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City Planning seeks funds to speed Plan Cincinnati update, flags zoning code rewrite and staff capacity pressures
Summary
City Planning and Engagement highlighted Connected Communities gains and said it seeks funding to update Plan Cincinnati and later the zoning code; the department said zoning plan examiners are working above capacity and a career ladder was recently established.
Catherine Keough Juris, director of the Department of City Planning and Engagement, told the budget committee the department completed the citywide community engagement policy in September 2024, played a lead role on Connected Communities, and is seeking additional funding to accelerate the Plan Cincinnati update and a future zoning-code rewrite.
"Plan Cincinnati was adopted in 2012," Keough Juris said, and the department is asking for funding so an update does not take three years as the original plan process did. She said Plan Cincinnati’s update should be done more quickly with consultant support and that updating the zoning code — last substantially revised in 2004 — would follow the plan update.
Keough Juris described the department’s core services: long-range planning, neighborhood plans, subdivision review, zoning administration and permit review, and community engagement policy development. She noted the zoning administration division moved to the planning department in 2021 and the department currently has 18–19 FTEs after recent restorations of administrative staff.
The department said it generally meets performance targets for subdivision and permit review but that zoning plans examiners are operating at roughly 120% capacity. City Council recently approved a career ladder for zoning plans examiners that creates entry-level ZPE tech, current ZPE, and senior ZPE roles; the department said hiring an entry-level ZPE tech will provide relief for more complex plan reviews.
On neighborhood planning, Keough Juris said COVID interrupted several community plans and the department currently has roughly eight neighborhood plans underway. Neighborhoods enter the queue through the community budget request process and the department emphasized the work is a significant commitment for community leaders as well as staff.
Ending: The department asked for additional resources to complete Plan Cincinnati in about a year and to prepare for a subsequent zoning code rewrite; council members asked about neighborhood-plan prioritization and encouraged clearer resource requests to accelerate community planning.
