By Mike Sunnucks | Rose Law Group Reporter
The city of Phoenix is adding new workers to its Planning and Development Department to help keep up with higher volumes of construction projects and development activity.
The Phoenix City Council approved a measure Wednesday to add 15 new positions to the department including engineers, inspectors and a new city attorney position to help with contracts, development agreements and impact fee arrangements.
The new positions will cost the city just under $2.3 million the rest of this fiscal year (FY 2019/20) and for the next full fiscal year (FY 2020/21).
Phoenix’s Planning and Development Department currently has 430 full-time equivalent positions. That is up from 395 positions the previous fiscal year.
The city department had as many 646 positions before the last real estate downturn in 2007 and 2008. Staffing dipped to 244 positions during the slowdown. It has since been increasing during the current economic expansion.
Phoenix continues to see significant increases in development plans, building permits and zoning requests, according to an analysis presented to the City Council.
