Community Development Customer Service Initiative

About the Program

Category: Planning (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

Seeking to improve development review processes, the Hanover County Board of Supervisors established a Community Development Customer Service Initiative in Fiscal Year 2008. That initiative resulted in the re-engineering of most of the County’s development review processes, including the review and approval of zoning applications, conditional use permits, special exceptions, site plans, and subdivisions. The processes were streamlined and processing timelines were reduced. For example, for the administrative review processes such as site plan and subdivision approval the review time for first submittals was reduced between 25% and 50% depending on complexity; review times for additional submittals were cut by approximately 60%. Firm review deadlines were established to make these processes more predictable. The regulatory approach was replaced with a “how can we help you” approach and performance tracking mechanisms were created. These improvements were made possible in part by the implementation of multi-departmental case management teams consisting of planning, public works, and public utilities review staff. After a case management team has been assigned to a project, the same team remains with the project throughout the process, from zoning through subdivision. The case management teams report to a Project Manager who monitors on-time performance and serves as the liaison with the development community.