Environmental Plan Review Quality

About the Program

Category: Personnel Management, Employment and Training (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

The Department of Environmental Resources Management (DERM) is a review department in Miami-Dade County’s development approval process. Environmental review of development plans is essential for DERM to achieve its mission to balance today’s needs through responsible governance, education, and conservation, to protect the environment for tomorrow. Reviews are conducted in accordance with County, State, and Federal legislation designed to protect air, water, soil, and ecosystem quality. Quality plan review, or lack thereof, can have significant effects on environmental resource management through subsequent and irreversible construction activities. To ensure excellent quality of reviews created Plan Review College and a Quality Control process in January of 2007. The approach focuses on technical competency, consistency in application of rules, regulations and policy, completeness and correctness of reviews and clarity of documentation; factors also important for customer satisfaction. Due to the program, the quality of plans entering quality control has improved from 80% to over 97%. Most importantly, the quality control process ensures that 100% of critical impact plans meet requirements, resulting in robust environmental protection at each development site.