2016 operating and capital budgets - changing workloads
NRU
Feb. 10, 2016
By Leah Wong
The end of greenfield development is in sight for the Town of Richmond Hill and planning staff are anticipating the complexity of future applications will increase.
The town’s committee of the whole considered the 2016 planning and regulatory services budget at its meeting Tuesday. Planning and regulatory services commissioner Ana Bassios has requested a $5.332 million net operating budget for 2016, which reflects a 3.6 per cent increase over last year’s budget.
The department is anticipating a 3.8 per cent increase in revenues this year, which will bring the total revenues to around $9.068-million.
Bassios told committee that there continues to be an increase in the number of applications submitted year over year. Recently the department has received more infill applications, which are more complex and labour intensive to review. As the final surge of greenfield development will occur over the next three years, Bassios said she anticipates an increase in demands on staff as a result.
“Certainly the challenges are extraordinary because not only are we going into a major blitz of greenfield development, but we’re seeing more intensification proposals. That requires specialized knowledge and specialized qualifications by different people,” said regional councillor Vito Spatafora.
The department presently has a staff complement of 125 people. As its workload will continue to change in 2016 Bassios has requested council increase the complement by five, with the positions
spread across three divisions.
Administrative services is seeking an additional development process coordinator, which is expected to make the development application process more efficient.
To ease the town’s transition from greenfield to more urban infill the development planning division is seeking an additional site plan inspector. This position, in particular, will ensure that building and site design are compatible with existing neighbourhoods and the town’s urban design guidelines.
The development engineering division, which is asking for three permanent positions, has the biggest staffing request for 2016. It is seeking to add a development engineering manager for site plans and infill/high-rise construction, a development engineering technologist and senior traffic analyst. It has also requested a project coordinator position be converted to a development engineering programs coordinator and that two project coordinators be retained on 1-year contracts.
The changes in development engineering are occurring, in part, because the department previously struggled to attract the type of candidates needed to solve complex problems through junior positions, said Bassios. She said one positon had been previously posted three times without the department being
able to fill the vacancy.
The policy planning division has asked to expand its summer internship program from 1.5 to 3 positions, with interns reporting to the policy, urban design and heritage, and parks and natural heritage planning groups.
