A heavy lift for a "lighter" site plan
City staff is digging in its heels.
It looks like City Council is not quite ready to move forward on reforming the Site Plan and subdivision process, although there is an item on the Thursday agenda to do so. There remain too many questions about a proposed ordinance put forward by Development Services staff that builders say wouldn't actually change much.
Site plan is typically a big and costly part of any development besides single-family residential. These days it typically takes at least a year to get through site plan. If your project requires you to "subdivide" the property, then there is an additional "subdivision" process that is also long and costly.
For a few years there has been talk about developing a "site plan light" for smaller scale projects. Two years ago Council took an important step on that front by voting to simply exempt any project of four units or less from site plan; those now go through the much simpler "building permit" process for single-family homes.
For months, however, staff has engaged in a lengthy back-and-forth with builders in an effort to craft an easier and cheaper site plan and subdivision process for projects that are between 5-16 units. Staff has suggested that this new site plan process could be completed in 90 days.
Industry sources scoff, saying that the city's development services bureaucracy, which stretches across multiple departments, simply isn't willing to make meaningful changes.
