Earlier this month, Denver rolled out an update to its permitting process that could shorten development timelines by several months. <\/p>\n
It could be pretty transformational for us,\u201d said Chris Gleissner, director of site design and neighborhood development for Denver\u2019s Community Planning and Development Department.<\/p>\n
Gleissner said the department is moving to a \u201cone-and-done\u201d process for concept plans, the first formal step in the development process in which developers pitch their initial drawings and proposals to the city. <\/p>\n
In the past, these plans could go back and forth for several rounds, with city staff offering comments and an applicant seeking to address them. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou might spend a lot of time in concept review cycles, working one particular issue, while at the same time feeling like you\u2019re not progressing other known issues with your site,\u201d Gleissner said, adding that the average has been 2.3 review cycles.<\/p>\n
Developers can\u2019t move on to the next step \u2013 the submission of a site development plan \u2013 until the concept plan is approved.<\/p>\n
Under the new one-and-done process, unless an applicant requests to stay in the concept phase, all projects will enter the site development phase after a single city review. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you were going to assign an average to a concept plan review, it\u2019s probably a good four to six months in the previous state, and this would significantly shorten that to a matter of one to two months,\u201d Gleissner said. <\/p>\n
The city receives concept plans in various forms \u2013 some are closer to napkin sketches, while others look like full-on site development plans. <\/p>\n