Board adopts code changes to create zoning administrator, routes telecom permits and appeals to planning commission

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on May 6 approved code amendments to create a zoning administrator position and to restructure how certain land-use matters are heard, including routing telecommunications facility applications to the Planning Commission and making zoning-administrator decisions appealable to the Planning Commission before the board.

What the board approved Staff presented revised language to chapter 2 (administration) and chapter 26 (planning) of the county code that replaces the hearing-waiver practice with a zoning-administrator process for noncontroversial and lower-impact items, while keeping a path for matters to be elevated to the Planning Commission. After board discussion and public comment, staff revised the draft during the meeting to explicitly route telecommunications facility permits to the Planning Commission and to make appeals from zoning administrator decisions go first to the Planning Commission and then to…