Mission Statement

The Mission of the City of Oakland Planning and Building Department is to assist the residents of Oakland to enhance and improve the physical, cultural, and economic environments of their communities through sustainable development that embraces the core principles of health, opportunity, and equity.

The Planning & Building Department’s commitment is founded on the belief that people matter, neighborhoods matter, beauty, order, and a clean environment matter. Enriching people’s lives through helping them build communities that reflect their values matters. We are dedicated to the communities of Oakland through our service to the public.

To that end, we help the residents of Oakland to develop visionary plans that are community driven; we update the Zoning Code to reflect community needs and interests; we process development/building applications in an efficient and effective manner; and we enforce the Zoning Code, the Building Code, and other applicable laws to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of all who choose Oakland as their place to live, work, and play.

Learn more about who we are and what we do here.

SERVICE IMPACTS &

EQUITY CONSIDERATIONS

Enhancements 

Good Jobs & Vibrant Economy

1. Replaces 2.0 FTE Planner I positions with 2.0 FTE Planner II positions via add/delete process and adds a 1.0 FTE Planner III position within the Bureau of Planning. Reclassifies 1.0 FTE Planner I to a Planner II to ensure there is sufficient staff capacity to complete the update of the General Plan and be able to continue working on the other Strategic Planning projects already in the pipeline (as well as any new projects from Council or other sources that will need to be worked on in the coming years). Reclassifies 1.0 FTE Planner I to a Planner II and adds one FTE Planner III to allow the division to meet the demand for processing zoning approvals and entitlements.
   • Equity Consideration: The Bureau of Planning advances the City’s racial equity objectives by prioritizing the review of affordable housing projects, providing the regulatory basis for impact fees, using Racial Equity Impact Assessments to assess proposed Planning & Building Department (PBD) policies, and by offering increased opportunities for community engagement.
2. Adds a 1.0 FTE Management Assistant to serve as the Ombudsperson for the Planning and Building Department. The Management Assistant - Ombudsperson will support enhancements to PBDs customer service and support process improvement within PBD and across other City departments that issue permits.
   • Equity Consideration: The Ombudsperson position will advance the City’s racial equity objectives by having a point of contact the public can turn to address issues that may arise with a specific project, or to proactively assess the department’s forms, procedures, and services to see how they may become more accessible and transparent.
3. Adds 1.0 FTE Management Intern to the Development Planning Division. This position will be used to offset some of the administrative tasks performed by planners, which in turn will allow them to focus on more technical aspects of the planning application review. In addition, Historic Preservation is also within this Division, so this position will also support the Historic Preservation Planners who help to preserves the City’s multicultural history. Examples include the Oak Center Historic District and 7th Street Commercial Districts in West Oakland.
   • Equity Consideration: This new position will help provide administrative support throughout the division, including for new major affordable housing projects which are seeking Planning entitlements. Getting affordable housing projects through the development pipeline will increase available affordable housing for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) residents who are disproportionately displaced.
4. Adds 3.0 FTE Office Assistant II positions and increases funding for temporary professional services by $15,000 for the Administrative Inspections Division. These additional resources are needed to increase PBD’s capacity to respond to blight and habitability complaints and to support the inspection of new construction in the City of Oakland.
   • Equity Consideration: The three Office Assistant IIs and additional $15,000 for temporary professional services will increase PBDs capacity to respond to housing habitability complaints which are occur more often in low-income and BIPOC communities in Oakland.
5. Adds 2.0 FTE Business Analyst II positions to the Digital Services Division. These additional staff will enable PBD to extend Accela software to other regulatory agencies within the City of Oakland, enhance the functionality of Accela and the Online Permit Center and to support the use of Matic software. This position will help to improve PBD’s data collection and reporting. In addition, this position will support the development of performance management systems in PBD so that PBD leadership can better assess the impact and delivery of its services.
   • Equity Consideration: PBD collects and manages most of its service-related data through the Accela database. The Accela system is not used to collect demographic information, but it can be used to map development activities, and therefore trends across the City. Data from Accela is used to prepare a number of reports that provide a snapshot of the City’s construction activities, these include the Mayor’s Housing Pipeline report, Housing Element Annual Progress Report (APR), Annual Impact Fee Report, and Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER). PBD also uses data maintained in Accela to produce periodic reports on its code enforcement activities. Additionally, PBD uses Census data combined with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis to understand where development is occurring and to begin to infer impacts from that development activity.
6. Adds 1.0 FTE Public Service Representative. This additional Public Service Representative provides customer service for the recently re-opened One Stop Permit Center.
   • Equity Consideration: The Public Service Representative will enhance customer service and service delivery as the City rebounds from the COVID-19 Pandemic and construction and development activity gradually increases. Walk-in services support people who have less access to on-line services and/or language barriers.
7. Adds funding for Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) development support staff to support Oakland homeowners through development and legalization of units.
   • Equity Consideration: This is a council amendment approved at budget adoption and an equity statement was not developed for this item.

SIGNIFICANT BUDGETARY CHANGES

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

POSITION INFORMATION