Planning department set to be axed

The Petaluma City Council on Monday will consider layoffs that will essentially eliminate its planning department as a way to cope with the regional building slowdown.

Council members will be asked to eliminate four positions by April 30, including the division chief's job, to help offset a growing departmental budget shortfall caused by lack of development fees.

The layoffs, coupled with a fifth cut -- the abolishment of the Community Development Department director position by June 30 -- will drastically alter the way the innovative city charts future growth.

A report from City Manager John Brown said the city could turn to a private firm or another public agency for its planning needs or it could hire back former employees on a freelance basis.

Specific details of the transition were not released.

"The proposed layoffs will have some effect on current planning services, particular(ly) those associated with staffing the counter and phones and responding to inquiries from the public," Brown said in his report.

The cuts would be the second in Community Development in less than a year. Last August, the council abolished about half of the positions in the 24-member staff and scaled back office hours in response to the economic downturn.

Revenue anticipated at $2.1 million from building permit applications and development entitlement applications was off by about 60 percent, Brown said. The current round of cuts would help offset a department deficit that has grown since then to about $286,000.

The four positions on the chopping block are an associate planner, an administrative assistant, a permit-processing technician and the assistant director of Community Development, a postion held by George White.

Mike Moore, department director, will remain until the end of the fiscal year to assist with evaluating options for the future, Brown said.

Some functions of Community Development will be maintained or transferred to other departments. Employees who coordinate housing and grants will not be touched. A neighborhood preservation officer will be reassigned to the police department.

Petaluma has been a pioneer in the field of urban planning. In 1972, the city defended its landmark growth-control ordinance all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Cities now routinely limit rates of new home construction.

In the 1990s, the city became an early leader in the creation of urban growth boundaries, a system eight of the county's nine cities now employ.

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 762-7297 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com.