SIG Member: Olivia Martin
This fellowship is especially friendly to underclassmen applicants.
What is the Department of Planning and Development?
The Department of Planning and Development is a department within the County of Santa Clara that implements all Land Use and Building Codes for lands within the unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County. From a regional perspective, the department implements and maintains the County General Plan, which sets a vision for the regional growth and development within Santa Clara County, in both the urban and rural areas. Topical program areas that are overseen by the department include the Stanford Community Plan, Surface Mining Regulations, Williamson Act, Historic Preservation, and Habitat Plan implementation. Recent regional planning policies department staff has worked on include the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Plan and the County Health Element, which sets regional priorities and policies for, respectively, implementing regional protection of important fish and wildlife habitat and land use policies which promote healthy lifestyles and healthy communities throughout the County.
What Potential Projects would a Fellow work on?
The Department is currently working on a number of projects including both County policy updates and private development projects. Likely projects the Fellow would work on would be the following.
- Sustainable Agricultural Lands Policy Framework for South Santa Clara County: Beginning in January, 2016, the County Planning Department will begin work on preparation of a Framework for the preservation of agricultural lands in Southern Santa Clara County. The proposed Sustainable Agricultural Lands Policy Framework is funded in part by a $100,000 grant from the State Department of Conservation. The program will look at new policies and approaches to preserving the agricultural lands most at risk from conversion in Southern Santa Clara County. The Framework is intended to be a regional document that will be used not only by the County, but by the Cities of Gilroy, Morgan Hill, and San Jose as well as the agricultural industry and other stakeholders as a blueprint for preserving agricultural lands in Southern Santa Clara County. This will be a high profile project that will entail much outreach and visibility with the County and communities in South County. Opportunities for a fellow working on this project would be conducting research, preparing reports, assisting staff and consultants with public outreach, assisting on presentations to the public and Planning Commission or Board of Supervisors.
- Transformation and Modernization Project – Integrated Permitting System: The Department is currently in the midst of implementing its Transformation and Modernization Project, which is intended to modernize our current permitting processes by making them more efficient and customer friendly. Key components of this process include the creation of a Central Permit Office to oversee permitting, restructuring of staffing within the divisions in the Department to allow for specialization and work efficiency, physical transformation of the Departments front counter area, and creation of a new integrated permitting system that allows the Department to efficiently track permits and creates more transparency with customers and the public. The Department is about to begin a procurement process for the new integrated permitting software that will be critical to this transformation process. This process will entail extensive coordination within the Department and the selected vendor to focus on creating a system that matches the Department’s needs. Opportunities for a fellow working on this project would be assisting staff in-house in process mapping, preparing quantitative data, testing software.
- Habitat Plan Permitting Improvements: In 2012, the County adopted the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Plan which establishes a regional framework for habitat preservation for important plant and wildlife species while creating a systematic approach for endangered species permitting for development projects. The Department implements the Habitat Plan for private development projects that are required to pay fees and adhere to conditions as a means of obtaining endangered species permits under the Plan. The Department has identified several inequities and improvements needed to the permitting requirements for private development projects including the size of “development buffers” that are used for rural development projects in determining the amount of Habitat Plan fees required to be paid. In 2016, the Department will begin work on a proposal to modify these permitting requirements, working closely with the Habitat Agency, other Local Partners, and the Federal and State Wildlife Agencies. Opportunities for a fellow working on this project will be to conduct research regarding private development projects (characteristics), evaluate potential changes to the fiscal and development assumptions within the Habitat Plan from the proposed permitting modifications, assisting staff in presenting the proposal to local agency staff and State and Federal Wildlife agency staff.
Desired Skills and Qualities
The desired fellow would have skills and qualities in the following areas –
- Interest in Land Use Planning
- Interest in Sustainability (related to Land Use Planning)
- Good Analytical Skills – ability to conduct in-depth research and provide a clear synthesis results and applicability to relevant projects.
- Good Communication Skills – both oral and written communication skills – the fellow may be asked to prepare reports, memos, and interact with other local, state, or federal agencies and members of the public.
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