The Planning Division provides staffing to the City’s Planning Commission, Design Review Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals. Planning staff prepares staff reports for these three bodies and provides recommendations to the Planning and Design Review Commissions. If you have any questions about an application before any of these bodies, please contact Planning Division staff. A summary of each group’s specialization is provided below:
The Planning Commission focuses on site plan review of new projects, plat layout of new subdivisions, major changes to existing subdivisions such as the installation of gates, rezoning requests and text amendments to the zoning code. It meets the first Tuesday of the month.
The Board of Zoning Appeals acts as an administrative body, hearing appeals from property owners who have been cited by Code Compliance for various zoning code violations. It also considers variance requests for items such as yard setback, fence heights and heights of buildings and requests for uses on appeals for uses such as churches and schools in residential zoning districts. The Board of Zoning Appeals meets the second Tuesday of the month.
The Design Review Commission focuses on aesthetic issues, including the landscaping, lighting and building materials of new commercial, multifamily and office sites; major revisions to the landscaping, lighting and building materials of existing commercial, multifamily and office sites; projects within the Old Germantown zoning district and signage throughout the City. The Design Review Commission meets the fourth Tuesday of the month.
In addition to staffing these commissions and board, the Germantown Planning Division conducts the Neighborhood Planning Initiative for the City’s older neighborhoods; prepares development contracts for new subdivisions and projects that are presented to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen; coordinates with the United States Census Bureau for the decennial and mid-decade counts; monitors the installation of utility cabinets; issues foundation permits for new single-family home construction; provides customer service to citizens, business owners and homebuilders on the zoning and sign ordinances and helps coordinate such long-range projects as the implementation of the citywide bike system, the creation of a quiet zone through the City to decrease the noise from train whistles and the complete streets program.