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COUNTY ~ MEMORANDUM

County Executive Office County of Placer

OF .'." ~

~ Place re TO: Board of Supervisors

FROM: Jennifer Merchant, Deputy CEO Chris Perry, Special Projects Manager

DATE: February 7, 2017

SUBJECT: Granting Approval Authority to DPWF Director for Special Events Encroaching on State Right-of -Way

ACTION REQUESTED Adopt a Resolution authorizing the Director of Public Works and Facilities (DPWF) to submit letters of approval for special events for the purposes of a California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) encroachment permit.

BACKGROUND Placer County is a premier destination for those seeking to host and attend outdoor special events such as sporting events, festivals, and fairs. In order to streamline business practices, County staff have worked with CalTrans to expedite the encroachment permit process for those events encroaching on state right-of-way, making it less cumbersome to achieve CalTrans requirements.

County staff hosted a multi-jurisdictional forum in September 2015 in order to identify the challenges of the special event permitting process, and to begin the process of developing solutions. There are a minimum of four departments in Placer County alone that an applicant could interface with in order to receive various special event approvals. These include: the Community Development Resources Agency, Public Works and Facilities, Environmental Health, and Sheriff. Other external agencies from which a special event applicant may be required to receive a permit include: local public utility districts, California Highway Patrol , CalTrans, and the United States Forest Service.

This web of jurisdictions prompted Placer staff to work to initiate both internal and external process improvements, with a focus on streamlining and improved coordination and communication. The resolution before you today is one of many process improvements either planned or already underway. CORA Tahoe staff is working to consolidate all county permits into one streamlined permit application and is developing a checklist for applicants. CEO Tahoe staff is working with Placer GIS staff to develop a clickable map whereby an applicant can click a location and trace a route, which will then populate the appropriate jurisdictions to contact for a permit. The County's contract with the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association has also been recently amended to work with applicants on processing permit applications when they have sponsored an applicant's event.

Currently, CalTrans requires your Board to pass a resolution of support for any event in Placer County that also requires an encroachment permit on state right-of way. Given the time constraints associated with processing a Board item, and given the ministerial nature of the task, agreement was reached to allow the Director of DPWF to approve these resolutions, negating the need to process additional paperwork for Board review. This agreement does not preclude an applicant from requesting a resolution of support should your Board want to demonstrate its support for a given event or cause. The DPWF Director determination is similar to encroachments permitted on County-maintained roads.

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If approved, new process steps would include: 1) an applicant speaks with CORA staff in order to determine which agencies to submit an application to; 2) if the applicant's event proposes to encroach on state right-of-way it will trigger the need for the Director of DPWF to submit a letter of approval for the event, to also include the proposed resolution delegating Board authority to act on its behalf; 3) the applicant will take the resolution of approval issued by DPWF and the Board resolution , and will submit them to CalTrans with the completed encroachment permit application.

FISCAL IMPACT None

ATTACHMENTS: Resolution

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Before the Board of Supervisors County of Placer, State of California

In the matter of: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS AND FACILITIES TO SUBMIT LETTERS OF APPROVAL FOR SPECIAL EVENT PERMITS NEEDING A CAL TRANS ENCROACHMENT PERMIT.

Resolution No.: -----

The following Resolution was duly passed by the Board of Supervisors of the County of Placer

at a regular meeting held __________ 2017, by the following vote on roll call:

Ayes:

Noes:

Absent:

Signed and approved by me after its passage.

Chair, Board of Supervisors

Attest:

Clerk of said Board

WHEREAS, Placer County staff has worked with the California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) on a mechanism to expedite approval of encroachment permits on state right-of-way for special events; and

WHEREAS, CalTrans will allow the Director of Public Works and Facilities (DPWF), to approve resolutions of support for special event permits that require a CalTrans encroachment permit in lieu of Board of Supervisors action ; and

WHEREAS, approval from the DPWF Director must be pursuant to the CalTrans Encroachment Permits Manual, Appendix I; and

WHEREAS, any ensuing permit application must have a copy of this Board resolution, in addition to the DPWF Director's written letter of support in order to complete a CalTrans encroachment permit application.

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BE IT RESOLVED, by the Board of Supervisors, County of Placer, State of California, to authorize the granting of authority to the Director of the Department of Public Works and Facilities to submit letters of approval for special events on Caltrans right-of-way for the purposes of an encroachment permit.