Live-Work Czar Services
Encouraging and Coherently Regulating Live-Work in Your City
As The Live-Work Czar, Thomas Dolan will review the state of Live-Work policy in your city, then work with the various departments to develop a coherent approach to live-work that will facilitate its integration into how your city functions.
After an initial assessment and meetings with staff and stakeholders regarding the specific needs of your city, we will research and formulate recommendations for policy refinements, which can then be vetted by all stakeholders. Based on consensus going forward, The Live-Work Czar will:
- Articulate a vision for the role of live-work in your city, viewing it as an organizing principle for planning mixed use settlement patterns
- Propose new live-work planning, building, and other regulatory solutions including incentives that encourage the right kinds of live-work in the right places
Initial Deliverables:
- Finalized planning regulatory language including definitions, proposed locations for different regulatory types, and regulations that encourage live-work as an element that is essential to future development in your jurisdiction.
- Plain English interpretations of live-work and other regulations for staff and applicant use, to be available online and in print form
- Training sessions and materials to help planning, building and fire department staff to implement the regulations
- Public presentations regarding live-work to inform your citizens about live-work as a viable, sustainable option
Ongoing Services following Initial Work:
- Review of your experience with the new live-work regulations and incentives; suggest refinements and revisions as needed
- As an advocate for the best outcome for your city, work with applicants and staff to review potential applications, revise or refine their designs to conform to best practices in live-work design and planning, and shepherd live-work projects through to completion, including both planning entitlements and building permit approval.
Typical Package of Live-Work Czar Services
- Initial contact, correspondence and discussions regarding the present state of your city’s live-work policy and regulations: identify problems, opportunities and overall direction
- Meetings with planning, building, fire and other staff to introduce live-work in its many forms
- Formulate a work plan to optimize the integration of live-work into your city’s live-work policy and regulations
- Production of a draft set of recommendations
- Presentations to staff and public talks to familiarize stakeholders with live-work and its possible application in your city, and to receive input from the public (this may occur earlier)
- Incorporation of stakeholder input into a specific policy report with recommendations
- Writing of live-work planning regulations, building and fire code interpretations, and other proposed options to encourage live-work
- Assistance and testimony regarding enactment of new live-work regulations
- Training staff to receive and approve applications and to inspect and finalize projects.
- On an as-needed basis, working with staff and applicants to optimize implementation of live-work policies, initiatives and new regulations
