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Annapolis introduces three new planning and zoning staff to boost development review and long-range planning
Summary
At its Jan. 16 virtual work session, Planning and Zoning Director Chris Jakubiak introduced three new hires — a planner, a senior planner and an architectural plan reviewer — saying the additions increase department capacity for development review, design work and community engagement.
Chris Jakubiak, director of Planning and Zoning, introduced three new staff members during the Annapolis City Council virtual work session on Jan. 16, 2025, saying the hires will expand the department’s capacity in development review and long-range planning. Jakubiak said two of the positions were funded in the prior year’s budget and that one hire started in December and another in January.
Jakubiak introduced Swaroopa Basu as a planner who joined in fall 2024 and will “build our capacity in our development and design review division,” the office that reviews everything from small projects such as decks to major housing developments. Basu said she holds a master’s degree in urban planning from the University at Buffalo and has a background in architecture. “I have deep interest towards art and aesthetics,” Basu said, and added she is “really privileged to work here.”
Jakubiak also introduced Alexis Robinson as a senior planner in the comprehensive planning division. Robinson said she holds a master’s in community development from the University of Maryland and that her work focuses on community engagement and long-range planning. Jakubiak said Robinson’s mediation certification will support the city’s public involvement for small-area plans and form-based zoning work.
The third hire, Mojgan (Mojan) Jahanian, was introduced as an architectural plan reviewer who will serve as a second reviewer to help reduce the department’s backlog of development applications and permits. Jahanian described experience using Revit and other building information modeling (BIM) tools and said those packages let teams work in the cloud so “anybody is updating something is gonna act I am able to see.” Jakubiak said the department recently acquired AutoCAD for in-house urban-design work and described the new reviewers as enabling the office to be more proactive about envisioning development sites.
Council members asked how much capacity the new hires add and how technology might speed permitting. Jakubiak said the recent hires amount to roughly a 10% staffing increase in the department and mentioned ongoing recruitment for additional positions, including a proposed position focused on zoning text amendments and a short-term-rental position that was funded but not yet filled. The director described other staffing needs: a person to assist inspections and enforcement and a chief-level role to manage current planning functions.
Jakubiak and the new staff discussed software options that could help processing times. Jahanian and others described Revit/BIM and cloud-based collaboration tools as faster than traditional CAD for some workflows; Jahanian said those tools can reduce missed information and speed design-development sets. A council member suggested project-management boards such as Trello as a tracking aid; Jahanian said she had used Trello in prior firms and would report back after a few weeks on local applicability.
The presentation did not include any formal actions or votes. The council asked follow-up questions about unfilled positions and how quickly the new staff could improve turnaround times for permits; Jakubiak said the department is reorganizing and will assign staff where capacity is most needed.
The presentation and questions concluded with council members welcoming the new hires and noting the international and technical experience they bring to the city’s planning work.
