Phoenix City Council Meeting – Planning & Development Updates and Tree & Shade Plan – June 11, 2024
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Phoenix City Council Meeting – Planning & Development Updates and Tree & Shade Plan – June 11, 2024
On June 11, 2024, the Phoenix City Council convened to receive presentations on two major initiatives: a comprehensive process improvement plan for the Planning and Development Department (PDD) and the draft Shade Phoenix plan, a comprehensive tree and shade master plan. Council members expressed strong support for both efforts, highlighted the importance of interdepartmental collaboration, and directed staff to continue refining the plans with ongoing community engagement.
Discussion Items
1. Planning and Development Department Process Improvements
- Vice Mayor Deborah Stark, a former PDD director, introduced the item, noting that a wave of retirements and the pandemic had strained the department, leading to service complaints. She praised PDD Director Josh Bedenaric and his team for initiating a process improvement effort that included customer and staff listening sessions.
- Deputy City Manager Alan Stevenson and Director Bedenaric presented the improvements, emphasizing a culture of service with three core tenants: personal, seamless, and innovative. Key initiatives include reorganization of plan review functions, creation of photo-based org charts for all partner departments (streets, water, fire), and a commitment to annual customer listening sessions and an annual progress report.
- Josh Bedenaric reported that the department has 488 team members and supplements with $8 million in on-call contracts. Statistics: In FY21-22, record permit valuations reached nearly $20 billion; last year, staff served 39,000 customers, issued 14,000 residential permits, and conducted 280,000 inspections (97% within 24 hours). The self-certification program has 241 registered professionals and issued 374 permits last year.
- Council members unanimously praised the plan. Councilwoman Ann O'Brien asked about expanding self-certification and exploring private vendor options for permits. Vice Mayor Stark urged quarterly meetings with industry, better interdepartmental coordination for appointments, and attention to water meter timelines. Council members also emphasized the need for dedicated staff training time.
- Mayor Kate Gallego noted that Bloomberg Philanthropies assisted with the update and that the council would vote the next day on on-call assistance to amplify staff efforts. She also highlighted the successful SolarApp partnership, which has drawn national attention.
2. Tree and Shade Plan Update – Shade Phoenix
- Mayor Gallego introduced the draft plan, developed by the Office of Heat Response and Mitigation with support from Bloomberg Associates, American Forests, and numerous city departments. The plan builds on the 2010 Tree and Shade Master Plan and the 2021 Tree Equity Pledge.
- Dr. David Hondula, Director of Heat Response and Mitigation, presented. He noted that shade reduces the net heat load on the human body by approximately 30°F on a hot day. Key data: median tree canopy cover in Phoenix is 10.9%, with a tenfold variation across census tracts; 75% of residents live in tracts with less than 15% canopy (American Forests recommends 15% for desert cities). The plan includes 37 actionable strategies under four broad areas: community education, adding shade, maintaining existing shade, and institutionalizing progress.
- The plan represents at least $50 million in already allocated funding, including $3 million for 25 shade structures with local art (Sombra project), and aims to plant 25,000 new trees and build 500 shade structures. Department leaders from Parks (Scott Coughlin) and Streets (Jesse Duarte) detailed current efforts: Parks has planted 15,000 trees in the last decade; Streets maintains 30 million sq ft of landscape with a $3.2 million annual budget, and the Cool Corridors program has planted 2,945 trees since 2021. Public Transit has added 1,800 bus stop shelters (now 75% of stops) and will continue at 80 per year.
- Council members expressed strong support. Councilwoman Ann O'Brien emphasized the need for tree maintenance and water costs. Councilwoman Yassamin Ansari noted a desire to consolidate landscaping responsibilities under one department. Councilwoman Kesha Hodge Washington stressed ensuring lower-income communities benefit. Councilwoman Laura Pastor highlighted community engagement and tree survival tracking.
- The plan will undergo further community engagement this summer, with performance indicators and site-specific targets to be added before a final fall 2024 presentation.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes were taken; both items were presented for discussion and direction.
- Council directed PDD to continue implementing process improvements, explore private vendor options, and report back annually.
- Council directed the Heat Response Office to finalize performance metrics, conduct additional community outreach, and return with a final Shade Phoenix plan in fall 2024.
- The council will vote on on-call assistance for PDD the following day (June 12, 2024).
Meeting Transcript
It was not a leisurely event. Chris warned me that I would be on my feet for 12 hours a day, and I can confirm that she underestimated that time. It was closer to 16 hours. We met with CEOs and potential partners from around the world, and it was a very busy and successful experience. The life sciences industry in Phoenix is hot and growing. One of one of the highlights was hearing about one of our local companies who was focusing their research on the cancer vaccine. Looking forward to the life-changing developments that we will see come out of our bioscientist core here in Phoenix. Next slide, please. I wanted to share just a few highlights of how we celebrated 602 Day in District 8. I was honored to host a 602 celebration in South Phoenix on 24th Street in Broadway. We spent the morning with incredible music, resources, and food to celebrate the spirit of Phoenix. The residents of District 8 really showed up and showed out for the first City of Phoenix 602 Day. Next slide. Finally, we enjoyed the dance performances from local youth groups in the area that included Mexican folk dance and step team dance and dine on the diverse delicious food offered from neighborhood food vendors. Next slide. Next slide. The summer festivities are not quite finished yet. We look forward to the District 8 pool party this Saturday, June 15th from noon to 2 at El Prado Park on 19th Avenue and Alta Vista Road. We invite District 8 residents to come out and escape the day's heat with some pool time, food and games. Next slide. That is all I have. As always, do not hesitate to reach out if you need help with any city services or notice an issue in your neighborhood. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilwoman. Any additional updates? Vice Mayor. Just very quickly, I wanted to congratulate Councilwoman Ann O'Brien. She won the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce Award last week, the Sentinel Award. I won that a few years ago. It's quite an honor. Congratulations. Vice Mayor. Thank you. Any additional updates? All right, then we will go to item one and welcome our planning and development team. We have been working. This was an item of importance to the entire council and to our entire city. We want to make sure that whether you're updating your home or building new homes for our community, that there's the best process possible. Every council member has worked on this, but uh Vice Mayor has been particularly involved, and I'll turn to her to introduce item one. Thank you, uh Mayor. As we all know, I used to be the planning and development director um many years ago. And um I've of course retired along with a lot of other great employees of planning and development, and we have a whole new staff out there. Some I know, some I don't, but I'm one of those dinosaurs, and I get to call myself that, but you don't get to Josh. But um recognizing that uh a lot of the senior staff left about the same time I did. Um Alan and Josh were in charge of relatively new but very smart staff, but still maybe not as seasoned as some of us old dinosaurs, and at the same time along came the pandemic. And so the planning department lost staff, and you were having a hard time recruiting staff. You were competing with the private sector. And during the pandemic, the permits didn't stop, and I suspect a lot of people sat at home and thought, I need to remodel my house. I think I'll go get a permit and do that. So they continue to be very busy.
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