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Planning and Building director reports progress on review process overhaul; online applications and working meetings cited
Summary
The Planning and Building Department told the board it has cut in-person lobby traffic for permit applicants by 40% through online filings, launched interdepartmental working groups and plans public-facing timelines and an interactive projects map.
The El Dorado County Planning and Building Department reported steady progress on a six-area plan to improve development review at the Board of Supervisors’ March 4 meeting.
Kyle Zimelman, who leads the department’s economic development and administration process-improvement effort, told the board staff have focused on simplifying applications, strengthening cross-department collaboration and expanding digital services. “We’ve seen a 40% decrease in lobby traffic for permit applications that have gone online,” he said.
Zimelman outlined seven priority areas: simplify application packets and eliminate redundancy; create a cross-department working group; publish public-facing timelines and an interactive project map; evaluate technology tools (TrackIt and PlanCheck) for online submissions and digital document management; strengthen internal culture and staff development; set measurable performance standards; and embed process improvements into leadership and retrospective meetings.
The department intends to publish clearer timelines and flowcharts on its website, expand an interactive projects map and add performance dashboards showing application status and dates. Zimelman said staff will bring further demonstrations of the website changes at the next six-month update.
Public comment and board feedback: Residents and former staff members who spoke welcomed the improvements but asked for more visible metrics. Linda Campbell, a resident of El Dorado Hills, said the “next report” should include before-and-after timelines for specific procedures to make the benefit visible to applicants. Former DOT staffer Chris Payne suggested additional outreach to planning commissioners to strengthen staff-commission collaboration.
Why this matters: The department’s changes aim to shorten review times and reduce in-person customer service demand at a time the county faces budget and staffing constraints. Staff said budget limits will affect the pace of new technology rollouts and that some items will require additional funding decisions.
Next steps: Staff will continue the rollout, finalize code updates necessary to support new forms and the interactive map, and return to the board with additional demonstrations and the next six-month update.
