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Council hears proposal to merge Planning and Building & Safety into single planning department
Summary
City staff proposed consolidating Planning and Building & Safety into a single Planning Department to speed development review, reduce duplicative steps and create a single director; development groups and the Chamber of Commerce expressed support during the Sept. 22 public hearing.
City staff described a proposal on Sept. 22 to merge the Planning Department and the Building & Safety Department into a single, unified Planning Department and to name a single director for the combined unit. City leaders told the council the change is intended to streamline development review and improve customer service.
John Carlson of the mayor’s office framed the consolidation as part of an effort to be an "innovative and operationally excellent city," and asked David Carey, director of planning, to describe operational goals. Carey told council members staff reviewed peer cities and concluded Lincoln is an outlier in keeping development functions separated. "By creating that kind of interaction that is more single team thinking, we strongly believe that we're gonna be able to make those decisions faster," Carey said, adding customer service is a priority.
Why it matters: Proponents said the change will reduce duplicated review steps between planning and building plan review, reduce delays on projects with differing departmental interpretations, and produce a single policy and decision chain. Carey pointed to a specific permit process — a zoning confirmation letter — as an example where multiple handoffs now slow work.
Public input: Several representatives from the development and business community spoke in support. Mike Hecker of Civil Design Group said the planning department historically "embraced the development community" and that building and safety has been slower; he said the consolidation should address recurring interpretation conflicts. Katie Bullmeyer of the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce told the council the Chamber and its members "are in full support" and expressed confidence in Carey’s leadership.
Code changes and timeline: Carey said the ordinance will require edits to multiple sections of the municipal code to transfer responsibilities and references from Building & Safety to the Planning Department. He noted the city will ask the council at a later hearing to include mirror edits in the fire code (title/section cited as 19.03) and said staff will provide that amendment before the next meeting. Council members expressed general support and thanked staff for working with business stakeholders.
Next steps: The item was presented in a public hearing; the transcript does not record a final vote on the consolidation at the Sept. 22 meeting. Staff signaled they will return with the ordinance language (including the fire code amendment) for council consideration at a subsequent meeting.
Additional administrative actions heard later in the meeting relate to implementation planning, including a one‑week extension for related pay‑schedule changes and a proposal to create an assistant director classification to support the combined department.
