County combines building and planning into development services, plans phased general‑plan update

County planning and building staff told the Board of Supervisors on April 22 that development services functions have been consolidated into a single division to improve coordination and efficiency, and that the county needs to invest in a multi‑year general‑plan update.

Greg Thompson, presenting for the newly formed Development Services division, said the consolidation brings building, planning, code compliance and administration under one operational framework. He told supervisors that staffing shortfalls — especially in planning — remain a constraint and that the division plans to freeze two vacancies while recruiting for critical posts.

On the general plan, Thompson recommended breaking the update into modules over two budget cycles rather than doing the entire update in one fiscal year. He provided a rough estimate that the four modules of a full general‑plan update could total about $1.2–$1.3 million and said the county should include an existing‑conditions report to avoid repeating past shortcomings. Thompson also recommended a fee and cost‑of‑service study to align charges with levels of service and to use Tyler software more fully to track staff time and permit activity.

Board members asked about priorities from prior implementation studies and how Tyler maturity benchmarking would inform fee studies and staffing decisions. Staff said they will return with a more detailed scope and timeline for the general‑plan update and fee study; no procurement was authorized at the meeting.