Planning Technician

The City of Asheville is dedicated to providing quality service for the residents and visitors of our beautiful city, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. Asheville, NC is a thriving mountain city that has a culture enriched in diversity.

The City of Asheville values and respects a diverse community, workforce and ideas, and is committed to promoting an equitable, fair, and just employment environment. Our organization seeks to create and provide access and opportunities to employees, residents and visitors to fulfill their potential through inclusive engagement practices. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, genetic information or veteran status.

About Our Opportunity

The City of Asheville is seeking to fill a full-time, non-exempt Planning Technician position to join the Development Services Department. The purpose of this position is to combine administrative and technical tasks with special projects support while working closely with the public on a regular basis to provide customer service on planning and zoning issues.

Hiring Rate: $18.59 per hour
Essential Duties & Responsibilities
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

-Answers questions from the development community and the general public regarding basic technical review requirements and development activity.
-Maintains online systems and publicly available data to communicate regulatory process requirements and technical project details for site plan review.
-Reviews applications for major development review for completeness and compliance with submittal requirements.
-Processes and distributes online submissions of development applications for review by the Technical Review Committee.
-Acts as the Development Services Department’s web content manager.
-Conducts division-specific administrative work on an as-needed basis.
-Coordinates review of Technical Review Committee applications by organizing and routing materials, questions and communications.
-Guides customers of the Technical Review Process by coordinating pre-application meetings, providing timelines, facilitating contact with technical experts and acting as a point of contact for all review elements.
-Monitor the workflow progress of major development projects that have been approved by the Technical Review Committee and coordinate final inspections.
-Provides administrative support to the Technical Review Committee by processing pre-applications, applications, managing records, and distributing information to staff and public stakeholders.
-Provides as-needed assistance to the general public to answer permitting questions and assists the general public with various forms and applications pertaining to land use and zoning.
-Assists with special projects as assigned.
-Attends public meetings, assisting other planning staff as appropriate.
-Assists in the maintenance of Geographic Information Systems and acts as the alternate for the City’s Emergency Addressing Coordinator.
-Prepares public notices or property owner verifications.

Supplemental Functions:
-Performs other similar duties as required.

Education/Experience:
Associate degree or two-year technical college supplemented by vocational or technical training, with at least one (1) year of development review/zoning inspection experience.

Applicants with equivalent education/experience may be considered.

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Working Conditions
Knowledge:

-Knowledge of planning principles and practices, including pertinent specialties.
-Knowledge of principles and practices of research and data collection.
-Knowledge of effective writing techniques.
-Statistical or geometric knowledge and ability to apply such knowledge in practical situations.
-Knowledge of computer hardware and software programs, which may include Microsoft Office, Google, Internet applications, and GIS.

Skills and Abilities:
-Ability to read, summarize and/or compare general workplace data and graphics, such as flow charts, maps, tables, etc.
-Ability to conduct research of existing, internal policies and procedures.
-Ability to share information with direct supervisor or coworkers; no formal report compiled.
-Ability to think creatively for work practices, programs and policies and is preferred for managing obstacles.
-Ability to communicate effectively in spoken and written form.
-Ability to analyze situations to pinpoint problems and assist with solving problems or identifying sources of obstacles.
-Ability to develop and maintain effective working relationships as required by work assignments.
-Ability to work independently with limited supervision.
-Ability to analyze and interpret policy and procedural guidelines and to apply this understanding to tasks. Ability to bring resources together to resolve a problem or provide a solution.