Durham planning department to more than double staff and budget as UDO rewrite, mailed-notice costs rise

Summary

Durham City/County Planning proposes a consolidated City–County Planning and Development department that would grow from about 50 to roughly 110 full‑time employees and raise the department budget from roughly $6–7 million to about $14 million, driven by personnel and one‑time costs tied to the Unified Development Ordinance rewrite.

Durham City Manager Mike Ferguson and Planning Director Sarah Young outlined a major restructuring and budget increase for the newly consolidated City–County Planning and Development department, including plans to more than double staff and shoulder one‑time mailing costs tied to a rewrite of the Unified Development Ordinance.

The changes are part of the city manager’s proposed fiscal plan and are intended to centralize development review functions now spread across departments, Young said. "We're going from 50 current FTEs to 110," she told council, and the department’s proposed total budget is "just over $14,000,000 spread across four different funds," with about $13,000,000 for personnel and roughly $1,000,000 for operating costs.

Why it matters: The consolidation is pitched as an effort to speed permit review, improve coordination of infrastructure permitting and enforcement, and reduce the number of separate reviewers on single development cases. Council members pressed staff for detail about public notice costs, resident input and process changes that will follow…

Durham planning department to more than double staff and budget as UDO rewrite, mailed-notice costs rise

Summary

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