Good afternoon, everyone.

Welcome to our second streamlining development review work group meeting.

Today we are going to let's let's have a welcome and then we can do attendance.

It looks like everyone is here.

A lot of people are here.

So we'll just jump right into the discussion topics.

Today we're going to have a presentation from the planning department, Miss Sherry Connor, who's a division chief there.

She will talk about the development review process.

We'll go over improving the timing for development review application processes and possible consolidation of those applications.

And at the end, hopefully we will have some solid recommendations on how to expedite site plan review processes.

So if I may uh turn it over to Ms.

Connor.

Thank you so much for coming and providing your briefing.

Yes, thank you for the introduction, Director Hightower.

Appreciate that.

I'm going to share my screen so we can get started.

All right.

Can everyone see that?

Great.

Yes.

So last week we went over the process for preliminary plan of subdivision, and this week we're going to go over the detailed site plan process.

Of course, the detailed site plan is under the regulations of subtitle 27, the zoning ordinance.

A detailed site plan is a plan depicting the site development details.

It includes all of the design elements such as the building, location, landscaping, parking, other paved surfaces, signage, public art, all elements that you would find in what the site looks and feels like.

This plan has to demonstrate conformance with applicable zone standards, any standards that might be specific to that use, and development standards of the zoning ordinance.

So last week when we talked about preliminary plans, that's really the layout of the land, the lots, the streets, open space parcels, and then the detailed site plan is everything that is built on those lots and parcels.

This is step four.

Last week we were at step three for the subdivision preliminary plan, which I indicated was typically the first step in the development process.

But the main difference between the preliminary plan and site plan, and you'll see that the process looks very similar, is that the site plan is appealable, can be called up for review by the county council.

So when does detailed site plan apply?

Well, um detailed site plans are required prior to issuance of building permits for any development, unless that development is specifically exempted under the regulations.

Certain uses such as medical clinic or a religious facility may require a detailed site plan because of the specific use, regardless of its size.

But the general exemptions include small home improvements, signage, routine uh maintenance and repair, one dwelling, either single family, two-family, or three-family, um, less than 10 multifamily or townhouse dwellings, and generally less than 25,000 square feet of gross floor area, or less than 10,000 square feet and 10 dwellings for mixed use development.

And again, those specific uses that I mentioned and the examples given here, such as state licensed medical clinic, require a detailed site plan regardless of size.

So we look at both the general applicability and the specific use applicability.

Again, the detailed site plan process looks very similar to the process that we went over last week for preliminary plan.

That pre-application conference is required along with that pre-application neighborhood meeting.

It follows the same submittal process to the planning department, determination of completeness, staff review and public hearing before the planning board, except that after the planning board makes their decision and provides the notification, it may be appealed or elected to be reviewed by the district council.

And again, a lot of this information is the same that we went over last week, that pre-application conference.

Again, is the applicant's first opportunity to meet with staff and receive major issue comments or process confirmation of the approvals needed for their proposed development.

It may be very conceptual and limited information need to be submitted at this point.

Following that, the applicant will hold their pre-application neighborhood meetings.

They have to do notice as with the pre-application conference, informational mailing is done, and then again mailed notice and signed postings for the pre-application neighborhood meeting to really present that project to the neighborhood and get their feedback.

So some of the challenges remain the same as with the preliminary plan, including lead time for pre-application conferences, limited information available at this stage.

And then again, that investment or cost to fully prepare plans and documents without fully knowing what may be required or major changes that need to be made.

Additional community meetings as well may be held during these stages.

The opportunities there are to overlap the public notice, just as we talked about with the preliminary plan, not only can the public notice be kind of overlapped with the pre-application conference and pre-application neighborhood meeting, but also with the detailed site plan and the preliminary plan, including and holding meetings and providing those notifications for both applications at the same time.

Preparation of prerequisite plans, of course, should be done in advance to help expedite the process, such as the natural resource inventory plan.

Opportunities also include possible exemptions for smaller residential projects, such as 10 or fewer single family dwellings, two family or three-family dwellings.

Those are currently anything resulting in 10 or fewer dwelling units is a minor preliminary plan.

And so in order, you know, a possible alignment with the zoning ordinance and subdivision regulations to identify those smaller projects, which may be exempt from detailed site plan is another opportunity.

Some of the risks is again the same with the preliminary plan, that the project proposal may be refined as additional information or an input are given through the pre-application, pre-application neighborhood meetings and so forth.

So this is where the applicant submits after they've held held their prerequisite meetings.

They submit their development application, and staff reviews that submittal within 15 business days to determine if the application is complete, required contains all required plans and documents in order to be accepted for review.

Once it is determined to be complete, another notice is mailed to meet the public notice requirements, application fees are paid, and then the application is accepted.

Some of the challenges here are that prerequisite plans for an application submittal may take several months to prepare and or receive approval.

So an opportunity we identified here as we did with the preliminary plan is to hold a coordination meeting with staff, request that if the second round of submission does not result in a readiness to accept to ensure that you know we're understanding one another of what all of the issues are and that those can be addressed expeditiously.

Some of the risks here are additional processing time after acceptance if submittals are incomplete, and then additional staff time for additional meetings, of course, and then lack of details resulting in amendments to subs or subsequent detailed site plan review processes.

So if you know, for example, a detailed site plan does not include signage details, and the applicant leader you know wants to add signage, they'll need a detailed site plan amendment.

So those are some of the risks on really trying to expedite and push applications through that might not be fully ready.