AnonymousSource: City of Santa Barbara
Community Development Director George Buell is pleased to announce the appointment of Marck Aguilar as Acting Business Liaison. Mr. Aguilar will begin working immediately to facilitate projects through the City’s review and permitting processes for a variety of private, non-residential development projects on a portion of the State Street corridor, and other high priority economic development projects throughout the City.
The Business Liaison will act as the central point of contact for development projects, opening the lines of communication and offering solutions to issues or conflicting regulations, and will follow the project through to completion. Aguilar will facilitate communication between project applicants and City staff, and allow for a coordinated and efficient movement of applications between departments. This position will report to City Planner, Renee Brooke, until decisions regarding the formation of an economic development division or department are made.
Projects meeting any one of the following criteria will fall under the purview of the Business Liaison:
- Private nonresidential or mixed-use development projects (new, remodel, addition) requiring a building permit and located on State Street, between Gutierrez Street and Sola Street.
- Any improvement that requires a building permit and involves a hotel, large grocery store, or auto dealership.
- Other projects, as directed by the Community Development Director.
In addition to being the initial point of contact, Aguilar will also serve to assist applicants in understanding the City’s requirements, which will enable them to submit complete applications and avoid possible delays; work as a liaison between City divisions, including Planning, Building and Safety, Transportation Planning, Engineering, Environmental Services, Creeks, City Attorney, and Fire Prevention, and others as needed from application submittal through permit plan check; and, facilitate communication and positive working relationships. Acting in this capacity should significantly reduce the amount of time applicants spend going from department to department.
According to Buell, the appointment of this new position will provide quick relief for businesses on State Street and qualifying projects elsewhere in the city that require assistance. “With over twenty years of service with the City in various capacities in land development, design review, permitting and capital improvement project management, Marck brings a wealth of knowledge, professionalism and skills that will serve both the City and our customers exceptionally well.”
This appointment is part of a larger effort now underway by City Administrator Paul Casey to develop and staff an Economic Development Program for the City of Santa Barbara.
If this new hire does well, our head Oompa Loompa will take credit. If not, it will blame Mr. Aguilar. “Oompa loompa doompety doo…..If you are wise you will listen to me.”
When the process is so broken that you need programs like accelerate, and hiring a business liason, maybe its time to determine if there is a way to simplify the actual process? When it takes $250,000 in specialists and lost rent to complete a $12,000 construction project, something isn’t right. Instead of paying $80k for the report telling us the system was broken, they should have used that money as part of a remodel, and go through the process as any normal person would have to. They would be able to identify where the gaps are. my $.02
Problem definition: City government is too complicated and inefficient. Solution: Make city government bigger.
So, someone new was hired as a go-between because the current department is inefficient and cannot do its job?
Welcome to the City of Santa Barbara, if we’re not doing a good job we’ll hire someone that will [might, well maybe, we hope]!