Planning Department

• Department Overview
• Temporary Expedited Review Process
• Community Meeting Guidelines
• 2010 Census
• Hanover's Customer Service Initiative

Department Overview

The Planning Department provides staff support to the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors, including reviewing and providing recommendations on all land use matters presented to the Commission and Board. The Department also provides staff support to the County's Architectural Review Board, Board of Zoning Appeals, and Historical Commission. The Department reviews plans of development for compliance with various County ordinances and is responsible for enforcement of the County's Subdivision and Zoning Ordinances. The Department is also the lead agency for implementation of the County's Geographic Information System.
 
Michael E. Crescenzo is the Director of Planning. David Maloney and John Bender are the Deputy Directors of Planning. Planning Department personnel can be reached by calling (804) 365-6171.

Temporary Expediting Option for Preliminary Site Plan Review Now Available

Hanover County is temporarily implementing an optional expedited review process for site plan approval to assist developers, businesses and their plans preparers during this economic downturn. While the review workload is at a reduced level, it is practical for the County to apply its resources to help our partners in the business community accelerate the initial stage of the review process. As most of you know, the current process has built-in features to expedite resubmittals, based on the quality of the first submittal and the resolution of initial deficiencies prior to the second submittal. The initial segment of the process allows approximately three weeks for reviewers to complete their plan review and send out their comments. There is then approximately two and a half to three weeks before the staff/developer meeting, which is intended to provide the design engineer, architect, landscape architect or surveyor enough time to make changes in response to the comments before the meeting, if they wish to do so. Applicants can then receive feedback from the review staff either at, or even before, the meeting.

The regular schedule is still available for engineers who see a benefit in using the time available to work out problems in advance of the site plan meeting. However, for some plans (especially simpler ones), engineers may wish to reduce the review and response time prior to the site plan meeting, particularly while their workloads may be lighter because of the economy. This expedited review program would shorten the review/comment period by staff by one week on the first submittal, and the staff/developer meeting would be moved up approximately 2 weeks.

At the time of site plan submittal, you will be asked by the Planner checking in your application and plans, if you wish to choose the expedited review schedule. If you are delivering your plans by courier or some other second party and wish to have the review expedited, you may simply provide a transmittal slip or letter stating such with your name and contact information so that we may verify your request. If you have questions as to whether the expedited process may be best for your project, please feel free to discuss this with Mary Pennock, the Project Manager in the Planning Department, as well as Mike Nannery and/or Randy Hardman, the Engineering Managers in Public Utilities and Public Works, respectively. The pre-application meeting, which the majority of applicants utilize, is also an excellent time to discuss this option and whether to choose this program at the time of formal submittal.

The temporary expedited review program schedule is tentatively slated to run through the September 28, 2010 site plan application deadline, but will depend on workload at that time. If you have questions, please contact the Planning Department at (804) 365-6171 and ask to speak to a Development Review Planner.

Community Meeting Guidelines

It is often recommended that applicants who file a zoning application for rezonings, Conditional Use Permits, or Special Exception Permits arrange a community meeting with surrounding property owners. These meetings are particularly necessary for complex rezoning applications or cases with significant community interest. Hence, the Board of Supervisors has adopted Community Meeting Guidelines intended to assist applicants in organizing and hosting community meetings.

2010 Census

The U.S. Constitution requires a national census be conducted every ten years. The first census was conducted in 1790 and has been carried out every ten years since then. The Census Bureau, which is the agency tasked with leading this effort, has recently geared up its efforts in planning for the Decennial Census which will take place on April 1, 2010. The census is important as it affects political representation (including local Board of Supervisor districts) and directs the allocation of 300 billion dollars annually in government funding. To learn more about the 2010 Census visit their web site at www.census.gov.

Census staff have been canvassing the County to confirm physical street addresses using global positioning system technology. The agency has also been coordinating with the County to obtain street and address data. All of these data resources will be used to ensure that an accurate population count is achieved through the 2010 Census.

The Census Bureau is also soliciting support from local governments to promote the Census. Hanover County has agreed to publish articles in its Newsletter and has developed this web page to educate citizens and businesses about the 2010 Census. At its July 22, 2009 meeting, the Hanover County Board of Supervisors adopted a Resolution in support of the 2010 Census.

Participating in the census count is mandated by federal law. The main component of the Census count is a short easy to fill out questionnaire (10 questions) that will be mailed to every household in the County. The questionnaire, which will be mailed in March 2010, must be completed by every household in the County and returned to the Census Bureau. If the household completes the questionnaire and returns it to the Census Bureau then nothing further is required. If the Census Bureau does not receive a questionnaire then a Census representative will visit the home in person to collect the necessary information. The confidentiality of census information is protected under federal law and is only used for statistical purposes.

The Census Bureau has established a local census office in the Richmond area and is looking to fill management positions in the office. You may call the Census Bureau at 1-800-861-2010, 1-866-861-2010, or visit their web page at www.2010census.gov for more information.

Hanover's Customer Service Initiative

Hanover County’s Development Review team is implementing its new customer service initiative. Our team will help you get through the process, deal with the regulations, find solutions to your problems and meet your timelines. You will have case managers who will help you from beginning to end and we have added a new Project Manager who will seek to resolve all of your problems. Tell us where you need to be, and we will help you get there.

Our team will place more focus on customer service by clearly communicating the process and greater use of the County's web page. Check out the Plan of Development Review web page for site plan, subdivision, and erosion & sediment control review proess flowcharts, revised Plan of Development Review Schedules, and site/construction plan acceptance criteria. We are also expanding our use of internal automated permit information systems for departments that are involved in development review process.

All projects will be reviewed within 30-45 days. If needed, a meeting will be set up about two weeks after the initial comments have been given. This will allow you and your engineer to review the comments with individual departments and begin resolving issues immediately. You can waive this meeting if you think that it is not needed.

For projects that require a re-submittal, our team will review and respond within 7-10 working days if the project is smaller or "routine" (see sample schedule) and within 15-20 working days if the project is larger or more "complex" (see sample schedule). We will respond to any subsequent re-submittals within 7-10 days. Some minor revisions to plans will be reviewed within two business days.

Gretchen Biernot at the Planning Office (365-6171) and Karen Epps with Economic Development (365-6464) can help you schedule a pre-application meeting when you are ready. Mary Pennock is Hanover County’s Project Manager. If you have questions or problems, please call her at 365-6171.