Planner I

About the role

The Planner position administers short term planning actions, land-use petitions and permit issuance, and short subdivision applications, performs or assists in a wide variety of other technical or administrative tasks to manage the current community land use plans, regulations, and procedures.

Responsibilities

• PLANNER I Learns principles related to land use and planning including code enforcement, policy development, and physical inspections all under the supervision and guidance of senior planners.
• PLANNER II Coordinates with the Building Division, and other relevant County departments, to enforce County Code violations, taking a lead role in actions related to violations of the Franklin County land-use and zoning Codes.
• Represents Franklin County, as assigned by the Director, on a variety of boards, commissions, and advisory groups.
• Acts as Planning and Economic Development Director, when the Director is absent or when assigned, regarding short-term land-use review and permit approvals.
• As assigned by the Director, acts as the lead agent in the research and development of recommendations for improvements to the Franklin County land-use policies and regulations, as well as other long-term planning and economic development policies, standards, and/or projects.
• PLANNER I AND II Provides customer service and performs department functions by responding to requests, inquiries, questions, or appeals by researching, reviewing, analyzing, tracking, or reconciling and communicating policy interpretation, sharing detailed and/or technical information, making recommendations, and providing advice, reports, answers, and presentations within scope of knowledge or authority or referring to appropriate individual.
• Working with Permit Center staff, reviews applications and submittals at the counter for completeness and compliance with County submittal requirements.
• Performs field inspections prior to preparing final reports to determine pre-project site conditions and perform post-permit issuance inspections to monitor compliance with the conditions of approval.
• Affords assistance to the Code Enforcement program including providing code interpretation, communication to property owners, site investigations, and presentations at public hearings.
• Affords assistance in the development, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and improvement of performance standards, processes, policies, procedures, ordinances, building codes and standards, or database due to new trends, innovations, federal, state and local rules, laws, regulations, legislation, codes, and ordinances as they relate to the assigned areas and responsibilities.
• Pursues self-development and continuing development of skills and knowledge by attending ongoing educational workshops, reviewing professional or technical publications, and establishing personal networks.

Requirements

• Required Education and Experience: Bachelor’s degree in Urban/Regional Planning or a closely related field. Two years of land use planning, economic development, or related experience. (Planner II)
• OR Any combination of education and experience which would provide the applicant with the desired knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform the job.

Qualifications

• Licenses, Certificates, And Other Qualifications: Employment at Franklin County is contingent upon the results of a background check and eligibility for coverage by the County’s liability insurance carrier. Depending upon the position, background checks may include personal and professional references, social security verification, education and professional licensing verification, financial history, and criminal history.
• Valid driver’s license if driving a vehicle for County business.

Special Considerations

• Required to be on call and able to work nights, weekends, and holidays as needed to attend meetings, complete work, or respond to emergencies.
• Required to travel frequently within the County for meetings and field work and occasionally in the state for affiliate or associate meetings or training and conferences which may require an overnight stay.

Physical Demands

• The person in this position must be able to spend the following amount of time in an activity: constantly: talk or hear, sit for extended periods of time, and use hands, fingers to handle or feel, or operate equipment or tools, and frequently: stand, walk, and reach with hands and arms, and occasionally: climb, pull, push or balance and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. frequently carry or transport up to 10 pounds and occasionally up to 50 pounds. have the following vision abilities: depth perception, peripheral vision, ability to adjust focus, and have close and distance vision (from one inch to 20 feet or more).

Supplemental Information

Other Duties Disclaimer: The statements herein describe the principal functions of this job, level of knowledge and skills typically required, scope of responsibility, work requirements and working conditions, but are not all-inclusive. Individuals may perform other duties and Franklin County, Washington reserves the right to modify, add or remove duties, and assign other duties as necessary, including work in other functional areas to cover absences or relief, to equalize peak work periods, or to otherwise balance the workload. Franklin County offers a comprehensive benefits package to eligible employees, including healthcare, dental, vision, retirement, deferred compensation plans, life insurance, long-term disability, holidays and paid time off. To learn more details, visit our benefits page.