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Red Bank community development director outlines land-use rewrite, library-card funding and code-enforcement priorities
Summary
Director Johnson presented the Community Development budget, proposing increased funding for a city library-card program, a classification change for an administrative position, expanded code-enforcement work supported by an administrative hearing officer and a planned request for consultants to rewrite the city's land-use regulations with public
Director Johnson, the city's community development director, presented a departmental budget that focuses on land-use regulation updates, expanded code enforcement and continued support for a city library-card program.
Johnson told the commission the department remains at about 3.75 full-time equivalent positions and proposes a job-classification change for an existing administrative staff member: the budget would reclassify an administrative staff person to an office manager role and fund that classification within the community development department.
Why it matters: Johnson said the city is preparing to modernize its land-use regulations to align with the newly finalized comprehensive plan. "We are prepared to release an RFQ as soon as and as early as July," Johnson said, and staff anticipate a process of roughly six to nine months to produce draft regulations and an expanded public-engagement campaign.
Major budget and program points - Library-card program: Johnson proposed increasing the city's library-card program funding to $10,000 to continue renewals and to evaluate activation and usage.
- Land-use regulations rewrite: Johnson said the rewrite will cover subdivision regulations, zoning ordinances and site-design review with the goal of removing unnecessary barriers to housing and multimodal development and supporting the comprehensive plan. Staff plan to issue an RFQ/RFP and anticipate robust public engagement during the process.
- Code enforcement and administrative hearing officer: The department proposes additional resources for enforcement work, including a continued contract with an administrative hearing officer and more frequent enforcement reviews (Johnson said the city established regular quarterly meetings with the hearing officer last year).
- Floodplain and infrastructure coordination: Johnson emphasized ongoing work to ensure compliance with flood regulations and the National Flood Insurance Program, including outreach to property owners in mapped flood hazard areas. She said the department will continue coordinating with WWTA and TDEC on sanitary-sewer projects and monitoring.
- Grants and partnerships: Johnson said staff are monitoring and preparing to apply for competitive grants including the federal Safe Streets for All program; she noted the timeline for some grant applications is short and staff are coordinating with regional partners and consultants to prepare materials.
Questions and next steps: Commissioners asked about sanitary sewer extension phases and TDEC's review timeline; Johnson described WWTA's phased work and said final state review follows completion of monitoring and sampling. She also said staff expect to bring fee-schedule updates and a first-reading item on building-related fees back to the commission.
Ending: The presentation did not include a formal vote. Johnson said staff will return with any grant resolutions and the RFQ/RFP timeline for the land-use regulation rewrite; a ribbon-cutting for a parks restroom project was also announced for the coming Saturday.
