Site plan approval

Site plan approval is the step in which a municipality reviews how a proposed building sits on its lot. Planning staff, and often a planning board or commission, examine the placement of the building, driveway and street access, parking layout, stormwater management, grading, landscaping, lighting, utility connections, and compliance with the zoning code's dimensional rules. The review is separate from the building permit, which covers structural and life-safety code.

Where a project is permitted by right, site plan review is meant to be technical: it checks that the plan meets the written standards. Where a project needs a rezoning or variance, site plan review is one part of a broader entitlement process that can involve public hearings and negotiated conditions. The line between technical and discretionary review is where much of the delay in housing production is decided.

Each round of comments and revisions costs consultant time and calendar months. Because the developer has usually bought or optioned the land and hired the design team by this point, every month of review adds carrying costs. Assume six months of added review on a project with $6,000,000 of land and soft costs invested at an 8% cost of capital: that is $240,000, or about $16 per unit per month on 100 units, before counting the additional design fees.