JOIN OUR TEAM! You are invited to bring your passion for public service and improving the Harnett County community to our team as a Planner I. The Development Services Department is seeking a Planner I to perform professional planning work in support of current planning and development and long-range planning projects.

Harnett County is one of the fastest growing counties in North Carolina with approximately 130,000 residents. Our “Strong Roots, New Growth,” describes a county in transition, one that values its rural agricultural heritage while also embracing new growth and industry. Harnett County is optimally located between North Carolina’s capital city of Raleigh and the internationally recognized Research Triangle Park to the north, and the nation’s largest military installation in Fort Bragg to the south. The county is also centrally located in North Carolina and is within close proximity to the Great Smoky Mountains and Blue Ridge Parkway, and to the numerous Atlantic Ocean beaches and the Outer Banks.

Harnett County offers a stable career in public service with a balance of work and family life, a competitive salary and benefits package including health and dental coverage, as well as retirement and a free health clinic for employees and anyone in their household.

Performs intermediate technical and administrative work interpreting and enforcing zoning ordinances, land use and development ordinances and the City’s environmental codes. Position also serves as the nuisance abatement officer of the City. Work is performed under general supervision. Graduation from an accredited college with a Bachelor’s degree in Planning, Environmental Science, or related field. Masters in Planning, Public Administration or other related field preferred. Prior experience with code enforcement at the municipal, county, or state governmental level required. Building code experience, a plus. Possession of an appropriate driver’s license valid in the State of North Carolina. Possession of a Zoning Officials Certification by the NCAZO or ability to obtain within one year of employment. Must successfully pass a pre-employment drug screening and background check.

Under the general supervision of the Deputy Planning Director for the Regional Planning Program serving the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the person in this position will manage the Housing & Local Planning Unit overseeing a work program that includes: leading the agency’s housing policy efforts including planning analyses and technical assistance to support the implementation of Plan Bay Area, the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP)/Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS); managing planning analysis and grants activities to increase and preserve the region’s housing supply, particularly for very low, low and moderate income households; advancing social equity studies and programming; and overseeing local engagement activities at the agency including coordination with local jurisdictions.

Assistant Directors are expected to successfully execute responsibilities and duties by managing reporting staff, consultants and other resources available to the agency. New and different programs, projects or functional assignments may be assigned to Assistant Directors in an effort to keep up with the agency’s changing policy requirements. The Assistant Director for Housing & Local Planning position requires an individual with creativity and vision who can successfully direct daily operations and develop and introduce new and/or improved programs, initiatives and procedures to inform and deliver on the goals and objectives included in the Regional Planning Program’s strategic plan. Assistant Director level employees participate as members of the Regional Planning Program management team and are responsible for initiating, implementing and carrying to completion project services, work plans, staff evaluations and training programs and daily operations.

The Program Officer manages a set of activities focused on learning, translation, and sharing of research activities for practitioners and policymakers. This position will include building sources to identify and generate content to bridge the gap between research and practice in order to illuminate successful outcomes to support entrepreneurs (e.g., incubators, accelerators, regulatory arrangements, educational investments, ecosystem interventions, direct and indirect entrepreneurship support activities) and the entrepreneurship strategic areas: new entrepreneurial learning, entrepreneur support organizations, ecosystems and policy.

Under general supervision, the Planner I performs entry level planning work in the collection, analysis, interpretation and presentation of planning data (e.g., land use, zoning, housing, transportation, environmental) in one of a variety of phases of plan development and implementation. The essential functions of this job include: reviewing project activities, goals, programs, ordinances, rules, regulations, policies and procedures; providing information orally and in writing to City agencies, property owners, developers, community organizations and the general public; conducting site and field inspections of land, economic activities, transit patterns, buildings and streets and conducting surveys and interviews to obtain data; preparing computer-based and hard copy graphic materials; conducting research studies and formulating recommendations to assist in planning policies, plans for future developments and determining the environmental impacts of proposed projects; assisting in the preparation, revision and performing updates of plans and other governmental documents and regulatory codes; and performing other duties as assigned.

The selected incumbent for this position will be responsible for accessibility coordination at BART, by working with passengers, BART staff and external stakeholders to make BART accessible for everyone. The incumbent will work on a broad range of customer access issues, which include working to ensure that BART remains fully compliant with the rules and regulations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and is accessible to all. Work may also include providing sensitivity and accessibility training for front-line BART employees, representing BART at various events, overseeing BART’s reasonable accommodation program and providing accessibility guidance on policies, procedures and projects at BART.

Performs professional work participating in a variety of assignments in the Planning Department. Work involves the application of professional knowledge and skills in various municipal planning situations. Employee prepares or assists in the preparation of reports and plans affording considerable opportunity for independent judgment in laying out work details and making technical determinations.

A candidate with five years of experience.

This is a split position responsible for both the web administration and the GIS/Database administration of Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metro Planning Organization (DCHC MPO). This position is responsible for the planning, implementing and managing MPO GIS operations and databases; GIS application design, data administration, GIS database administration, system integration, etc. Also, the position will provide programming analysis, application development and web testing and the development of toolkit web pages which will include but not limited to page maintenance and oversight; coding/programming in the application in the DOT-NET framework; script development and the development of new applications. This is a highly skilled professional and technical position, requiring considerable independence and latitude for exercising independent judgment within the City’s IT policies, procedures and MPO objectives.

A candidate with seven years of experience.

This is a split position responsible for both the web administration and the GIS/Database administration of Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metro Planning Organization (DCHC MPO). This position is responsible for the planning, implementing and managing MPO GIS operations and databases; GIS application design, data administration, GIS database administration, system integration, etc. Also, the position will provide programming analysis, application development and web testing and the development of toolkit web pages which will include but not limited to page maintenance and oversight; coding/programming in the application in the DOT-NET framework; script development and the development of new applications. This is a highly skilled professional and technical position, requiring considerable independence and latitude for exercising independent judgment within the City’s IT policies, procedures and MPO objectives.

Incumbents with the MPO work with the general public, private sector, and regional agencies, as well as local, state and federal governments in delivering a multi-modal transportation system, provide advanced model development and application projects for the short-range and long-rang transportation system studies and plans. As assigned, work may include, developing, updating and maintaining computer models and programs; developing and maintaining the MPO data management system including data collection; serving as project manager for technology projects; providing modeling support for studies; and leading the work of intern staff.