By Miriam Raftery

June 6, 2013 (San Diego)--In August 2012, as part of its Red Tape Reduction Task Force efforts,  San Diego’s Supervisors established a Land Development Performance Review Committee  to “improve the land-use processes for the County's unincorporated areas.”

On April 24 the Board unanimously appointed seven new members. They are to work with county staff on developing ways to measure land-use performance “to show that permitting-process improvements are occurring — making the system faster and less expensive without compromising quality,” according to a county newsletter.

The first meeting will be June 20 at 10 a.m.

The committee was set up to include members representing the building/engineering industry; the environmental community; property owners; local developers; planning and land-use consultants and/or technical experts in related fields; and the County’s two largest districts with substantial unincorporated areas: Supervisor Dianne Jacob’s District 2 and Supervisor Bill Horn’s District 5.

Committee members are:

• Chris Brown, President of Alchemy Consulting Group
• Eileen Delaney, Fallbrook Community Planning Group member, representing District 5 (appointed by Supervisor Bill Horn)
• Doug Logan, owner of Rancho Coastal Engineering & Surveys
• Jim Piva, Ramona Community Planning Group Chairman, representing District 2  
• Paul Smith, owner of a construction inspection company, Made EZ in Escondido
• Ted Shaw, Senior Land Use Consultant with the Atlantis Group
• Joe Thompson, Biologist

The meetings are open to the public. The first one will be held from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the County Operations Center, Building 5500, Room 120.  A new webpage is being developed to provide information such as project documents, meeting times and locations.  

The Red Tape Reduction Task force drew controversy for its membership (all but one were builders or developers) and for its proposals which included eliminating all community planning groups, a move Supervisors rejected after considerable outcry from constituents.

To join the distribution list to receive agendas and announcements, please email Megan Jones at megan.jones@sdcounty.ca.gov.