STREAMLINING THE DEVELOPMENT APPROVAL PROCESS Background paper for American Planning Association’s Growing Smart Project, Phase III

Over the years numerous task forces and commissions have investigated how land development costs might be minimized by streamlining and better coordinating development standards and the approval process for new homes. Several of the reports that have resulted from these efforts are listed in the References section of this paper. Yet in spite of these many efforts to document problems and offer solutions, the development approval process remains a long, contorted path in most jurisdictions today. In many areas of the country, development approvals have gone from taking a few months to two years or more to obtain. (See attached flow chart of the typica