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Board delays zoning-code update creating a zoning administrator after public concerns; staff to brief planning agency
Summary
Permit Sonoma's proposed code changes to create a zoning administrator and shift some authorities drew extensive public comment and supervisor questions; staff will return with additional outreach and a Planning Commission/Planning Agency review and the item was continued to March 25 for further action.
Sonoma County's proposal to create a zoning administrator and to shift authorities from the Board of Zoning Adjustments (BZA) to the Planning Commission and a new zoning administrator prompted extended debate and public comment at Tuesday's board meeting, and supervisors agreed to continue the item to allow for additional planning-agency review and public outreach.
Permit Sonoma Assistant Director Scott Orr outlined a package of code amendments that grew from a January 2023 management review and an 18-month implementation plan. The main changes included establishing a zoning administrator to hear and decide on minor use permits and certain variances; shifting some authorities from the BZA to the Planning Commission; absorbing the Project Review and Advisory Committee's work into the zoning administrator; eliminating the hearing-waiver process and replacing it with noticed public hearings before the zoning administrator; clarifying appealable actions; and extending typical permit-start timelines from two to four years in certain circumstances.
Orr said the zoning-administrator model would increase the number of noticed hearings overall while reserving the Planning Commission for larger or more controversial projects. He proposed thresholds for automatic Planning Commission review, including: subdivisions of five or more lots, any conversion of more than three acres of timberland, special events exceeding four per year, or projects generating 25 or more average daily trips (the county's current threshold for requiring a traffic study).
Why it matters: Permit Sonoma seeks to streamline permitting timelines and preserve higher-level hearing time for the most complex projects, changes the agency says will help developers and permit applicants who face long timelines because of environmental review and staffing constraints. Opponents warned the change could reduce transparency and concentrate important land-use decisions in a single staff-administered hearing.
Public comment and concerns
More than a dozen members of the public asked the board to delay the vote and expand outreach. Comments ranged…
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