James David, director of Community Development, told the council on Oct. 27 that the department has 28 full‑time equivalent positions for FY2026 and that site‑plan review revenues remain cyclical and tied to market activity.

David said the town is roughly 93% built out and that legislative applications such as rezoning and special‑exception requests have trended downward while administrative and site‑plan activity continues. He said staff recently merged planning and plan‑review functions into a single Community Development department, created a customer service center and added a systems analyst to support an online land‑development application system.

Key near‑term items include a zoning ordinance rewrite and a DCSM (Design and Construction Standards Manual) update. David said the next draft of the zoning rewrite is expected in early to mid November with planning commission review continuing through January–February 2026; council review could follow in mid‑2026. He told the council the planning commission will release a public‑hearing draft in early 2026 after a second, more detailed review.

David described internal process improvements — a six‑point plan for site‑plan review — intended to reduce the number of review cycles and shorten overall approval times. He noted the state reduced the statutory review window for first site‑plan submission from 60 to 45 days effective July 1, which will require continued internal changes to meet the shorter deadlines.

On staffing and fees, David said the department is not requesting new positions in FY2027 but that possible future asks could include an ombudsperson or an additional engineer tied to any expedited‑review program the council might authorize. He said the town has not updated fees in some time and recommended a fee study after ordinance and DCSM updates.

Councilmembers asked about metrics such as average submission cycles (David said large projects average four to five submissions) and whether the department is on track financially for the zoning‑rewrite work (David said yes).