The Surprise Planning & Zoning Commission met April 7th to consider policy changes to streamline approvals.
According to a presentation to the Commission, the process started last December when the mayor and City Council directed staff to find ways of improving projects’ speed to market.
Staff studied its options from December through February and presented findings to Council. The mayor and council then directed the staff to pursue a zoning text amendment.
Among the proposed changes are:
- Removing the “major” and “minor designations for site plan amendments;
- Put the decision-making authority for preliminary plats in the hands of the Commission, with appeals going to City Council;
- Require site plan reviews for all developments except for tenant reviews and single-family residential;
- Process site plan amendments in the same manner as their original applications,
- Set validity limits of two years for approved site plans and amendments;
- Change the type of site plan reviews needed for some development districts.
Results of the meeting were not available at press time.