This Monday, March 1, the City is launching Electronic Plan Review (ePR) for all new planning, building/fire, solar, and engineering permit requests. ePR is part of the City's effort to move from an in-person, paper-centric process to an online, digital process that includes maximizing the City's public permitting portal, Citizen Access.

Beginning March 1, applicants with a new permit request will need to submit their project plans and documents electronically. All plans and documents will need to conform to specific Document Format Requirements. Some of these requirements include: file drawing style; paper size; scale; file type; maximum file size; file content; file encryption; file naming; and page numbering. Upon submittal, plans/documents will be reviewed for conformance with the Document Format Requirements. Those that do not conform to these requirements will need to be corrected before they can be processed.

Also, beginning March 1, every applicant will need to have a Citizen Access account to access plan review comment letters and marked up plan sets. To set up a Citizen Access account, please visit Citizen Access and select “Register for Account” at the top right of the landing page.

For more information, please visit the City’s Electronic Plan Review webpage.

The City’s Development Services Center remains temporarily closed until further notice to help limit the spread of COVID-19. Protecting the health of employees and the community is the top priority for the City. Updates on reopening will be made available on the Center's webpage and emailed to the City's Builder's Interest List. The City is encouraging the public to use online permit services.

For more information about the closure, please contact the Development Services Center at 510-494-4443 or by email.

The City is conducting an update to its Development Impact Fee program, and there are three upcoming meetings scheduled (see information below). Fremont has five development impact fees: Fire Facility Fee, Capital Facility Fee, Traffic Impact Fee, Parkland Fee, and Park Facilities Fee.

Fremont City Council Presentation and Discussion - Tuesday, March 2 at 7:00 p.m. via Zoom
The Development Impact Fee Update item will be part of the regular City Council agenda and will include: a staff presentation, answering the Council's questions, hearing community input, and receiving the Council's input. The agenda for the City Council meeting, which will include a link to the staff report for this item, and a document with instructions on how to access the meeting will be posted to the City's Agenda Center no later than February 26.

Development Stakeholders Meeting - Thursday, March 25 at 3:00 p.m. via Zoom
The purpose of the meeting is to present proposed changes to development impact fees and receive stakeholder feedback. To access the meeting, participants can use this Zoom link.

Fremont City Council Public Hearing and Proposed Adoption - Tuesday, May 4 at 7:00 p.m. via Zoom
The Development Impact Fee Update item will be part of the regular City Council agenda. The technical reports for the development impact fee update and staff recommendations will be posted to the City's Development and Affordable Housing Fees webpage no later than April 13. The agenda for the City Council meeting, which will include a link to the staff report for this item, and a document with instructions on how to access the meeting will be posted to the City's Agenda Center no later than April 30.

For questions, please contact the Development Impact Fee Update project manager, Anne Quasarano, by email.

On February 16, City staff presented their proposed Safe Parking Strategy to the Fremont City Council. The proposed Strategy consists of the following three programs to provide designated secure parking areas in Fremont for unhoused people living in their vehicles:
 
1. Private host site program to allow faith-based sites to provide safe parking
2. Sanctioned parking program that provides services where people are currently parked
3. City-operated safe parking site program with comprehensive wrap-around services
 
The City Council directed staff to proceed immediately with developing the first option, a private host site program, and to return to the Council at a later date with additional information about the other proposed programs. 
 
The private host site program will allow a limited number of operable vehicles to park within existing parking lots, typically at faith-based organizations or non-profits, through an administrative City permitting process. Over the next month, City staff will continue working with faith leaders to develop an ordinance with operational and development standards for permitting these private safe parking sites. Staff plans to take the ordinance to the City’s Planning Commission for a recommendation in April 2021, prior to bringing it before the Council for consideration later in the spring.
 
For updates and additional information about the Safe Parking Strategy, please visit the City's webpage or contact staff by email.

The City's Climate Talks Week took place the first week of February and was a great success! Over 150 people attended virtually over the five days and participated in robust discussions on climate and sustainability issues. Thanks to everyone who participated!

As the City continues the Climate Action Plan (CAP) update process for Fremont, all of the feedback staff has received from the community will help in the development of a list of measures for the CAP.

For those who were unable to attend the Climate Talk sessions, video recordings and presentation slides are available on the City's CAP webpage.

For questions or comments about the CAP update, please contact the City's Sustainability team by email.

BART, in partnership with the City, is seeking community input on a public art project planned for the new Irvington BART Station that will be located at the intersection of Washington Boulevard and Osgood Road. A short community survey is now available and includes questions about what makes Irvington and Fremont a special place to live, visit, and work. The input received will help selected artist Rebeca Méndez develop her art concepts for the new station. The survey is anonymous and closes this Sunday, February 28 at 12:00 p.m.