Several members of the Sacramento City Council said last week they were unaware of a city permitting program used for Nestlé’s controversial water bottling project, but the program was outlined to councilmembers in 2006. 

Shawn Eldredge, a general contractor and candidate for the 3rd District City Council seat, pointed out that elected officials learned about the Facilities Permit Program during a council meeting on April 25, 2006. Eldredge, who has worked on two projects approved through the FPP program, said the program helps builders and contractors avoid lengthy delays.

The Development Oversight Commission, made up of community members who have been appointed by the City Council, wrote a report for the 2006 meeting. It includes a section on the Facilities Permit Program, noting that it is a project of the Development Services Department, now known as the Community Development Department.

“The DSD has taken the novel approach of assigning a plan review and inspection team to a particular development or building,” the report said. “The team will review and inspect all projects within the development, in some cases even performing the plan reviews at the job site. This is much more efficient and economical than the traditional approach of assigning the project to the next review team in line without regard to their familiarity or experience with the particular building.”

Eldredge said that builders who use the program are required to follow code requirements and pay fees. The inspectors who review the plans visit the construction sites, he said. “When [the inspectors] come to see you, they know the building,” Eldredge said. That knowledge improves and speeds the permitting process, he added.

“For politicians to be attacking the program means they don’t understand what works in this city.”

David Kwong, the city’s planning division director, said recently that the FPP is intended to speed approval for tenant improvements or renovation of commercial and industrial buildings involving businesses that often work with the city.

The informal approval process used in the Nestlé project has drawn attention to the FPP.

In the case of Nestlé, the company and its contractors received verbal approval from the city to start construction. But the company and its contractors did not have a city building permit or “start-work authorization.”

Nestlé has said it followed city laws.

The city attorney’s office declared recently that it is illegal for the city to approve the start of construction for projects that do not have building permits, Kwong said.

Councilmembers, meanwhile, responded Monday to a question about why they claimed no knowledge of the FPP when they were told about the program in 2006.

Councilwoman Lauren Hammond said the 2006 report did not address the current controversial practice of allowing construction to start without a building permit. “I still don’t remember anyone describing to the mayor and council an approval process for building before actual permits are granted,” she wrote in an e-mail.

Councilman Kevin McCarty said that whether or not the Development Oversight Commission discussed the program, the city needs to address the FPP's legality. “In the meantime, it still appears that the council and city never legally authorized the FPP,” he said.

Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy said she didn’t remember hearing about the FPP in 2006, noting that councilmembers receive extensive amounts of information. Regardless of when it was discussed, it should have been presented to the City Council as an ordinance “because it was a major change and it was policy,” she said.

Councilman Steve Cohn said it wouldn’t surprise him if there had been a briefing on FPP “years ago” and that now councilmembers don't remember the program’s name. Cohn said last week that he didn’t know specifically about FPP, but that he did know the city had been working to streamline the permitting process. He said the City Council has received “quite a few” briefings over the last few years on changes that would streamline permitting.

Councilmembers Bonnie Pannell and Rob Fong also said last week that they had not been informed about the program. They were not immediately available Monday afternoon.

Staff reporter Suzanne Hurt contributed to this story. Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.