County supervisors voted unanimously Wednesday to formally establish a new citizen review committee that will be part of a series of improvements to the County’s land use permitting process.
The committee, which will provide reports to the Board, is being created to help County planners develop ways to measure land-use performance that show permitting improvements make the system faster and less expensive without compromising the quality of review.
The Board had already approved the idea of creating the new committee in May. But Wednesday’s vote formally established the Land Development Performance Review Committee and clears the way for the Board to name the committee’s seven members this fall.
The committee’s membership will include:
The new citizen review committee is expected to begin meeting in the fall and will work with the new “Planning and Development Services” department that the Board voted to create in May. The new department is being created to improve County land use processes by re-organizing, re-naming and re-invigorating them.
That department will open its doors this fall. It will include all of the functions and personnel of the current Department of Planning and Land Use and some land-use functions within the Department of Public Works and the Department of Parks and Recreation.
Other departments that are part of the land-use process, including the Department of Environmental Health, the San Diego County Fire Authority, County Counsel and other Department of Public Works functions that are not transferred to the new department, will be located within the new department’s offices.