Prince William County: Taking Care of Business

Friday, November 30, 2012

 Prince William County: Taking Care of Business

County uses Innovative Strategies to Address Surge in Plans

As in many businesses, in commercial development, time means money. Delays are costly to a business where delivering a project on time and on budget means success. Prince William Department of Development Services understands that. That’s why, when in the spring of 2012, Prince William County began experiencing an unexpected and significant increase in building plan submissions, they acted quickly to address the problem. But it would take time, since the plan submission numbers were surging to nearly three times monthly averages! (see chart).

Perhaps the increase in projects meant a rebound in the recession in the area. It would definitely mean an increase in the commercial tax base down the line. The immediate challenge, however, was to get the plan review backlog under control.

At a time when developers were anxiously awaiting the start of their projects, the County was faced with review times that were more than double. That was unacceptable – not only to the developers, but to the employees as well. Development Services prides itself on providing a high level of customer service, and the delays were preventing that. Something had to be done, and fast!

The Plan of Action

Wade Hugh, Director of Development Services, explained the County’s response to solving this issue. “The first step was to establish a plan of action. We needed a guide for our efforts, and a way for the development community to monitor our response and gauge the impact the plan of action was having on the backlog. We sought, and received, assistance and support from the Board of County Supervisors, and the County Executive to implement a plan that involved some pretty innovative aspects.” 

1.      Filling/Reassigning Staff

a.       Filling vacant plan review positions that were vacant from recent retirements.

b.      Converting a vacant inspector position to a plan review position, since Building Inspection activity was remaining relatively flat.

c.       Temporarily re-assigning a residential inspector to assist with residential plan review activities. 

2.      Creating and Filling Future Growth Expansion Positions. The County Executive and Board of County Supervisors understands the importance of having staff positions available when the economy starts to turn and construction activity picks up. It would be difficult to predict the exact type of staff positions needed, so the Board of County Supervisors approved the establishment of two “Future Growth Capacity” positions as part of the FY2013 budget. When the FY2013 budget was adopted at the end of April 2012, the plan review backlog had grown to peak levels. As part of the FY2013 budget adoption process, the Board of County Supervisors authorized the filling of these two positions effective May 1, 2012 – a full two months before the new budget would go into effect! 

3.      Hiring contract plan reviewers to assist with plan review. The Board of County Supervisors approved up to $100,000 from the County’s Development Fee Reserve account to cover the cost of establishing a contract for plan review services. This would add more flexibility and reduce response time to dealing with the

4.      Temporarily Converting the Project Management Program from a Proactive to a Reactive Format. The Department had established a very successful Project Management Program geared towards helping guide commercial development projects through the County’s development processes. The proactive operation of the program draws significant resources from the plan review staff. Although an extremely successful program, the Director felt it was more important to get plan review times back in line with industry expectations.

Once the plan was implemented, the Director of Development Services provided monthly updates to make the development community aware of the steps being taken and the progress being made to address the building plan review backlog.

Resolution

Although plan submission numbers have remained strong (about 1,000 submissions per month), the County was able to address the backlog issue in roughly six months. The County’s immediate response to solve a serious development issue was the result of a strong commitment to being a business friendly community. The commitment starts at the top with the Board of County Supervisors and resonates through the County Executive and down to department staff members. Everyone was committed to addressing the issue and getting business owners up and operational.

Hugh explained, “We aim to provide the highest quality customer service, and have designed our development processes to be effective and efficient for everyone involved. Our staff members were pained to witness the frustration our customers were experiencing as a result of the plan review backlog. Now that we have essentially addressed the plan review issue, I can honestly say our quick response was only made possible through the commitment I received from the Board and County Executive. As soon as I was able to explain the resource problem we were facing, Executive Management jumped in to help solve the issue. As an agency director, I couldn’t have asked for anything more. The entire Building Development Division should be commended for its patience, professionalism and extra efforts, to work through the issue in a timely manner.”

Prince William County demonstrated that local governments can be flexible when addressing resource issues. Not only did the County’s swift actions resolve a serious development issue, but it helped to solidify the County’s commitment to “taking care of business” in the County.