LEBANON — Plans to hire outside firms to review developments in Lebanon are facing pushback from some current and former officials who worry third-party engineers won’t be as accessible or knowledgeable as the city’s staff.
The proposal, which would have developers pay for engineering reviews, could add time and confusion to a process many already consider cumbersome, said Dan Nash, the owner of Advanced Geomatics & Design, who frequently presents to the Planning Board on behalf of developers.
“I think this is putting the brakes on vitality,” Nash, a former city engineer and Zoning Board member, said Wednesday. “It just lengthens and complicates the process. It doesn’t streamline it.”
City officials last Monday presented rules that would see outside engineering firms review projects undergoing Planning Board proceedings rather than City Engineer Christina Hall.
The change would have developers pay engineering costs — which aren’t typically required — and double the time between when an application is submitted and formally heard before the board.
Lebanon Public Works Director Jim Donison said Hall and the city’s engineering staff are overworked handling infrastructure and sewer projects. They can no longer provide full services to the Planning Board without neglecting other projects, he said.
“The problem is the availability of time for somebody in a 40-hour workweek,” Donison told the Planning Board in an audio recording of Monday’s meeting.
Messages left for Hall on Wednesday were not returned by press time.
Under the new rules, planning staff would determine whether a project requires an engineering review. Boundary line adjustments, small subdivisions and “small-scale” buildings likely wouldn’t trigger the additional steps, officials said in an outline presented on Monday.
The city would then solicit a quote for the Planning Board review and pass it along to the developer, who would present plans in 60 days instead of the 30 now allotted.
That additional time would allow planners, engineers and a developer to identify problems early. They can then attempt to address issues before the start of a Planning Board hearing, officials said Monday.
“This really will help us trim down the number of comments and unknowns that you so often encounter in these meetings,” Lebanon Zoning Administrator Tim Corwin told the board.
Projects large enough to require an outside engineer usually take up multiple meetings, he added, meaning developers are unlikely to expect a quick approval process.
But turnaround time is important to developers, who may invest in the option to develop a site and pay their own engineers, Tim Sidore, general manager of developer Mike Davidson’s Ledgeworks, said in an email on Wednesday.
“What are known as ‘soft costs’ in construction are often the morass in which good projects get stuck,” he said. “Creating additional costs up front, before any formal planning approvals, may well render many projects untenable.”
Sidore went on to echo concerns that additional layers of review are antithetical to the city’s past efforts to streamline planning. Hartford’s “administrative approval” process, where department heads review a project before it goes to land use boards, would be more efficient, he said.
In Hartford, developers are expected to pay for some reviews when planners encounter technical issues beyond their expertise, said Lori Hirshfield, the town’s planning director.
But projects are reviewed under the administrative approval process, she said, and the town doesn’t employ a licensed engineer who attends meetings, Hirshfield said.
Claremont City Planner Scott Osgood, who has a civil engineering degree, reviews applications in that city with the help of public works staffers.
While many large communities rely on their own staff to review projects, he said, small towns throughout the Twin States instead are forced to rely on applicants and their engineers to submit correct plans.
“To hire somebody when you already have a trusted engineer on the other side of the table is not common in my experience,” Osgood said.
Lebanon Planning Board member Gregory Schwarz said Wednesday he supports the proposal, largely because it will help lighten the city engineer’s workload.
However, he expressed concern that an engineer might not be available to answer the board’s questions.
Hall, the city engineer, attends nearly every meeting and is on hand to explain problems surrounding wetlands, drainage, sewage and other forms of infrastructure developments must address.
“Often, when discussing the application, board members will question the city engineer on specific points,” Schwarz said, adding he would like to see outside engineers provide the same services.
Bob Kline, who was Lebanon’s city engineer from 1988 to 2008, echoed those worries.
“I attended all of the Planning Board meetings and all of the City Council meetings. As far as I’m concerned, it’s necessary,” he said Wednesday. “I would be concerned that certain engineering facts would be overlooked or have a different meaning to an (outside) engineer.”
Kline, like Hall and Nash, said he was responsible not only for reviewing planning documents, but also for overseeing city infrastructure and filling in on public works projects.
“I think I had time for most things. I didn’t see it as a major problem,” he said of the job’s responsibilities.
Nash, who was city engineer from 1982 to 1988, said he reviewed over 500 Planning Board applications in that time.
The only time he asked for outside help was when Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center first proposed its move to Lebanon, he said.
The Lebanon Planning Board is expected to continue its discussions about the proposed engineering changes in August, with a public hearing on the rules taking place later that month.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.