Town planning and development staff presented a six-point plan for site-plan process improvements at the Oct. 2 Planning Commission meeting, and told commissioners they will bring formal recommendations to the Town Council in December.

The director said the effort began with interviews of a dozen local developers and engineers and produced roughly 390 comments grouped into themes. Staff identified strengths (knowledgeable and accessible technical staff) and recurring complaints: long review times, voluminous comment letters seeking perfection rather than solutions, and inconsistent expectations for application quality.

Six-point plan summary
1) Update regulatory documents — continue zoning rewrite and DCSM (Design and Construction Standards Manual) updates; seek funding to update subdivision and land development regulations.
2) Behavior and culture change — streamline comment letters, focus on critical issues, and reduce large multi-disciplinary meetings where possible.
3) Organizational strategy — evaluate staffing levels and consider an ombudsperson to guide applicants through the process.
4) Change the narrative — publicize successful projects and consider a satisfaction survey to support continuous improvement.
5) Quality applications and intake — raise checklist standards and reject low-quality submissions to meet tightened state review timelines.
6) Expedited review program — evaluate models from other jurisdictions to offer a faster track for high-quality, pre-screened applications.

The director said staff would present concrete process-improvement recommendations to the Town Council in December and invited the commission to remain a stakeholder. Commissioners responded that the town’s site-plan review is improved over the past decade but agreed more work is needed to balance speed and technical rigor.

Ending: staff noted two upcoming legislative items (a town-plan amendment for a steep-slope parcel called Harp Estates and a drive-through restaurant request), and said they will keep the commission informed as the site-plan work proceeds.