Development Services Department           Mission Statement Partnering with our community to build and maintain a safer San Antonio. Program Information The Development Services Department is responsible for protecting the health, safety, and quality of life of the citizens of San Antonio through regulation of land and building development and through enforcement of property maintenance and quality of life related codes. The department seeks to facilitate an efficient and effective development process that supports economic development. These processes include granting authority to develop land, construct, and occupy buildings. More specifically, the department is responsible for rights determination, subdivision mapping/parcel addressing, zoning and subdivision administration, building codes enforcement, contractor licensing and registration, landscaping, tree preservation, sign regulation, and traffic impact analysis. Since City development involves partnerships with other City departments and outside agencies, the department seeks to facilitate the coordination of these reviews to provide responsive customer service throughout the development process. In addition to facilitating land and building development, the department manages programs to help ensure minimum quality of life standards such as maintenance of property, dangerous structures and graffiti. These programs are dedicated to results-oriented and community-driven service delivery to help make San Antonio a vibrant and inviting community where people desire to live, work, and play. The Department also provides administrative and technical support to boards and commissions that direct and review issues on land development, construction regulations, and property maintenance. These boards include the Board of Adjustment, Building and Fire Codes Board of Appeals, Plumbing and Gas Appeals and Advisory Board, Mechanical Appeals and Advisory Boards, Electrical Board, Zoning Commission, Planning Commission and Building Standards Board.   Goals & Objectives Protect the health, safety, and quality of life of the citizens of San Antonio. Participate in the development of building-related codes at a national level. Adopt and update the latest building-related codes. Continue to operate the Special Inspections Program. Maintain accreditation of the department by International Accreditation Services, Inc. Implement new Building Standards Board. Partner with other City departments to find alternative means to address properties that may be subject to demolition. Support other City development-related initiatives. Improve cycle time. Expand use of electronic plan review. Continue community outreach to educate customers regarding the development process and to identify opportunities to improve cycle time. Enhance the use of TeleNav software for inspectors to improve accountability and efficiency. Establish benchmarks for the average number of plan reviews by review type and permit issued by permit type. Streamline and improve code enforcement and graffiti abatement process. Ensure consistency and quality of services provided. Consolidate all administrative sections of building-related codes currently found in Chapters 6, 10, 24 and 16 in the City Code of San Antonio into one chapter. Consolidate the four building-related appellate boards into one consolidated board for all codes. Increase the percentage of staff with non-mandatory certifications. Conduct two San Antonio Building Codes Academy (SABCA) events and hold monthly in-house staff training programs to ensure all staff receives the required continuing education credits to maintain certifications. Continue to increase cross-training to improve staff’s knowledge of developing and maintaining property. Complete final phase of integrating all City departments and outside agencies involved in the development process in the same land development software to eliminate silo software systems. Promote customer service philosophy to facilitate development and maintenance of property. Develop Customer Satisfaction Outreach Program. Expand the use of Event Notification Program. Expand the use of combination inspectors. Continue to facilitate high profile projects. Standardize the communication protocol for Neighborhood Association meetings to include improvements of information distribution and staff follow-up. Improve Code Enforcement TVSA program. Create additional "Code Enforcement Video Vignettes" to be placed on department website, distributed to Neighborhood Associations and played on TVSA program.