Planning staff proposes applicant checklist and conceptual consultation to streamline site-plan reviews

Planning staff showed a draft one-page applicant checklist intended to make the concept-review stage more productive and to reduce duplicative requests during formal site-plan review.

Shay (planning staff) said the checklist is a short guide for applicants to describe proposed uses, existing permitted uses, planned changes to access and traffic, and relevant zoning articles. The proposal also highlights that applicants should not bring fully engineered plans as part of the conceptual meeting and that the board would use the checklist to prompt standard questions (wetlands, traffic, access, variances).

Board members generally supported circulating the checklist and using it as an advisory tool. One member described the conceptual review as a low‑pressure forum where applicants can get direction before investing in costly engineered plans; staff and members emphasized the checklist should not be mandatory at this stage but could be required before a formal site-plan submission under a zoning amendment listed on the warrant.

Why it matters: formalizing a clearer conceptual process and a checklist aims to reduce applicant cost, shorten review cycles, and give the board consistent information to evaluate proposals. Shay said she will circulate the draft to the board and post it for applicants to use as guidance.

Next steps: Staff will circulate the checklist for comment, post it on the planning page, and begin using it as an advisory form for conceptual consultations; the board may refine it as they learn what works in practice.