Page 143 - Microsoft Word - FY 2021 tax info sheet

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
PLANNING & ZONING DIVISION (100-20-201)

DEPARTMENT DESCRIPTION:
The Community Development Department's Planning and Zoning Division is responsible for planning, facilitating, organizing, and
directing the City's growth and development. The Division implements development policies in accordance with the City Council-
directed goals and objectives. The Division's responsibilities includes both short- and long-term planning. These efforts involve
zoning, commercial development, residential subdivision plan review and the attendant processes: platting, planned
developments, specific use permits, variances, and coordination of permit and impact fees. The Division provides project
management and coordination among other development-related departments (Public Works, Economic Development, Fire and
Police Departments, Community Services, and Utility Billing) by managing the Development Review Committee and providing
the primary City contact and coordination for property owners/developers and their construction projects. The Division is the
liaison for the Planning and Zoning Commission (P & Z) and the Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA). Also, staff provides
Commission recommendations to the City Council. Master planning (the Future Land Use Plan) and code amendments (the
Unified Development Code) are coordinated by this Division through Commission and Council procedures.

DEPARTMENT/DIVISION GOALS:
1. Restructure Division to more efficiently manage the Division and Planning Objectives.
2. Begin the requisite Unified Development Code (UDC) amendments to assure the Future Land Use Plan (FLUP) can be
achieved. Review UDC sections that are confusing or problematic and amend as needed.
3. Shift permitting and planning software to a more effective system to improve customer service capabilities.
4. Enhance and finalize the digital plans submittal process.
5. Having successfully integrated and streamlined the DRC process, it is now important to translate this process into
corresponding SOPs.

DEPARTMENT/DIVISION OBJECTIVES:
1. Utilize the Planner III to manage the day-to-day tasks/Planning workload of all planners, manage agendas, and be the primary
liaison to the Planning and Zoning Commission. Promote the Planner I to Planner II with the added responsibility of being the
liaison to the Zoning Board of Adjustments. This reorganization allows the Director to concentrate, in her planning role, as the
liaison to the City Council.
2. Several zoning ordinances need to be amended to support the recently adopted 2021 FLUP. In addition to these amendments,
other Code "clean-ups," simplifications, and clarifications need to occur. Revise the Tree Ordinance to prohibit mitigation on
individual private property, clarify tree protection requirements for new developments, address tree mitigation to avoid "upsizing,"
and work with Code Enforcement to improve tree inspections especially related to site finals.
3. Currently, the Division (as well as Building Services and Code Enforcement) struggles with the software utilized to track zoning
processes and construction submittals. By shifting to a more efficient and intuitive software, tracking the information related to
various planning and construction efforts will be more effective. Because multiple departments use this software to communicate
about the various submittals, it is critical that the software "speaks" to all. Better software communications will translate into
clearer reviews and better customer service.
4. Though submittals have transitioned over the last year to nearly completely electronic, a few issues still need to be resolved
before submittals of all kinds are entirely electronic. Some of these are software-related while others are process-related. The
objective is to finalize a completely electronic submittal process for all submittals this year.
5. Develop SOPs for each of the planning processes (SUPs, Variances, Platting, Zoning Requests, FLUP amendments, etc.)
addressed at DRC.

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