The City Council recently authorized the city manager to hire Sagecrest Planning and Environmental, LLC, for another year. The contract is to provide planning services. The cost: a maximum of $150,000.
This was a Consent Calendar item on the Feb. 20 agenda. Consent items are voted on collectively, without discussion unless pulled for individual consideration. The Consent Calendar and the council approved the calendar unanimously.
The City Council originally authorized City Manager David Maistros to hire Sagecrest in March 2023, according to the staff report prepared by Maistros and Management Analyst Devin Hart.
That contract was for a maximum of $125,000, according to the Maistros-Hart report.
“Prior to City Council authorization, the City of Avalon had been seeking technical planning and environmental review expertise through advertising for a full-time Planning Director position. However, though a job posting for a vacant Planning Director position had been advertised an approximate 10 month period, from May 2022 to March 2023, the City had not been able to identify a suitable candidate,” Maistros and Hart wrote.
“During Sagecrest’s 10-month tenure as the City’s on-call planning consultant, they have provided significant assistance to staff regarding a myriad of planning and environmental items including, but not limited to:
“- Processing of planning entitlement applications, including Conditional Use Permits,
Tentative Parcel Maps, Site Plan Reviews, and Coastal Development Permits;
“- Restarting the Local Coastal Program amendment process to address seal level rise and climate change planning;
“- Meeting with prospective planning entitlement/building permit applicants to answerplanning questions in person, via email and phone;
“- Regularly reviewing legislation to keep the City up to date on State planning regulations;
“- Preparing multiple municipal code updates to fulfill the requirements of the reporting for the Housing Element Implementation Plan;
“- Preparing the 2023 General Plan and Housing Element annual reports, due April 1;
“- Coordinating with City staff on research into potential updates to the City’s Transient
Rental Licensing program;
“- Continuously meeting and conferring with Island Stakeholders regarding potential development and land use including, Catalina Island Health,” according to the report.
“During 8 months of the contract period, the City has expended approximately $82,500 for planning services with Sagecrest,” Maistros and Hart wrote.
“It is anticipated the 12-month contract will be less than $125,000,” Maistros and Hart wrote.
“The cost for services provided by Sagecrest compared to the potential cost of a fully weighted full-time Planning Director salary ($180,000) results in a significant cost savings to the City,” Maistros and Hart wrote. Additionally, due to Sagecrest’s experience in the field, the City has experienced a significant cost savings (more than $55,000) in planning related legal fees in 2023 compared to 2022,” Maistros and Hart wrote.
“Due to anticipated increased volume in high level planning items, including multiple large scale housing developments, potential hospital construction, and significant potential legislative changes to the Transient Rental License Ordinance, City staff recommend increasing the maximum potential contract with Sagecrest by 20% to $150,000 during the next one year renewal period,” Maistros and Hart wrote.
In related news, Kelly Ribuffo of Sagecrest spoke on behalf of the Planning and Building Department. She said they were working on the General Plan and Housing Element reports to the state government, which were are in April.
She said they would come to the City Council at the second meeting in March. She also said they were working on updates to the Housing Code.
During his City Manager’s Report, Maistros said Sagecraft had stabilized the Planning and Building Department in the past year.
He said the did so while reducing overall costs.
