Centennial staff ask planning commissioners for guidance on sharpening Land Development Code approval criteria

Brad McInnis, a planner with the City of Centennial, told the Planning and Zoning Commission on Aug. 13 that staff will draft amendments to the Land Development Code (LDC) approval criteria and asked commissioners for initial guidance. "We are going to discuss updating the LDC approval criteria," McInnis said, adding that "no decisions [would be] tonight" and that staff would return with formal recommendations at a later date.

The proposed work aims to make approval criteria application-specific, to eliminate duplication, to increase clarity and to better align approval standards with Centennial Next and city goals. McInnis told commissioners staff reviewed all 37 development orders in the code to filter which approval criteria most need a refresh and identified the five most commonly used development orders as the program’s primary focus.

Why it matters: Approval criteria guide staff recommendations and quasi-judicial decisions and, if unclear or redundant, can slow reviews, create confusion for applicants and the public and make outcomes harder to defend legally. McInnis said clear criteria "help the decision makers make informed decisions, and of course support clear, fair, and transparent quasi judicial decisions."

Key problems staff outlined - Redundancy: Several approval criteria repeat similar points across different development-order types. McInnis used site-plan criteria numbers 3 and 7 as an example, saying the two sections both address health, safety and welfare and could be combined so applicants are not required to prove substantially overlapping points. - Irrelevant criteria: Rezoning criteria sometimes…