Fulton, 57, a former mayor of Ventura, currently is vice president for policy and programs at Smart Growth America, a Washington, D.C. think tank that promotes non-sprawl planning.

He pledged to make San Diego “the most prosperous and sustainable and equitable city in the world.”

In his new post, starting July 8, Fulton will oversee a newly created department, tentatively called Planning and Neighborhood Restoration. Former Mayor Jerry Sanders folded the old Planning Department into the Development Services Department in 2011 as an economy move. In the 1990s, then Mayor Susan Golding’s city manager, Jack McGrory, did the same thing, and her successor, Dick Murphy, brought it back after his election in 2000. A Filner spokeswoman said the new department will number about 200 listed his salary as $175,000

“I thought folding planning into development services was not the best thing to do as a city,” Filner said at a special meeting with about 200 development staffers. He said he looked forward to taking advantage of Fulton’s extensive career experience and reputation: “He’s an inspiring figure which is what I was looking for.”

Fulton’s orders, Filner said, are to…to read the rest of this story, please click here.

The RAND Corp. study, which examined city blocks in Boyle Heights, Highland Park, Hollywood, San Pedro, South Los Angeles, Southeast Los Angeles, West Adams and Westlake, found that crime was lowest in blocks zoned for residential-only uses, even in relatively high crime neighborhoods of Los Angeles.

“At least in the case of a city like Los Angeles, zoning matters – an important fraction of reported crime is associated with the kind of zoning on a city block,” said James M. Anderson, the study’s lead author and a behavioral scientist at RAND.

“These results suggest both researchers and policymakers should pay more attention to the ways in which zoning and other land-use policies can affect crime,” Anderson said.

Policymakers have long debated the effect that city planning and zoning can have on crime. Some experts have urged diverse uses of land in order to create an urban environment that encourages “eyes on the street” to deter crime.

However, there has been…to read the rest of this story, please click here.

The Los Angeles City Council is going to consider proposed structural changes that could streamline the permitting process. A report from various departments is due to the City Council by March 14.

From the Los Angeles Downtown News – Eighteen months after the city adopted a $600,000 plan to reform its notoriously Byzantine development permitting process, implementation has been slow. Now, city leaders are considering more radical changes, though they may sound familiar to veterans of City Hall.

In July 2011, consultants KH-Woolpert delivered a slate of proposed reforms, including long-term initiatives such as a five-year plan to overhaul the city’s 1946 zoning code. It also established a case management office that many say has improved coordination among staffers from the city departments involved in planning, permitting and inspections.

However, the plan’s long list of action items has not yet resulted in the major changes that many hoped would occur.

“I think reform is probably too great a word to describe what has happened,” said Carol Schatz, president and CEO of the Central City Association, a key driver in streamlining the permitting process.

Some say the KH-Woolpert plan has fallen short in part because it did not address what is widely considered the fundamental problem with L.A.’s development system: Too many departments have authority on approvals, and projects are routinely held up by conflicting directions from different agencies.

Previous efforts to reform the process centered on consolidating those departments so that individuals hoping to open a restaurant or raise a building would interface with fewer agencies and inspectors. The most notable consolidation effort, known as “12 to 2” because it would have reduced the number of agencies that applicants dealt with from a dozen to two, withered in 2010. The effort failed partly because some department heads resisted the prospect of relinquishing their roles in the process.

With the KH-Woolpert plan yielding only modest results so far, officials are now essentially turning back to consolidation.

Last month, the City Council directed various departments to propose…to read the rest of the story, please click here.

Below is an excerpt from Mayor Tait’s 2013 State of the City Address where he discusses his efforts to make Anaheim the most business-friendly city in California.  I hope that other cities will take notes of what Mayor Tait is doing in Anaheim to help make the permitting process more efficient and streamlined.

From Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait’s 2013 State of the City Address:  Now let’s talk about how we grow the economy and create jobs in our city…and incidentally, as a side benefit, create more revenue for the city.

When Governor Brown gave his State of the State address a couple of weeks ago, there was one thing he said that particularly got my attention. He said: “The most desirable laws are those that are the rarest, simplest and most general; and I even think that it would be better to have none at all than to have them in such numbers as we have.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Overregulation hurts small businesses the most. Did you know that in America approximately 70 percent of new jobs are created by small businesses?

And that is why, since I took office, we have been working on eliminating or reducing regulations that burden our local small businesses.

In our first year, we created a Regulatory Relief Task Force and asked that body to come up with recommendations on ways to streamline or eliminate regulations. They delivered those recommendations and the city council adopted them early last year. Some of the bigger changes we made included reducing the need for conditional use permits, reducing the need for parking variances and eliminating many regulatory permits altogether.

But we didn’t stop there. The Phase Two recommendations are numerous and include proposals for fee reform, more elimination of regulations and innovative ideas for partnering with county agencies to open businesses quicker with less costs and more certainty. We want Anaheim to be known throughout the state as the freest, most business-friendly city in California…the place where dreams are built.

Our new Business Solutions Specialists —I refer to them as concierge—will serve alongside our business applicants to cut the red tape and streamline the process.

Here’s an exciting stat…in Anaheim 4,000 new business licenses were pulled last year. That means 4,000 new businesses opened their doors. Or in other words, 4,000 dreams became a reality.

Throughout history, we know that more freedom creates more jobs. And a good job can be life changing. And for those in Anaheim who need greater economic opportunity, making it easier for businesses to succeed means we’re making it easier for people and families to succeed.

As the title says, in theory, this website could be a useful tool in helping a business owner find out what is needed to open up in a particular jurisdiction.  In the meantime, there is no substitute for having a live person guide you through the various processes in any jurisdiction, so please feel free to contact me if you need help figuring out actual requirements to open a business in any jurisdiction.

Perhaps I caught the website at a bad time.  I am not certain.  For a testimony on the Open Counter website working, please read the following article from Bloomberg Businessweek – American small businesses hate red tape. About one in five called regulations their biggest problem in the latest survey by the National Federation of Independent Business. While Washington business lobbyists often blame federal labor and environmental rules for stifling business, many Main Street companies find themselves jumping through regulatory hoops closer to home—in some basement office at City Hall, with a stack of forms trying to get a zoning permit.

Santa Cruz, Calif., is trying to make that process easier. The city unveiled a smooth new website Wednesday designed to walk business owners through the permits, licenses, and approvals they need to make their businesses follow local rules. The app was a project of Code for America, a nonprofit that recruits smart young programmers to write software that make cities work better. The group, which has worked on school bus trackers and fresh food directories, hasn’t tackled business permitting before.

“I think of it as kind of TurboTax for business creation and business permitting,” says Joel Mahoney, Code for America’s tech evangelist, who helped build OpenCounter. The name is a nod to the tricky hours the planning department keeps: Monday through Thursday, before noon. (Like the rest of California, the city’s budget for such things is limited by Prop. 13.) Hilary Bryant, Santa Cruz’s new mayor, says the restricted hours were challenging when she and her husband opened a veterinary hospital in town over a decade ago. “Typically a small business owner is working during the hours that the city is also working,” she says.

I took the website for a test drive Wednesday morning to find out what it would take to open, say…to read the rest of the article, please click here.

The City Planning Commission Thursday agreed to amend local zoning rules to create the neighborhood district, saying it would be good for both the city and the local area.

“We ought to name more of our commercial corridors,” said Commissioner Gwyneth Borden.

The new district runs along Divisadero Street from Haight to O’Farrell streets, an increasingly popular strip of shops, bars, restaurants and other businesses. The new zoning makes it easier for the district to move from the current “one size fits all” planning model to one where the controls can be tailored to meet the diverse needs of different parts of the city.

The Divisadero plan, which still need approval by the Board of Supervisors, would allow bars, restaurants, entertainment uses, nonprofit offices and trade shops on the second floor of buildings along the street, something now barred. It also would end existing restrictions on the type of alcohol that can be sold in existing liquor stores on Divisadero, but retain the ban on new liquor stores.

The new district also would change the existing minimum parking requirements to maximum parking requirements, something being done throughout the city.

That parking change, which will affect…to read the rest of this story, please click here.

Phil Bacerra, who runs Jacaranda Enterprises, is under contract with Downtown Inc. to help small businesses seeking to open or expand downtown. In September, the board of Downtown Inc. voted to keep working with Bacerra until the end of the year.

Bacerra was originally hired several months ago to assist the non-profit better understand city ordinances and regulations.

“My goal is to provide clarity on permit processes, ordinances, and provide general support to businesses who are looking to remodel, expand or locate to downtown,” he said. He said he’s seeking “to facilitate a more business-friendly environment for new and existing businesses.”

Bacerra attends city meetings to help ensure that regulations affecting business are easy to navigate, and advises Downtown Inc. on issues that affect downtown businesses, the non-profit said.

“Relying on Mr. Bacerra’s expertise, we have been able to address important issues related to zoning, ordinances, business development and more,” said Vicky Baxter, executive director of Downtown Inc.

Bacerra has worked as…to read the rest of this story, please click here.

In an effort to support businesses such as Jugos Acapulco, which turned to DTI for help obtaining the proper permits during their expansion and construction process, and Las Brisas, which asked DTI for assistance in getting involved in the ‘Posse on Broadway’ event held in the Downtown, DTI contracted with consultant Phil Bacerra, of Jacaranda Enterprises, whose expertise lies in advising businesses through such matters as permits, CUPS, variances and more. Like DTI, Mr. Bacerra is committed to helping small businesses through the process of opening in Downtown Santa Ana. Additionally, he attends planning commission meetings, helps ensure that future policies and ordinances are easy to understand and navigate, and advises DTI on issues and practices that impact business in the Downtown.

“Relying on Mr. Bacerra’s expertise, we have been able to address important issues related to zoning, ordinances, business development and more,” said Vicky Baxter, Executive Director of Downtown Inc. “He is a great support to both DTI and the community and fully advocates for all existing and new businesses in the Downtown.” Downtown Inc. recently met with representatives of the business, faith and nonprofit communities in Santa Ana to discuss an alcohol and entertainment policy that was originally adopted in 1960 and needed revision. City of Santa Ana Planning Commission and Safety Committee asked DTI for community and business input. Community members such as Sharon Barlow and Jorge Duffo of the Santa Ana Merchants Association, Reuben Franco and Eddie Marquez of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Mayra Mejia and Dolores Gonzalez Hayes of Latino Health Access, David Elliot of the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce, and Reverend Lee de Leon of Templo Calvario, participated in this meeting and had the opportunity to ask Phil Bacerra questions related to the ordinance. DTI also met with numerous property owners, tenants and the Restaurant Association to allow everyone to benefit from the discussion. Throughout all these meetings Mr. Bacerra was present to lend his expertise to anyone from the community, as the new alcohol ordinance will impact all businesses in Santa Ana.

“I am thrilled to help local businesses and community organizations better understand new ordinances adopted by the City and provide insight on how they may affect all types of businesses in Downtown,” said Mr. Bacerra.

“My goal is to provide clarity on permit processes, ordinances, and provide general support to businesses who are looking to remodel, expand or locate to Downtown.” Mr. Bacerra has over ten years of successful experience in land use planning, project management, and consulting. He previously worked as an Environmental Planner for CH2M Hill and as an Assistant Planner for both the City of Los Angeles and the City of Westminster. Mr. Bacerra graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Science in…to read the rest of the story, please click here.

Excerpts from the Walnut Creek Patch – For the second time in a year, the city is using a Conditional Use Permit hearing to get tough on a nightclub.

The city is trying to rein in the Vice Ultra Lounge at 1251 Arroyo Way. Vice’s violations threaten public health and safety, according to a city report for the Planning Commission.

A public hearing and review of Vice’s permit, originally on the Planning Commission agenda for Sept. 13, was continued to a Oct. 25 meeting because of a lack of a quorum.

The Vice Lounge has not followed provisions of its use permit from 2009 with changes in hours and atmosphere and service of alcohol after hours, resulting in frequent disturbances in and around the club, including “drunkenness, physical violence, theft, property damage, drugs and weapons,” as cited in a detailed Sept. 13 report by the Walnut Creek Community Development Department.

Alcohol service was supposed to stop at 1:15 a.m. by terms of the permit, yet “closing time seems to result in some altercations even at 2:30 a.m.,” according to the city report by Planning Manager Steve Buckley.

The planning report concludes by recommending hours be limited to 11 p.m. “with the expectation that full compliance will be had with all other existing conditions of business.”

In February, the city imposed Conditional Use Permit changes on Lift Lounge at 1321 Locust St., including moving up the deadline for the latest sale of alcohol from 12:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. By June, a city report noted a reduction in calls for police services in and around Lift “since the City Council took action to modify the operating standards.”

To read the full story, please click here.

From the San Diego Union-Tribune – The Vista City Council has approved several changes to the Vista Business Park Specific Plan to allow for more high tech industries as well as recreational facilities that could boost the city’s economy.

The Vista Business Park, which spans about 2.5 square miles, is home to 800 businesses and employs more than 20,000 people. John Conley, Vista’s director of community development and engineering, said the vacancy rate is low there, but six parcels that range from one to 15 acres have not been developed.

In 2008, an economic analysis of the park’s plan identified 11 target industries the city should attempt to attract to the area. Many of these included what Conley described as high-profile industrial manufacturing that current zoning laws limit.

Additional zoning for recreational facilities such as gyms and children’s play facilities, as well as tasting rooms with live music for local breweries and wineries, also were added; both of these changes were asked for by the public.

“Thank you for being considerate with these changes and helping our small business grow,” Claudia Faulk, a partner with Aztec Brewery, told the council at Tuesday night’s meeting.

Other amendments were added to the specific plan involving…to read the full story, please click here.