Limit number of development applications / reviews?

[michaelskis]

Let me start by saying that I am not a fan of this practice. But perhaps I am just to ridged in my thinking so I thought I would inquire.

In seeking feedback of how long members of our multi-department development review team need to do their reviews, one person said that the time is not the issue, it is the number of applications. This person is the sole representation for their discipline and has things other than development reviews to do.

In looking up the laws, while it technically appears to be legal in this state, I still have due process concerns and how to we determine the type/number of applications? the Review for a 7-11 is going to be different than a 100 acre mixed use development. In my last place, we did put a cap on residential permits to no more than 10 new building permits, per development, per week. Every development could still submit, but we realized the odds of all 10 of them submitting in the same week was not likely. We had to use it a handful of times where someone was trying to sneak something past us.

Having said that, do you know of any municipality that has successfully limited the number of development applications per review cycle.

 

[MacheteJames]

You mean you don't already queue them up and have staff slow walk them as demand necessitates? i.e. take some extra time doing a completion check, or put them in a holding pattern while staff awaits some piece of needed info? You can't be expected to scale your department on-demand to meet where the market is at a given moment. And, in my experience, it's rare for applicants to get everything flawless on the first attempt. There's always the sheet missing a stamp, or a driveway apron without rim and inverts, or forgetting to provide a will-serve request letter, etc. Asking for that stuff to be rectified is your first window to buy some extra time.

 

[Wannaplan?]

Having said that, do you know of any municipality that has successfully limited the number of development applications per review cycle.

I think such a policy could be justified if your community could reasonably demonstrate a nexus between rate of development and its anticipated impact on available infrastructure and planned future improvements.