development Services Department (DSD) has been working with the City's Information Technology Services Department (ITSD) to finalize much-needed upgrades to the department's Electronic Plan Review (EPR) solution.

As a customer service initiative, EPR is an end-to-end electronic submission and retrieval system meant to allow customers to submit plan sets, associated documents, and re-submittals electronically to the department. Then, following review by our Plans Examiners, customers can receive stamped and approved plans back, all through an easy-to-use portal.

EPR can save customers time and money, since multiple paper copies and trips to the Cliff Morton Development and Business Services Center are not required, and the department's document management fee is not applied to cover the costs of plan scanning. As a result, EPR can benefit customers and plan reviewers alike by increasing the speed and ease of submission and review, potentially reducing the number of submissions, and shortening cycle times.

Earlier this month, Development Services "soft-launched" the system, allowing electronic submission of plans for (1) residential buildings, (2) electrical/solar applications, and (3) fire alarm and fire sprinkler systems. Staff and customer training and outreach sessions have been underway since March.

For more information and guidance on EPR, visit the customer portal .

The Latest on 2018 ICC Codes

Every three years, the International Code Council (ICC) publishes updated building-related, fire and property maintenance codes. Development Services generally adopts these updated codes to utilize the most current national safety codes and allow the latest construction methods. Since February 2017, DSD has led the review of the updated codes with significant stakeholder involvement.

To date, DSD has reviewed the updated versions of the following codes: National Electrical, Int’l Mechanical, Int’l Plumbing, Int’l Fuel Gas, Int’l Building and Int’l Existing Building codes. The Int’l Fire, San Antonio Property Maintenance Codes are underway to be completed by end of April.

The Int’l Energy Conservation and Int’l Residential codes will start soon.

The 2018 codes with local amendments will be presented to Building-Related and Fire Codes Appeals and Advisory Board by end of May. DSD is on schedule to present the codes for City Council consideration in June, with an effective adoption date in late summer.

For more information, visit the 2018 codes and ordinances web site .

Short-Term Rentals Ordinance Update

On April 11, 2018, DSD Director Mike Shannon presented the proposed short-term rental ordinance to City Council at the B-Session.

This was the first opportunity that the full City Council has had to receive and provide feedback as a group on the proposed ordinance, which was developed after sixteen meetings with our diverse 24-member stakeholder task force in response to a 2017 City Council Request (CCR) from former District 10 Councilman Mike Gallagher.

The City Council decided to not move the item forward for full consideration just yet, but rather referred the item back to the Governance Committee to allow city staff to address several of the concerns expressed by the council members.

As such, staff will continue to research the ordinance and its impacts on the short-term rental ordinance and San Antonio citizens. Public comments regarding the ordinance, as well as addition information, can be submitted and found at the short-term rentals web page.

In the know... BuildSA

Developme nt Services continues to make progress on the implementation of its new software system for Land Development. This month our focus was on our new customer online portal and its ease of use. The goal is a single point of entry giving our customers access to perform the following services online:

Submit new Land Development applications with 24-hour access
Make online payments by e-check or credit card with ease
Submit most documents and document revisions electronically
Check the current status of your application(s) in real time
Delegate access and permissions to other users to act on your behalf

In a recent survey, we asked customers to share their preferred training tools. We will evaluate the feedback and incorporate that information into our final training plan.

What should I expect?

In order to utilize most of the online services, customers will be required to create a new customer online portal account. Additional information regarding the new online portal and its capabilities will soon be made available. In case you are wondering—our roll out plan includes the transferring of existing applications to our new system.

Most applications in progress, at the time we go-live, will be available through the new online portal.

Finally, rest assured that Development Services will offer training for customers before go-live, as well as after go-live.

What is next?

Our primary focus is to make this a smooth transition for you. In the upcoming months, we will share additional details regarding training. We will also begin to share details regarding the online customer portal registration process.

As a friendly reminder, starting in the fall of 2018, BuildSA will be the new system for processing Land Development applications. Our existing LDS and TPLT Systems will no longer be used to process new applications.

We will continue to keep you abreast of the latest information and share monthly updates on the status of BuildSA. In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns please email us .

Online Resources

The following Information Bulletins (IB) were updated:

IB 100 - Review/Certification of One-and Two-Family Dwellings , posted 4/23/18

This bulletin was created to provide customers options related to the Review/Certification of One- and Two-Family Dwelling Plans. The IB was recently revised to reflect the correct location of Notching and Boring, and the removal of the Life Safety Plan.

IB 526 - Standard Plat Note Layout, posted 4/6/18

DSD revised this IB to incorporate an updated list of approved plat notes along with updated templates denoting plat layout.

For a complete list of resources, visit the following sites:

Performance Measures

The complete Performance Measures report is available online .

Permit Report

Proposition 1 Quarterly Deadlines

For more information about the funding opportunities, please visit the program's website, or contact Latifah Jackson with the San Antonio River Authority.