Thinking to the Future.
“Future-proofing” is not just about making municipal operations go more smoothly, it’s also about creating a predictable environment for staff, developers and residents. Clearly defining roles, responsibilities and expectations establish a certain degree of trust and ensures a consistent review process.
Municipal governments come in all shapes and sizes, and you may not even have a dedicated department for planning and zoning. But regardless of structure—a team, or one person holding up the whole operation, the same basic set of strategies can help keep everyone—staff, officials, consultants—stay on the same page.
Step One: Assess
The first key to future-proofing your planning and zoning department is to assess the current operating procedures of your department. One key element of assessment is to look at how administrative assistants are being utilized. Often, our administrative professionals are the gatekeepers for submittals. Administrative professionals also may have long tenure with access to institutional knowledge that can be extremely helpful in making sure your department is resilient. As departments look to make improvements to the process, administrative professionals may help with updating tracking systems, which can be integral to the successful implementation of change. Because of their involvement, it is vital to seek their input and keep them in the loop with any updates or changes that are being made. It is also important to provide continuing education opportunities, as administrative professionals can make or break the system!
As you look to assess the health of your department, we recommend using the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s (MEDC) Redevelopment Ready Communities (RRC) program “Best Practices,” as a resource, even if your community isn’t engaged with the MEDC currently. The program guides communities to create predictable development experiences, ensures that your department meets local planning and zoning responsibilities under Michigan law, and outlines how to proactively seek out community development opportunities. For the sake of this discussion, we will focus on just two of the six best practice areas outlined in the plan: zoning and development review.
Best practices for zoning start with a periodic evaluation of your community’s zoning ordinance. A great time to do this is following a master plan update. During a zoning ordinance health check-up, make sure to include an evaluation and identification of outdated language, conflicting provisions, and confusing text. It should also identify opportunities for improvement, based on guiding principles listed in RRC’s best practices.
Best Practice 3 in the RCC program outlines the development review process best practices. When looking at your development review, here are some elements to consider:
- Clear processes: The zoning ordinance includes clear steps for major development review processes.
- Establish roles: The community has clearly identified a point of contact for development review activities.
- Timely assistance: the community defines and offers conceptual review meetings for applicants.
- Staff review: The community has a clearly documented internal staff review policy.
- Development process: The community streamlines the approval process by using administrative and planning commission approval authority.
- Fees & payment: The community maintains a fee schedule. The community offers clear methods of payment.
- Forms and manuals: The community makes development review information and forms readily available online.
- Tracking system: The community has a method to track development projects.
Step Two: Document
Documentation and the methods of information collection and storage can dictate the future success of your department. When looking at your forms, consider how many you have, if their format is consistent, if they capture the information required in your ordinances, if they are available online, and if the current forms fit your needs. When reviewing your development procedures, look to see if they are clearly stated in ordinances and if procedures align with the zoning ordinance. Additionally, look to see if deadlines and approval times are published (internally and externally) and if it is clear how much to charge for each type of review and how the progress of an application is tracked.
All of this information can be synthesized into development guides, which are valuable assets for staff and applicants alike. When creating a development guide, write it for the person who has never done this before—assume they don’t know what the boards and applications are. This will also help any staff member who is filling in or starting new behind the counter.
Step Three: Implement
Finally, it’s important to implement any changes discovered in the assessment and documentation processes. Understanding how political and staff changes might impact your processes will help you create or update processes that can withstand those future changes.
You may find ordinance changes are needed to align with updated review processes. Those amendments should be priorities. Also, consider your technological capacity and resources to select the best tools to implement any changes from the assessment and documentation stage. Great tools include project tracking software like BS&A, along with mapping databases like geographic information systems (GIS) and spreadsheets like excel or Google sheets.
Another part of implementation is training. Set up regular training for – elected and appointed officials, both new and longstanding, department & municipal staff, and even the applicant community to help you clearly communicate your policies and procedures.
Periodic assessments of the development review process, documents and forms, and tools for tracking projects and related ordinances can be helpful in keeping things running smoothly, regardless of who may be filling the roles in your department or throughout the municipal offices.
Note: This newsletter is based on a training workshop our planning team facilitated for the Michigan Association of Planning Fall 2022 Conference and the Michigan Municipal Executives 2023 Winter Conference.
For more information, please contact Giffels Webster at 866.271.9663. www.giffelswebster.com
