Agenda - Planning Commission - 08/03/2006

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such a meeting. the permit review coordinator shall: (al Identify the comprehensive plan poli- cies and plan map designations applicable to the proposal; (b) Identify relevant ordinance provisions. including 9Ubstantive and proce- dural requirements. applicable to the proposal; (c) Provide available tecnnical data that wiil aid the applicant; (d) Identify other governmental policies and regulations that relate to the pro- posal; and (e) Identify any other reasonable opportunities or constraints concerning the application. Failure of the permit coordinator to provide any of the information in (a) to (el above shall not constitute a waiver of any criteria or require- ments for the application. Comment: Paragraph (6) allows the permit.:. review coordinator to convene meetings for the applicant that would include local govern- ment officials. the local public health depart- ment. and the local utility company_ All would be involved. for example. in the review of a subdivision. Such a committee could also include officials from adjoining local govern- ments where the development would be located partly in another jurisdiction. One advantage of such a meeting is that. early in the design process. the applicant is' o given information that clarifies how the land development regulations collectively apply to the property. This can prevent problems that arise when an applicant misunderstands development regulations and spends time and money to prepare plans that might violate those regulations. In addition. the meeting allows an applicant to determine if variances. which are minor departures from tiie strict and literal interpretation of the zoning ordinance are. in fact. needed for the project. or if good design alternatives are available that lessen or eliminate the need for them. The limitation on the participation of cer- tain officials in the preapplication meeting is to ensure that officials who must make a decision based on a record created at a hearing are not involved in ex parte contacts with applicants or others. For example. if a development needed a variance from the board of zoning appeals. a member of the board could not participate. On the other hand. a preapplication meeting could involve the local government's engineer. build. ing official. and planning director. (7) The permit review coordinator may establish a technical advisory committee comprised of officials from the local government and other governmental and nongovernmental organiza. tions who would be involved in reviewing and acting on a development to coordinate action on applications for development permits and preliminary approvals. A technical advisory committee. however. shall have no authority to approve. approve with conditions. or deny applications. Comment: Paragraph (7) describes the type of technical advisory committee typically estab- lished within a local government to review cer- tain types of proposed development (e.g.. sub- divisions and PUDs) that involve multiple decision makers. It is important for the plan- ning department to consider the views of the health department about the minimum lot size for a septic tank or the project's "friendliness" toward pedestrians and bicyclists. for exam- ple. Similarly. the parks and recreationidepart- . ment may have an opinion on t~e location of a proposed park in a new subdivision or PUD. 105. Consolidated permit review process; permit coordinator [available as a web-based enhance- ment on the Zoning Practice webpages) 106. Completeness review of application; when application is deemed complete (available as a web-based enhancement on the Zoning Practice web pages! 107. Decision-making criteria In making a decision for the following types of development permits. preliminary approvals. zon- ing district map amendments. and amendments to text of the land development regulations. the . approving authority shall apply the following crite- .ria. provided that approval. denial. or approval with conditions shall be based on the criteria applicable at the time the application was Rrst accepted: Comment: The criteria the local government approving authority uses to make the particular land-use decision should be set forth under each of the headings in Section 107. Because each set of land development regulations con- tains unique criteria for different types of land- use decisions or because statutes might estab- lish the criteria independent of local regulations (as in the case of a variance). this model does not attempt to describe all of them. Examples of the language to be used are underthe headings of a building permit. a zoning permit. and a zoning district map amendment. If this section is drafted using an internal citation style rather than the style setting. forth the complete crite- ria. the internal citation should be as specific as possible. For ezample. if the criteria for approv- ing a conditionaJ use permit appear in Article 12 of the zoning code. but the precise language is in Section 12-103(2). the internal citation should refer to that section. including paragraph (2). Doing so will eliminate confusion as to what parts of a code actually constitute "criteria.' (a) Building permit. The chief building official shall approve an application for a building permit if the official Rnds that the application complies with the relevant provisions of the building code. (b) Zoning permit. The zoning administrator shall approve an application for a zoning permit: 1. If the administrator Rnds that the application complies with the relevant provisions of the zon- ing code; and 105 ZONINGPRACTlCE 6.06 AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION I page 5