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Council engages planner to rewrite land-use procedures, starting with conditional-use permits
Summary
Council members agreed to contract with a consultant planner to organize the town code and create clear conditional-use-permit procedures; the planner will deliver a scoped, itemized budget before substantial work begins.
The Fairfield Town Council agreed to engage a contract planner to help overhaul parts of the town’s land-use code, prioritizing conditional-use permit procedures and clearer development review workflows.
Jim (planner/consultant) described past code-rewrite work and emphasized a phased approach: create a table of permitted uses, reorganize chapter headings, and draft review criteria and procedures that tell staff and applicants what steps to expect. He said complex code consulting would be billed at $250 per hour, with a lower hourly rate for application review and site-development work. He also offered to prepare a detailed scope, itemized budget and estimated hours for each task before starting work.
Council members pressed on oversight: several asked that the planner provide an explicit fee agreement and that the town retain the right to terminate with notice. Staff committed to presenting a fee agreement and an initial scope for council review before work begins. Several members framed the engagement as an "ounce of prevention" that would reduce future legal risk and administrative confusion by getting standards and procedures in place.
The council asked staff to consider reallocating funds (including from the capital projects plan and potential Inland Port Authority reimbursements) to cover planner fees. The planner and staff agreed that the first deliverable should be conditional-use procedures and an associated application package so the town can process expected development more consistently.
Quotes: "I was doing consulting in Denver for a while…we were kind of the leading experts in code updates for cities and counties," the planner said while outlining the work plan. "I'll put together a detailed scope and budget to accomplish the task," he added.
Ending: Staff will circulate a draft fee agreement and the planner’s proposed scope and budget for council review and possible inclusion in the upcoming June budget work ahead of any contract signature.
