City Planner, Government

The City of Santa Rosa announces an exciting opportunity to join a team of professionals performing highly responsible work in the field of urban planning and environmental analysis. Join the City and be part of a dynamic and professional team!

City Planner description image

The City of Santa Rosa is committed to building a workforce reflective of our community and establishing a lasting culture of equity and belonging within our organization. Our collective talents and expertise contribute to high-quality public services that support a vibrant, resilient, inclusive City for our community and visitors. We celebrate a diverse workforce and welcome all qualified candidates to apply.

In addition to offering a rewarding work environment, opportunity for career growth, and an excellent salary, the City of Santa Rosa provides a generous suite of benefits, including retirement through CalPERS, a competitive leave package with vacation and sick leave, your choice of health plan, and top of the line employer paid (free to you) vision and dental coverage. More information regarding benefits associated with this position can be found on our Miscellaneous Employee Benefits Page.

• A (9/80) Work Schedule
• 12 paid holidays annually, plus 1 to 3 'floating holidays' per year, depending on start date and years of service
• $500 annually for wellness
• The City is a Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF) Employer
• Paid Family Leave

A City Planner is the primary point of service for planning issues and meets face-to-face with applicants and residents; conducts neighborhood meetings; makes staff presentations to the Planning Commission, Design Review and Preservation Board, Zoning Administrator, Waterways Advisory Committee, Subdivision Committee, and City Council.

The City Planner is expected to possess a full range of planning duties from entry level through journey level. In order to advance, incumbents within this class are expected to develop the full range of knowledge, abilities and experience required to perform professional planning work involving the application of professional principles and theory to various municipal planning and zoning issues. Individuals assigned to this classification are expected to work independently with limited supervision, complete complex and difficult projects, and as experience is acquired, to perform higher level assignments, many of which have high public visibility, with increasing independence.

It is expected that an individual would advance toward the top of the range only after exhibiting skill and abilities consistent with those of a journey level professional. See the Examples of Duties section for more information.

The current vacancy will support the Development Review section and is intended for a journey-level planner capable of independently managing a range of professional planning assignments.

Primary responsibilities will include reviewing and processing new development and entitlement applications; reviewing and completing associated environmental documents; reviewing building permits for compliance with applicable planning requirements; and preparing and presenting staff reports and recommendations to the Zoning Administrator, Design Review and Preservation Board, Planning Commission, City Council, and other decision-making bodies as appropriate. The position will be expected to exercise professional judgement in evaluating development proposals, identifying and resolving planning issues, coordinating with applicants and other City departments and agencies, and providing timely and effective customer service to the public.

Depending on workload and Division needs, the position may also support the Advance Planning section on long-range planning and policy initiatives. The position will provide a broad range of professional planning services and is expected to work independently on assignments while collaborating effectively with staff, applicants, consultants, stakeholders, and the community.

We are looking for candidates with excellent oral and written communication and interpersonal skills and a commitment to providing excellent customer service. The ideal candidate has demonstrated experience analyzing and reviewing new development and land use proposals and is a proven self-starter with a strong commitment to the field who thrives on managing multiple projects and working in a…