City told to unify, simplify, satisfy

Seven months ago, Mayor Bob Buckhorn asked a panel of planners, developers and city employees to come up with ways to make the city more competitive with rivals such as Charlotte, N.C., and Atlanta.

On Tuesday, the Economic Competitiveness Committee advised the mayor to unify, simplify and satisfy:

• Unify the city's rules controlling development by creating a single book that puts them all in one place instead of continuing with the disjointed, one-rule-layered-atop-another approach now in place.

• Simplify the bureaucracy overseeing development so builders understand better who has the final say over their projects and can access the review process via the Internet.

• Satisfy the developers by treating them like customers instead of adversaries and providing staff members who can shepherd large projects through the review process.

Panel members said their suggestions would "transform the development process into a system that is fast, efficient, clear, affordable and predictable."

Recommendations run the gamut from trees and landscaping to sidewalks, stormwater runoff and solid waste.

"I think we've helped cement the tone and the procedures and the opportunities to make things move faster and cost less," said Adam Carnegie, a planner with Tampa-based WilsonMiller Stantec.

As Buckhorn pushes ahead with projects such as the redevelopment of riverfront land along Rome Avenue, he sees a streamlined review process as crucial to attracting the private investment needed to change the face of the city.

"We can't compete with the Charlottes, the Atlantas and the Raleigh-Durhams of the world if we can't get people through the permitting process," he said.

By revamping the development process, Buckhorn is following the path of other area governments that have used the lull created by the economic downturn to retool systems.

The city has taken its first steps toward meeting the committee's recommendations. Last month, the city council approved the purchase of a new computerized system for handling development plans.

The $2.9 million overhaul will let builders submit plans electronically and track their progress online. City staff members will work from the same electronic file rather than using multiple paper copies.

The next step, Buckhorn said, will be to set a timetable for putting the rest of the committee's recommendations into action. The committee's timetable shows the bulk of the changes going into effect from April through the end of the year, with some spillover into 2013.

Some of the changes will need the approval of the city council.

Council member Lisa Montelione was on the committee and welcomed the changes. She has her own battle scars from navigating the city's bureaucracy on behalf of her family's construction company.

"It was a nightmare to go through the process," she said. "The technology improvement that's already under way is going to be huge."

Buckhorn said that changing the face of the city needs to start with changing the culture of the city bureaucracy.

"We here to help," Buckhorn said. "We're not here to get in the way."