Fiscal Year 2004 Proposed Budget

Section K - Community Planning, Housing and Development

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY PLANNING, HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT
INSPECTION SERVICES DIVISION
PLAN REVIEW SECTION

Program Mission: To ensure that building construction documents meet adopted code requirements and support the public health, safety and welfare is the mission of the Plan Review Section.

This section reviews construction plans for new and altered residential and commercial buildings. The plan reviewers are charged with verifying the safety of all aspects of all buildings including fire alarm and protection system; structural adequacy; sanitary plumbing; and efficient heating and cooling systems, and electrical installations. In addition to the strict safety requirements, the plans are reviewed for interior environmental health aspects, and compliance with accessibility requirements, energy efficiency standards, and elevator and escalator safety. It is imperative that staff keep current with all code changes and do so by participating in code development forums at the local, state and national level. The plan review staff is the code authority in their discipline and advises field inspectors on complex code issues, assists as field inspectors when staffing and work levels indicate the need, and participate in Inter-Departmental programs such as Full Code Inspections, the Green Building Program, training and educational needs for all staff.

Significant budget Highlights:

• Division-wide revenues for FY 2002, FY 2003, and FY 2004 have been allocated to show full cost recovery in the Plan Review and Code Compliance Sections, with the remaining excess revenues allocated to the Permit Processing Section.

PERFORMANCE MEASURES:

• The quality rating from architects and engineers is based on feedback on a customer survey that is provided to them on a continuous basis.

• The ISO effectiveness rating is given every three years with the last one given in FY 2001 and the next one to be given in FY 2004.

Objective: Efficiently and accurately ensure that proposed construction complies with the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code.

• The percentages shown for number of plan reviews over baseline represents the amount of review time over the baseline. The baseline is four weeks to first review for large projects (multi-story buildings) and two weeks for small projects (tenant work and one and two family dwellings). The current average time for the first review is one to two weeks for single-family dwellings, three to five weeks for small buildings and large interior alteration projects, and six to eight weeks for complex projects and new high-rise buildings.

FUTURE BUDGET CONSIDERATIONS:

• The increase in plan review activity over the last six months marks the need for a new FTE within the Plan Review Section. The FY 2003 estimate is based on extrapolation of activity over the first four months of this fiscal year. This is due to sharply increased in interior alterations as well as new buildings and is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. Currently this workload is being absorbed by overtime hours from staff.