By Jeremy Duda | Axios
If you’re in the building and development business and you’ve got ideas about how the city of Phoenix can make the process easier, the Planning and Development Department wants to hear from you.
Driving the news: The department on Monday held the first of four planned listening sessions to get feedback from roughly three dozen developers, architects, homebuilders, attorneys and others who operate in Phoenix.
- The first meeting, held at Burton Barr Central Library, focused on residential development. Future meetings will revolve around commercial, industrial, adaptive reuse, historic preservation and small projects.
- The department plans to bring its findings to the mayor and City Council in spring 2024.
Why it matters: The longer it takes to complete a project, the more money it costs developers.
- The Valley faces a severe housing shortage, which is exacerbating its growing homelessness problem.
- “The longer a permit sits in our office … the developer’s paying interest. And you know that he or she is going to pass it on to you and me,” City Council member Debra Stark, Phoenix’s former planning and development director, told us in a September interview.
