Burlington Council Approves Joint Working Group with Staff, Landscape Ontario to Review Outstanding Permit Process Issues
Burlington Council recently received a Red Tape Red Carpet (RTRC) update from staff and Burlington Economic Development, along with a 2023-24 work plan.
In their update, staff informed Council the implementation of the recommendations developed as part of the Mayor’s and Councillor Galbraith's RTRC Task Force initiative in 2018 are well underway. Stakeholder engagement in 2022/2023 has resulted in an updated and enhanced list of new and evolved recommendations for RTRC replacing the original 2019 recommendations moving forward.A cross-departmental team of senior staff is developing a long-term implementation plan of 2023 recommendations. These will be presented to the CPRM Committee on September 12, 2023. Should Council approve the new recommendations in September2023, an updated dashboard will be available publicly at: burlington.ca/en/council-and-city-administration/red-tape-red-carpet-progress-reporting.aspxCouncil also directed the City Manager to create a Joint Working Group to review outstanding issues and additional improvement opportunities related to all facets of the City of Burlington development application permitting process as it applies to professional landscaping services.For a link to the staff report, please scroll further down this post.MY TAKE:The City of Burlington and Council are committed to further dialogue and working with members of the landscape industry and Landscape Ontario, so that our city can be a leader in helping people realize their dreams of improving their properties.That is why Council approved the staff direction to establish a joint working group to review outstanding issues and continuous improvement opportunities related to all facets of the City of Burlington development application permitting process as it applies to professional landscaping services. The City fully acknowledges the need for urgent stakeholder engagement with Landscape Ontario members, as well as City senior staff including but not limited to Community Planning, Engineering Services, Roads Parks and Forestry, Building Services, Burlington Digital Services and Community Relations and Engagement.I believe there will be additional benefits to our entire process as a result of this staff direction. The working group will bring some industry specific recommendations and ones that have broader impacts. I hope we achieve a speedy set of recommendations and action them quickly to resolve the issues laid out by the work plan.I really appreciate the regular check-ins from RTRC. This is a rapidly changing and evolving universe, and this is the refreshed plan with new recommendations. The 29,000 units by 2031 that Burlington has pledged to build, that’s almost 3,000 permits per year. We need to improve our streamlining processes and employ a customer service lens to every applicant that comes to our desk with a permit request.
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To read the Council-approved motion, staff report and related supporting documents, please click/tap the links below:
- Staff report: ECDEV-02-23 Red Tape Red Carpet Update and 2023-24 Work Plan
- Appendices:
- ECDEV-02-23-Appendix A.pdf -- Feedback from Customer Segments and Staff
- ECDEV-02-23-Appendix B.pdf -- Progress Status
- Staff presentation: ECDEV-02-23 Red Tape Red Carpet (RTRC) update and 2023-24 work plan
- Briefing Document from Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Association: ECDEV-02-23 Delegation Material from Joe Salemi representing Landscape Ontario
COUNCIL-APPROVED MOTION:
- Establish a Joint Working Group to review outstanding issues and continuous improvement opportunities related to all facets of the City of Burlington development application permitting process as it applies to professional landscaping services. In so doing, the City fully acknowledges the need for urgent stakeholder engagement with Landscape Ontario members as stated in the briefing note as follows “The professional landscape business would like to work in collaboration with the City of Burlington to play key role in providing advice and feedback to Council”;
- Confirm with Landscape Ontario the representation related to their member participation on the Working Group as well as City senior staff representation including but not limited to Community Planning, Engineering Services, Roads Parks and Forestry, Building Services, Burlington Digital Services and Community Relations and Engagement;
- Prepare a high-level workplan in conjunction with the Working Group including key objectives, meeting frequency (i.e. biweekly minimum) and format (i.e. virtual), reporting timelines inclusive of a final report target to Council from the City Manager by Q3 2023 (i.e. September 12, 2023 CPRM Committee). In addition to the final report, ongoing updates on the progress of the Working Group (i.e. quick wins) will be reported out publicly on a timely basis whenever possible in the weekly Council Information Package (CIP); and
Direct the City Manager to include the above noted action (1) as an additional priority workplan item in the RTRC Workplan/ Recommendations Dashboard. (SD-30-23).
BACKGROUND:In 2019, Mayor Meed Ward and Councilor Galbraith launched and co-chaired, the Red Tape Red Carpet Task Force initiative. The taskforce collected insights and ideas from the Burlington business community, partner organizations and staff to better understandthe challenges (reduce “red tape”) to locating or expanding a business here, and to ideate around solutions that would better serve our businesses (roll out the “red carpet”).On September 23, 2019, City Council approved the 22 recommendations arising from the Mayor’s Red Tape Red Carpet (RTRC) Task Force initiative to better serve our customers as part of the City’s commitment to continuous improvement. A draft implementation plan was presented at the October 8, 2019, Planning and Development Committee via report CM-24-19: Red Tape Red Carpet Update and approved by City Council on October 21, 2019.In 2022, we entered the new term of council and engagement was undertaken with the business community to understand where we have improved, what issues they face in doing business in Burlington and how we can make it easier for them to start, locate and grow in Burlington. As part of this engagement, focus groups were held based on the following key segments of businesses that interact with the City of Burlington and Burlington Economic Development:
- Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional (ICI) Realtors
- Industrial, Commercial and Institutional Landowners and Developers
- Residential Landowners and Developers
- Existing Businesses (Non-Development Industry)
- City of Burlington Staff
Detailed feedback received from each of these groups is available in Appendix A and is summarized in the public engagement section of the staff report.In addition, Customer Service Requests (CSRs) completed by Burlington Economic Development were analyzed to look at key problems, feedback from businesses and the most common issues that businesses ran into when requesting economic development support in facilitating interactions with the City of Burlington. The engagement highlighted the need for a more efficient, transparent, and customer-focused development process in Burlington that can provide faster turnaround times, improve communication, and facilitate business growth. Recommendations for draft prioritized actions for Red Tape Red Carpet for 2023 onwards can be found at the end of the staff report.The purpose of the staff report is to provide an opportunity to engage with members of committee on issues identified and emerging opportunities to improve the customer experience. A final set of recommendations integrating feedback from members of council will be brought forward at the September Community, Planning, Regulation and Mobility (CPRM) meeting. Moving forward these recommendations will be the updated and evolved recommendations for Red Tape Red Carpet replacing the original 2019 recommendations moving forward.