Rotation #17- Permits, Records, and Planning

For my 17th rotation, I spent the morning with the permits and records division, and my afternoon with planning. Both are involved in the long process that involves getting building permits in the town of Marana.The best way to sum up the process in the way that I learned would be to use a hypothetical situation.

Pretend for a moment that a big time pizzeria was coming to Marana, and they were going in on Arizona Pavilians (remember, this is hypothetical!).

The first step this pizzeria must take is to first find a location, and then do a pre-application meeting with the planning department. The planning department will also call in specialists from other departments that are directly related to the project location (engineering, water, plan examiners, traffic, etc). At this meeting, the pizzeria will present their plans, and then each of the departments will discuss any concerns they have or point out any requirements (a good example of this is the Quik Trip going in on Cortaro Rd east of I10. In order to have that Quik Trip there, a left turn lane must be built, and traffic lights must be put in).

If the project is approved, then the pizzeria must submit plans or plats for the review process depending on what is necessary for the project (plans are usually associated with buildings, while plats are for parking lots or housing development). The review process can take up to 1 month, where examiners will look at the submitted plans and address any concerns. The pizzeria is also available to respond to these concerns.

If any rezoning is required, or a special plan is required, a council meeting is held. Council is generally very receptive. However if the development does not require any special requirements, it may be administratively approved without council involvement.

At this point the plans are signed off internally and externally (by any organizations involved with the location). The pizzeria can now be issued a permit, which they use when building their new pizzeria location.

Does town involvement stop there? Nope. That's when building safety and inspections get involved, to make sure the construction process follows town codes and ordinances.

Rezoning

Rezoning is interesting, because a developer can choose to reform to one of Marana's classifactions, or it can create their own. An example of a special plan would be Gladden Farms II, where the developer wanted an age restricted area for the retirement community. Marana is currently in the process of rewriting their entire land development code.

Planning

The planning department essentially plays two roles; looking at current development, and planning for the long term. I learned about some important priorities for the future of Downtown Marana. Guidelines on how it would look dictate that there should be walkable areas, and that storefronts are up front with parking fields in the back. It was exciting trying to visualize how the area around my office will look in the future.