|
Charleston Mayor Joe Riley has proposed combining the city's planning and
design departments, which oversee growth and development within the
far-flung city limits, into a single department headed by a new hire.
Riley said he has tapped Josh Martin, 30, the former town manager of
Bluffton, to run the new Department of Planning, Preservation and
Neighborhoods.
"He will be another oar in the water for the city, at a time of growth
management challenges and opportunities," Riley said Friday.
The large department will be a powerful one, taking in all the
responsibilities of the Department of Design, Development and Preservation,
and the Department of Planning and Neighborhoods. Combining the departments
ends a five-year experiment in which the two departments were created from
one.
Riley said the two departments were created because of the "immense amount
of work and responsibilities" involved, but a recent city review of
Charleston's permitting process found that having the two separate
departments created some confusion.
"Even seasoned builders have had a hard time, sometimes, figuring out where
to go or where their plans were," said Philip Ford, executive vice president
of the Charleston Trident Homebuilders Association.
The two departments make the rules and enforce the codes that shape
development within the city limits, from the western reaches of Johns Island
and West Ashley to the Cainhoy peninsula in Berkeley County. They also
advise the Board of Zoning Appeals, the Board of Architectural Review, the
Commercial Corridor Design Development Review Board and the Planning
Commission.
The Department of Planning and Neighborhoods has been without a permanent
director since 2004, when Tim Keane left to form a private company.
Christopher Morgan, interim director of planning, said he thinks the
departmental reorganization will be a good thing. Morgan will become
director of the planning division of the new department.
"I think it's a great move, and I'm looking forward to the synergy it's
going to create," Morgan said.
Yvonne Fortenberry, director of the Department of Design, Development and
Preservation, will become deputy director of the new department.
Like Keane, who was the 33-year-old planning director in the college town of
Davidson, N.C., before winning the top planning job in Charleston, Martin is
a relatively young man whose experience has been in a small, Southern town.
"It's a true honor," said Martin, who said he's accustomed to comments about
his youthfulness.
"I get that a lot, and I think the way to overcome that is to just come to
the table prepared," he said.
Martin started working for Bluffton as a planning intern in 2001. He was
later hired as assistant director of the town's new planning department.
Martin went on to be the town's director of planning, then town manager.
Martin decided in January to not renew his town manager contract, which
expired July 15. Pending Charleston City Council's approval of the
departmental consolidation, Martin is expected to start work in September.
|
My
Scribe