City's Land Development Office outlines staffing, digital and process reforms
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Summary
Assistant director Darienne Gilkinson told council the Land Development Office has added staff, implemented 100 improvement projects in six months, created 30 SOPs, and plans permit revamps (including a new townhouse permit), a public-facing cost estimator, and performance dashboards to speed permitting and inspections.
Darienne Gilkinson, assistant director of land use and development services, presented an extensive update on reforms inside the Land Development Office (LDO). Gilkinson said the office now includes about 80 staff who processed roughly 12,800 permits, over 12,000 inspections and 14,000 code-enforcement cases in the past year, and that the LDO completed more than 100 internal improvement projects in the last six months.
"At its core, the LDO exists to ensure safe neighborhoods, resilient development and well planned communities," Gilkinson said, listing four pillars—people and expertise, process and technology, partnerships and outreach, and performance and accountability—and highlighting outcomes such as 30 new SOPs, electronic stamping, digital plat submissions, and a centralized performance dashboard.
Gilkinson announced near-term actions including hiring additional development-review staff and permit clerks, creating a townhouse-specific permit to streamline a currently awkward pathway, implementing an open-data STVR map, and launching a public-facing cost estimator. She also described plans to move code enforcement into the DRC, modernize customer service phones, and expand internal SOPs.
Council members praised the office for reducing friction for applicants, improving cross-department coordination, and increasing transparency. Questions from councilers addressed compliance follow-up, whether building permits are publicly sign-posted (the office does not require exterior signs for building permits but has searchable records in OpenGov), and how citizens should report unpermitted work.
Why it matters: permitting performance affects development timelines, housing production, and neighborhood impact. The LDO's changes aim to reduce delays and improve predictability for residents, developers and neighborhoods.
What comes next: staff will circulate the presentation packet and continue implementing the three- and six-month plans, including filling newly approved positions and rolling out new permit workflows.
