By Mike Sunnucks | Rose Law Group Reporter
The city of Phoenix is looking at adding new workers to its Planning and Development Department to help keep up with higher volume of construction and development activity.
The Phoenix City Council will consider a proposal today to add 15 new positions to the department including engineers, inspectors and a new city attorney position to help craft 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 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 the previous fiscal year.
The city agency had as many 646 positions before the last real estate crash back in 2007 and 2008. Staffing dipped to 244 positions during the Great Recession and slowdown. It has since been increasing during the current economic expansion.
Phoenix continues to see an increase in development plans, building permits and zoning requests, according to a city analysis.
