Community Development outlines permits, staffing and 2026 comp‑plan and UDO work

Kevin Todd, city director of community development, briefed the council on department organization, 2025 permitting and enforcement statistics, and planned work for 2026, including adoption of the comprehensive plan and steps to update the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). Todd described five divisions — current planning, long‑range planning, building, compliance (code enforcement), and administrative support — and said managers were placed in each division this year. He said the department hired a floodplain manager, an additional administrative specialist, and a long‑range associate planner in 2025 and that a long‑time employee retired in May. Why it matters: Todd said the comprehensive plan update will replace the city’s future land‑use map with a new place‑type map and guide downtown, village and economic development policy. He said the UDO update will follow the comprehensive plan and will likely require outside consulting support because of staff capacity limits. Todd presented January‑through‑August 2025 permit data and said total permit valuation jumped to $7.59 million (reported as millions), driven largely by a single large community hospital permit with an estimated $210,000,000 construction value that skews the totals. He said permit volumes are modestly down compared with last year but permit value remains strong because of large projects. He described code enforcement work as roughly 80 cases by August and said most cases are resolved without court; only a small number reached court this year. He said BZA filings dropped from roughly 30 on average to 13 this year because a UDO amendment reduced common variance needs (for example, residential pool setback variances were addressed by a rule change). Planned 2026 work Todd listed included formal adoption of the comprehensive plan, beginning a UDO update (likely with consultants), continuing neighborhood and village planning, public engagement efforts (noting a public input meeting Oct. 16 at the library), a rollout of new permitting/inspection software, consideration of a residential deck permit and inspections, and a possible contractor licensing requirement to improve workmanship accountability. Todd described the compliance division’s workload as roughly 60% tall grass/weeds, 30% trash and debris, and the remainder nuisance and illegal uses; he said code staff also handle many permit reviews and sign and event permit work. He said the department administered the first round of neighborhood vibrancy grant awards totaling more than $160,000. Councilors asked for comparative county data and for metrics on commercial business moves into existing buildings; Todd said that data is not tracked in the same place but could be approximated via sign or remodel permits and the department will provide additional analysis on multifamily permitting later.