By Barney McManigal NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Planners told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that the Planning and Development Department is at least six months late in streamlining the county's confusing zoning ordinance, an admission that elicited impassioned complaints about long-standing problems with the embattled division.
A first draft is expected in late March.
"This is just incredibly frustrating that it has taken two years," 4th District Supervisor Joni Gray said. "It just can't be rocket science."
Officials blamed delays on the four-article ordinance, which they say confounds even highly talented staffers.
Launched in 2003, the zoning ordinance reformatting project is part of a broader push to overhaul county planning policies.
Conflicts about planning issues have come up at several meetings this year -- even on minor issues -- revealing steady support for changes to a department that has been stung repeatedly in court, grand jury reports, public meetings and in fiery speeches by land-rights advocates.
The three North County supervisors have floated a variety of improvements, from giving County Administrator Mike Brown more authority over the department -- a program launched earlier this month -- to reconfiguring the entire division.
Posted by gandlwoods at February 17, 2005 07:21 AM