Senior Planner

Senior Planner Positions

The City of Puyallup is hiring two Senior Planners. These positions are part of the Planning Division in the Development and Permitting Services Department. Applicants are encouraged to apply by August 5th to receive priority consideration. The salary range is $6,723 - $8,607 per month. The job classification including qualifications is found on the city's Human Resources webpage.

It is impactful to be a part of Team Puyallup and provide meaningful work in support of public service and the well-being of our community. We value our culture of demonstrating excellence in our work, being service focused, supporting collaboration, and having integrity in all that we do. We encourage those that share these values to apply to our open positions and/or forward to colleagues who may be ready for their next career advancement opportunity.

The successful candidates will provide professional planning work, focusing on current planning and comprehensive (long-range) planning, including annexations and urban growth area issues. The positions require a broad range of knowledge and experience in the planning field. Work is performed with considerable independence under the supervision of the Planning Manager. Work requires occasional contact with the Hearing Examiner, Planning Commission, City Council, representatives of other City departments and divisions, other governmental agencies, land developers and their agents, and the general public to provide information and advice on sensitive community issues.

Work is performed in an office setting, but does require occasional field investigations. Work requires attendance at meetings which frequently occur outside normal work hours.

The City of Puyallup is a community of 43,000 and is situated at the foot of scenic Mount Rainier. The city is known as a regional commercial center, and serves its residents and neighbors with a strong, diversified economy. Our employees live in and support a community that has excellent schools, amazing parks and recreational activities, and a vibrant downtown with a variety of restaurants and retail establishments.

Generally, a particular Senior Planner position will focus primarily either on current planning or long-range planning activities; however, some assignments will be outside of the primary focus area. Essential functions for the position include:

• Reviews development applications for conformance with City land use regulations, including zoning and subdivision codes, critical area regulations and related standards.
• Performs SEPA and shoreline program reviews.
• Prepares reports and makes presentations to the Hearing Examiner.
• Performs a wide variety of comprehensive planning activities; including maintenance of the City Comprehensive Plan; gathers and analyzes data, makes recommendations, and prepares reports.
• Makes presentations to the Planning Commission and City Council.
• Assists in the preparation of ordinances or revisions to ordinances related to land use and development to implement the Comprehensive Plan.
• Processes annexation requests and related tasks.
• Assists other departments in the development of functional plans and policies, especially as they relate to land use and development.
• Responds to inquiries from applicants and members of the public on a variety of development-related topics.
• Represents the City on inter-jurisdictional planning bodies. Provides assistance to outside agencies and committees as requested.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Knowledge of:

• Modern planning principles and practices;
• Site plan review;
• Land use concepts and the impact of sociological, demographic, economic, environmental and other factors influencing land use;
• Research techniques and graphic and statistical presentations;
• Project review principles and methods;
• The operation of personal computers, including word processing and spreadsheet software and permit tracking systems.

Ability to:

• Systematically gather, organize and analyze data;
• Write reports clearly and in an interesting manner and to convey technical information to lay persons;
• Make clear and concise verbal presentations before a…