Deep within a 325-page bill approved during the Ohio General Assembly’s lame-duck session last year is a provision that allows a fast-growing township in western Licking County to bypass the county planning process and work with New Albany for development plan reviews.
The reason?
“We’re aware of projects that have been hung up in planning for two or three years,” said Rob Platte, administrator for Jersey Township, which requested the law change to expedite the review of plans and issuance of permits for development proposals.
The provision appears on pages 146-148 of HB 315, the so-called “Christmas-tree” bill that included many different law changes, including declaring “Ukraine Independence Day” in Ohio on Aug. 24, changing the requirements for publishing public notices and establishing a brownfield remediation program.
Platte said the township will continue to work with the Licking County Planning Department, but the language in state law provides an alternative route to speed up the process.
“If I’m a developer, and we say, ‘Here’s an ideal site for a hotel,’ and the township agrees, and we can get approved by the township in 60 to 90 days, and then we go to the county and are rejected, it can drag on for many more months,” Platte said.
And if the developer is in planning-review limbo for months or years, he said, the developer might walk away in frustration – which is a loss of time and money for that company and a loss of a project that could have benefited the community.
Platte was quick to say that the Licking County Planning & Development office staff is dedicated and hard-working, but the review of the technical aspects of each plan involves many different offices. It can be slow and “needs to be streamlined” so that it works more like the processes in Fairfield and Delaware counties, he said.
The law change that allows Jersey Township to go through the New Albany Community Development Department, which says on its web page that it “operates at the speed of business, offering a one-stop shop for new development, expansions and relocations,” takes effect the first week of April.
After that, Platte said, if the county planning office hasn’t completed a proposed development plan within 90 days, Jersey Township can choose to inform the county that it will take the project to New Albany for review and approval. He said Jersey Township already contracts with New Albany for feedback on development proposals, even as they also wind their way through the county review process.
The Licking County Planning Commission, which includes all three county commissioners, is aware that the planning department is taking too long to review and approve some development proposals – everything from a single home in the country to a new subdivision or warehouse complex.
County Commissioner Duane Flowers said he doesn’t begrudge Jersey Township seeking another avenue to speed up the process, because “township trustees need all the tools they can get,” but he wants to see the county find ways to make the process easier to navigate and move faster. The goal is to give the full planning commission recommendations for improvements by June, he said.
“We just live in a world of constant change, and we need to respond to what’s coming,” Flowers said about the wave of development washing over Licking County.
That the Planning & Development office has been shorthanded without a director for more than a year probably contributes to the problem, Flowers said. The planning commission was close several times in the past year to hiring a director but wasn’t able to make a hire for various reasons. It is close again now, he said, and the commission hopes to hire someone very soon.
In the meantime, Flowers proposed a review of the process and pulled together a working group in December. David Edelblute, the county administrator, is part of that group and conducted three surveys to get an initial look at where the planning staff, builders and developers, and past members of the technical review committee, which includes engineers, safety officials, soil and water experts, and others.
The surveys and casual conversations with contractors and developers indicates that most feel that the planning department is staffed with earnest, hard-working employees. Survey responses from constituents did say, however, that the staff could do a better job of communicating with them.
Flowers said that from his perspective as a county commissioner serving on the planning commission, and as a retired custom home builder of 50 years, it appears that “this is about process and procedures and how we can change those to make them better.”
The surveys support that conclusion and include some specific suggestions that will be considered by a planning commission committee appointed by commission chair Randall Bishop to do further study and come up with recommendations for improvements.
The suggestions from builders, engineers, developers and other constituents who responded to the survey are many, and some are deep in the weeds. Here are some of the high-level recommendations:
- Speed up response times, improve communication channels and set firm deadlines for review.
- Streamline the review process, particularly for smaller projects and simple applications.
- Reform zoning and subdivision regulations to eliminate unnecessary hurdles.
- Improve leadership, staff training and accountability measures to ensure smoother operations.
- Adopt best practices from other Ohio counties to create a more efficient, user-friendly process.
A conclusion summarizing the feedback in one part of the survey speaks to common themes in the responses when it says that “while Licking County Planning Department staff is knowledgeable and committed, inefficiencies, lack of flexibility and communication gaps hinder progress. By implementing the recommendations outlined above, (the planning department) can become a more effective, responsive and development-friendly entity.”
Alan Miller writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.