MEMO / NOTE DE SERVICE

To / Destinataire
From / Expditeur
Subject / Objet

Mayor and Members of Council

Michael Mizzi
Acting General Manager
Planning and Growth Management
Development Review Pilot Program

Date: 04 June 2015

This memorandum is to advise that the Planning and Growth Managements Development
Review Services Branch is launching a new internal pilot program in our continuing effort to
improve service. The Client Relationship Leader pilot program will improve the efficiency and
focus of operations. This program will:

Empower staff to provide more leadership on issues;

Identify gaps in procedures and information sharing;
Ensure consistent application of policies;
Improve timelines for application processing;
Contribute to succession planning;
Improve employee engagement;
Strengthen intradepartmental communications; and
Increase capacity to resolve issues within the branch.

Under the pilot program, a number of staff from Development Review Services have
volunteered to become Client Relationship Leaders in addition to their regular responsibilities.
These staff will be matched with a development industry representative to provide one point of
contact for addressing issues and inquiries. Through this model, we are ensuring that we are
building staff expertise, undertaking quality assurance, and ensuring that the right level of staff
is addressing the issue at hand. An efficient, timely and transparent development approval
process is important for Ottawas competitive edge and quality of life.
This program is derived from the Citys service promise agenda. Further to this, research for
this pilot program included the examination of strategies used by companies recognized for
their excellent client service.
The pilot will include training and will commence at the end of this month. The pilot will be
monitored continually, and it will be evaluated within six months.
This initiative compliments the concerted efforts Planning and Growth Management has
undertaken in the last two years towards improving the service to, and the ways in which we
interact, with residents and community groups. Last years initiatives included:

Implementing a plain language guideline for all planning documents;

Improving the quality of development review staff reports, including providing Council
with a greater understanding of public consultation results;
Increasing the transparency of the Urban Design Review Panel;
Renewing planning-related web content on Ottawa.ca from a residents perspective;
Piloting a program on pre-application consultations in Ward 17; and
Launching the award winning new development signage which improved delivery of
information to residents.

Staff are in contact with cities across Canada to learn best practices and are committed to a
culture that values all perspectives. This will compliment work underway this year to
reinvigorate the popular Planning Primer Program, improve all written communications to
residents (the subject of a presentation at Planning Committee on May 12, 2015 on our revised
circulation packages for development applications) and a new departmental e-newsletter
called Connections.
If you have any questions, please contact Lee Ann Snedden, Acting Chief, Development
Review Services at LeeAnn.Snedden@ottawa.ca or extension 25779.
Original signed by:
Michael Mizzi