Engineering Review

Overview of Program & Intended Outcomes:

Engineering Review is responsible for technical development review, permitting, and inspection of work by private parties within or impacting public rights-of-way and public easements. Areas of responsibility include city-maintained infrastructure such as domestic water, wastewater, stormwater, transportation, along with improvements maintained by private service providers for electric, telecommunications, and natural gas. The workgroup is also responsible for administration of floodplain and wetland protection ordinances for both public and private projects.

For 2023, the P&DS Department recommended an FTE position for a Right-of-Way (ROW) Permit and Inspection Specialist that supports the engineering division’s right-of-way management team which issues permits and inspects work in the city’s right-of-way and easements. The volume of permits issued for this work continues to be high as private infrastructure rehabilitation and replacement continues and increased communications infrastructure is constructed and maintained. The current Engineering ROW Team completes most permit reviews and inspections within service standard delivery times, however significant sized projects regularly experience delays in plan review. The intended outcome will provide much needed capacity relief for staff to focus on process improvements, supervisory needs, professional development and staff leave time.

Additionally, the P&DS Department recommended an additional FTE for a Senior Civil Engineer position to perform technical reviews of residential, commercial and infrastructure plans for accurate construction documents to ensure compliance with applicable local codes, design standards, and ordinances, and compliance with all applicable national standards related to utilities and transportation systems to protect the public health, safety and welfare. The current Engineering Review Team completes most reviews within service standard delivery times of three weeks for most applications, however transportation reviews are delayed by staff leave and staff development time and the ability to respond to general inquires is limited when application volume is high. The addition of this role will provide much needed capacity relief for staff to focus on process improvements, decreased customer waiting times, increased predictability/reliability of service, and allow for professional development and staff leave time without impacting applicants.

2023 Activities:

• Right-of-Way Inspection Capacity. The additional Right-of-Way Permit and Inspection Specialist will assist with the ongoing, high volume of work in issuing permits and inspecting infrastructure in the public right-of-way.
• Development Plan Review. The addition of a Senior Civil Engineer position is also recommended to support the review of residential, commercial and infrastructure plans, primarily for transportation reviews.