As industry professionals, we know that the General Plan and zoning ordinance govern the density, intensity, and allowable uses for each parcel located within a local jurisdiction and fall under the auspices of the planning department. However, the provision of service systems such as water, sewer, roads, and other public infrastructure critical to a city’s growth fall under the purview of the Public Works department. In a time when cities and counties are facing housing shortages, failing infrastructure, and preparing for the effects of climate change, local governments are charged with meeting ongoing demands for services, maintaining infrastructure, and continuing to support new development.
the two fields have vastly different training, approaches, and culture, making coordination a frequent challenge.
Public works professionals and Planners must meet the needs of the communities they serve, but the two fields have vastly different training, approaches, and culture, making coordination a frequent challenge. Having witnessed this issue with a multitude of jurisdictions across the Bay Area and Northern California, we are inspired to share some best practices that can strengthen the communication pipeline between Planning and Public Works Departments, which can improve application processing, long-range planning, and create efficiencies.
The Early Bird Gets Traction
Getting buy-in from Public Works and other departments is essential to any project or plan’s success and timely completion. While a proposed development project may be of importance to the Planning Department and decision makers, its value may not be immediately apparent to Public Works. Also, they may not be aware of state mandates for completeness review and approvals. The same can be said for General Plans and Specific Plans. It is important to begin the communication process early and to establish protocols, set expectations up-front, identify constraints, and clarify the roles and responsibilities of Planning and those of Public Works. Public Works staff have many responsibilities and it may take multiple tries before you get the response you need. By starting early, you ensure that this does not hold up the project or application processing.
The tone is set by leadership from the top down to create an environment of collaboration and establish communication between the two departments.
Uplevel Your Communications
In an ideal world, Planning and Public Works’ leadership routinely communicate on which projects are forthcoming and what kind of engagement will be needed. The tone is set by leadership from the top down to create an environment of collaboration and establish communication between the two departments. Whether or not leadership takes that initiative, each Planner can set the tone and decide how they interact with counterparts in Public Works. Consider a conversation that touches on at least the following:
What is the best way to communicate? (email, phone, in-person?)
Are there regular constraints on your calendar?
The state gives us 30 days to provide a completeness determination. Within that constraint, how much time do you need to review?
Would it be helpful to receive a calendar invite with the deadline?
Is there something our department can do to make it easier for you to respond within the state mandated deadline?
Would it be helpful to know in advance if we are anticipating an application?
Remember, Public Works professionals are also balancing many competing demands. Approach these exchanges with kindness and an intent to understand. Also, keep in mind that you need them to buy-in. It may not be obvious why your work matters to them, and it is up to you to create that understanding.
Regular Check-Ins
Establish regularly scheduled check-in meetings as an ongoing opportunity for communication. Everyone is stretched thin and involved in too many meetings, but this is one to add to the schedule. Even if it is only a half hour long on a monthly basis, a standing meeting is a critical building block to foster bonds and build awareness of projects in the pipeline. Even if there is “nothing to talk about,” take 15 minutes to give a status update and ask for any updates from the Public Works team. This is an opportunity to build awareness and trust. If you don’t have important agenda items, keep it short. Be sure to create dialog but also respect everyone’s time.
Co-Location
In many jurisdictions, staff are compartmentalized within their department and there is little to no overlap or opportunity for water cooler chat. Co-locating engineers and planners in adjacent or shared spaces creates more than just physical proximity. It creates interdepartmental connectivity through regular interactions that can support a team feel. Even if temporary, co-locating in a shared space can be effective in removing barriers to communication and building bridges to foster connections.
Let’s get digital
There are a number of software programs available that help facilitate interdepartmental review and communication. While sometimes clunky and confusing, these programs will (hopefully) get better over time and can be used to help facilitate review and communication. Even if you only have access to Microsoft Office 365, programs like SharePoint and Planner are great tools (included in the Office suite) that can help facilitate communication and review. While not great for sharing plan sets, Microsoft SharePoint is a great tool to allow for collaborative document writing and review. Microsoft Planner can be an effective way to assign tasks to project team members. It can even send regular reminder emails until the task is checked off as complete. Using these tools can help foster communication and collaboration with effective results and fewer meetings.
Throw your ego out the door and keep your eye on the deadline.
Professional Empathy
Take the time to recognize what challenges your counterpart is experiencing. Recognizing their challenges and timelines can help defuse tension and open the door for them to understand your challenges. A simple, “Hi, I know you are slammed with your projects, but we are required to complete this step by this specific date,” communicates the urgency of the matter while recognizing their challenges and perspective. If you are wondering why you “have to be the bigger person,” the answer is that, as the project manager, it is your job to get the project through on time. Throw your ego out the door and keep your eye on the deadline.
Hard Ball
If you work with someone who is chronically missing deadlines (no judgement), give them a deadline that is a few days earlier than you actually need. Some people only get to things when they are overdue. For the overworked and overwhelmed, it is helpful to set a meeting to discuss their comments on the due date. Send a reminder a day or two before with a casual, “Hey, just checking to make sure you had a chance to look at the document before our call tomorrow. If not, no worries, I’ll walk you through it.” Be friendly, but make sure the message is clear that you aren’t letting them off the hook if they haven’t had a chance to review. The purpose of this meeting is to pin them down. If you are using paper plan sets, meet in person. If your team is using Bluebeam or other digital review software, use Teams or Zoom so that you can get them moving on their review. Further, it helps to call out some specific issues ahead of time. For example, “I’m hoping you can weigh in on whether the plans have sufficient information for you to review the water and wastewater connections for the 180 new units.” Or, “the Specific Plan calls for an additional 1,000 units in the area, we need your help in understanding infrastructure capacity.”
We all serve the public, and our goal is to ensure a positive future for the cities and counties we serve.
Remember
We all serve the public, and our goal is to ensure a positive future for the cities and counties we serve. We can’t do it without building interdepartmental relationships and working together. Be kind, be sincere, say thank you, and remember we are all human. It may take time for your efforts to bear fruit. As Planners, we are project managers. By implementing best practices and clearing the communication pipeline with Public Works, we can foster long-term relationships to create better plans, make development review more effective, and allow us to better serve our jurisdictions.
M-Group can help!
If you are struggling to communicate with your Public Works team, M-Group provides short Public Works-focused presentations on planning topics such as State housing laws, the Permit-Streamlining Act, ministerial review, and CEQA. These presentations help Public Works staff understand timelines and requirements that can serve as a critical building block for mutual understanding.
By Heather Gurewitz, AICP, Senior Planner