Advising a planning commission

[flymykite]

What is the population of the community you work in and how do you folks coordinate reviews of site plans, special permits, etc. with your planning commissions/boards? How many people are on the review board, are they volunteers, and do they need expert advice and assistance from those employed in the planning profession? My guess is that if they are volunteer board members, dealing with reviews once a month, they could benefit from having an in-depth review and objective report on the various projects that are put before them for review. Do you think it would be more beneficial for the board to have an engineer or a planner assist them at their meetings? I know what my answer would be to that - a planner!

[NHPlanner]

I work in a community of about 25,000.

As the Town Planner, I coordinate the review of all subdivisions and site plans through our Design Review Committee and our outside engineering consultant. All applications are thoroughly reviewed by the DRC and our Consultant before they are presented to the Planning Board.

Our Planning Board is made up of 9 members, appointed by the Town Council. They are all volunteers, and meet twice monthly.

Both myself and the Assistant Director of Public Works & Engineering attend all Planning Board meetings, and provide recommendations to the Board on all applications, and answer any technical or process related questions that arise during the meetings.

I think I hit most of your questions.

[Downtown]

What is the population of the community you work in and how do you folks coordinate reviews of site plans, special permits, etc. with your planning commissions/boards?

70,000. They review projects initially for Concept Acceptance, then for Final Review, after the applicant has met all the development regulations with the various DPW depts and the Planning Dept.

How many people are on the review board, are they volunteers, and do they need expert advice and assistance from those employed in the planning profession?

7, paid "volenteers", and they don't think they need any advice at all about planning.

[luckless pedestrian]

What is the population of the community you work in and how do you folks coordinate reviews of site plans, special permits, etc. with your planning commissions/boards? How many people are on the review board, are they volunteers, and do they need expert advice and assistance from those employed in the planning profession? My guess is that if they are volunteer board members, dealing with reviews once a month, they could benefit from having an in-depth review and objective report on the various projects that are put before them for review. Do you think it would be more beneficial for the board to have an engineer or a planner assist them at their meetings? I know what my answer would be to that - a planner!



5 k year round, 18k in summer
I provide staff support to the Planning Board as Planning Director. I am responsible to cooridnate staff reviews from Police, Fire, divisions under Public Works and Code Enforcement - my admin coordinates the paperwork and follow up
I have 5 people on the Planning Board, 7 on Design Review Board
in the last 2 towns I worked in, I had the Town Engineer review applications but we don't have one here so I make the applicant pay for peer review