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Partnering with our community to build and maintain a safer San Antonio | July 2017
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Development Services Department
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Mike Shannon,
PE,
CBO
Director
210.207.8259
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Development &
Business Services Center
Main Address:
1901 S. Alamo San Antonio, TX 78204
Office Hours:
7:45 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Monday - Friday
Mailing Address:
PO Box 839966
San Antonio, TX 78283
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85th Texas Legislative Session and DSD
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The Texas Legislature ended the 85th regular session on May 29 passing hundreds of bills after a grueling session. During that 140-day session, the City of San Antonio and it's respective departments followed all 10,000 plus bills and resolutions filed to provide input and commentary on the items being debated.
Spearheaded by our Government and Public Affairs Department, each city department was assigned a liaison tasked with bills that relate to their respective department's business process. For the 85th legislature's regular session, Development Services followed more than 100 bills, and traveled to Austin on several occasions to testify and comment at committee hearings and to meet with House Representatives, Senators, and Lobbyists.
Governor Greg Abbott signed a number of bills, some listed below, that related to Development Services business process:
- HB1704 - Awarding of Attorney's Fees - Allows for the awarding of Attorney's fees to plaintiffs in a Land Development suit against the City.
- HB1449 - Prohibits local governments imposing certain fees on new construction - Prohibits the City from assessing a fee to reduce rent or supplement affordable housing.
- HB3329 - Regulation of Electricians by a local government - Cities cannot charge a license or registration fee for electricians to do work in that city.
- SB622 - Itemizing notification expenditures - Requires Cities to line item notification expenditures
- SB1004 - Deployment of network nodes in ROW - relaxes restrictions on communication providers access to ROW for expansion of networks
- SB1248 - Municipal regulation of manufactured home communities - Clarifies Non-conforming status of manufactured home communities
With some unresolved business left with the 85th Legislature, Governor Abbott called a 30-day special session, which began on July 18, to address a number of his concerns. Some of those concerns may affect Development Services, including:
- Tree ordinance regulations
- Annexation laws
- Expediting Permitting
- Code/Zoning changes during project/construction
With the 85th's first Special Session under way, we are prepared for some fast-paced action that will be occurring in Austin and are ready to represent the City of San Antonio as the best Development Services Department in the country.
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SARA / Bexar County LID Training Available Sept. 17
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For those of you who have wanted to attend one of the courses but have not been able to spare 1.5 days to attend it, a special one-day offering of the San Antonio River Authority (SARA) and Bexar County Low Impact Development (LID) training courses for construction inspection and post-construction maintenance will occur on Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017. This offering is made possible as a pre-conference program ahead of the 19th Annual EPA Region 6 Stormwater Conference. You do not need to attend the conference to attend the training.
SARA and Bexar County developed the training program comprised of two courses: 1) LID Design and Construction Inspection Registration Course, and 2) LID Annual Inspection and Maintenance Certification Course. The program supports Bexar County and City of San Antonio LID policies. The training program benefits planners, designers, contractors, inspectors, maintenance personnel, and BMP owners. The BMPs addressed by the courses include bioretention (e.g. rain gardens, bioswales), permeable pavement, sand filters, rainwater collection (e.g. cisterns), vegetated swales, filter strips, green roofs, and stormwater wetlands.
The courses will be held at the Hilton Palacio del Rio from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Opportunities to take an exam for the applicable Registration or Certification credential will occur immediately following the training on Sunday or anytime between 9 a.m. and noon on Monday, Sept. 18. (The test typically takes an hour or less.) Credentials are posted on the SARA website.
More details and registration information can be found on the SARA website at www.sara-tx.org
. For questions regarding the courses, please contact Lee Marlowe at (210) 302-3624.
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The latest Information Bulletins (IB) are provided below:
As a customer service initiative, DSD and Port Authority of San Antonio revised IB 138 to include new points of contact with the City and the Port San Antonio, and to remove outdated information.
IB 168 has been revised to include a new submittal process to the Zoning Section of Development Services.
For a complete list of resources, visit the following sites:
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Performance Measures - FY 2017
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The complete Performance Measures report is available
online
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Other Department News
- Customer Comments, New Hires, Recognition and more |
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Here's what you said about us...
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Al Niebruegge, Sr. Building Inspector, Field Services
Al has been an invaluable resource to the school team and DSD for all my projects and experience with him over the past decade. I greatly appreciate his knowledge and expertise coupled with his 'teacher' delivery. I feel I owe him a considerable amount for the education he has provided me related to code and interpretation over the years. I look forward to more interaction with Al and the rest of the school team as we complete more school projects within the City of San Antonio jurisdiction.
Dania Aji, Plans Coordinator, Plan Review
Dania provided wonderful assistance to the engineer and the developer! She gave quality service and exceeded our expectations. She is a great example of a quality employee. It would be enjoyable to have the interactions we had with her reflect throughout the rest of the development department. We truly enjoyed working with her.
Adrian Goetz, Sr. Inspector, Engineering and Tree Preservation, Land Development
Adriana went above and beyond to assist me with my tree permit/review. Greatly appreciate her assistance and look forward to working with her again with my other projects.
Michael Darchicourt, Sr. Plans Examiner, Plan Review
Michael was very proficient in helping me correct an obscure issue on our TABC survey that my client turned in. He helped us correct, turn in, and approve the process in an expedited fashion that would otherwise have burdened my client for timeliness. He was great to work with and did not hesitate in returning my emails promptly. Thank you so much Michael.
Gerald Roebuck, Code Enforcement Supervisor, Field Services
Supervisor Roebuck is always helpful and extremely knowledgeable.
Debbie Gaitan, Planner, Addressing, Land Development
She is knowledgeable and helps me to understand the platting process. She does not just give me the answers; she tries to educate me by leading me to the documents and bulletins pertinent to my questions. I like that and I appreciate her.
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Congratulations to our DSD employees who received the following certifications:
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Development Services is recruiting for the following positions. To learn more, or apply online, visit the DSD jobs at the City of San Antonio
Career Center.
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Copyright © 2017. All Rights Reserved.
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