Surprise City Council has begun consideration for a proposal that would make site plan approval an administrative item rather than requiring action by the Planning and Zoning Commission.
A separate streamlining item under discussion would place final authority for administrative plats with Planning and Zoning, rather than sending them to City Council.
Council members generally expressed interest in the ideas, which could come up for a vote in a future meeting.
Some members, however, were concerned that the process revision would remove one public hearing from the process. Supporters argued that public comment is not particularly relevant in the site plan and preliminary plat stages of the approval process.
City research showed nearly a third of P&Z application reviews in 2021 were site plans.
Several other Valley cities, including Phoenix, Avondale, Glendale and Mesa approve site plans administratively.
Community Development Director Chris Boyd estimated the change would reduce processing time by 24 months and save an estimated 96 hours of staff time.
Leaving preliminary plats at the P&Z level, rather than sending them on to City Council, would cut another 30 days off the process. (Source)