What a development-process audit should examine
A development process is usually spread across more places than the ordinance suggests. The code contains the formal rules, but actual review also depends on application forms, internal routing, staff habits, meeting calendars, checklists, fee schedules, decision letters, recordkeeping systems, and institutional knowledge.
A useful process audit therefore looks at the whole administrative system rather than only reading the zoning ordinance.
1. Intake and completeness
Start with what the applicant sees first. Are application requirements consistent with the ordinance? Are submittal checklists current? Is responsibility for completeness review clear? Are incomplete applications returned consistently, or do they enter review and generate avoidable back-and-forth?
2. Internal routing and handoffs
Map where an application goes after intake. Planning, building, engineering, drainage, fire, utilities, floodplain review, legal review, and outside agencies may all touch a project. The audit should identify who owns each handoff, what information is transferred, and where work waits.
3. Staff analysis and decision standards
Staff reports, findings, conditions, and technical comments should connect back to adopted standards. Templates can reduce inconsistency, but only if they are current and designed around the actual decision criteria.
4. Boards, commissions, and calendars
Public-hearing work is driven by notice requirements, filing deadlines, agenda production, meeting cadence, and continuation practices. A process that is clear internally may still be difficult for an applicant if those milestones are not documented in one place.
5. Fees and staff effort
Fee review should examine the work required to administer each application type, not merely compare a neighboring jurisdiction's published schedule. Staff time, direct costs, consultant review, notice, recording, and other expenses should be understood before policy choices are made about cost recovery.
6. Decision letters and recordkeeping
The final determination needs to be traceable. Approval conditions, exhibits, expiration dates, variances, special approvals, amendments, and enforcement history should be stored in a way that future staff can reconstruct the property's regulatory history.
What the final work product should include
- Current-state workflow
- Gaps and duplications
- High-risk handoffs
- Recommended future-state workflow
- Application, checklist, and template changes
- Fee/process issues requiring policy direction
- Prioritized implementation steps
This article provides general process-improvement information and does not interpret any specific jurisdiction's legal requirements.