The purpose of the administrative approval process is to allow efficient processing of routine or noncontentious applications while providing sufficient opportunities for public review.

The administrative approval process shall be applied when the director is authorized to approve an application, such as for minor modifications, administrative use permits, or site plan and architectural approval. The director shall determine, based on the merits of the proposal, whether an application shall be approved administratively or scheduled for a public hearing before the project planning commission.

Prior to taking action on an administrative approval, the community development and sustainability department shall provide notice through a mailing to all owners of real property as shown on current property tax roles within a minimum of five hundred feet of the subject property. At the discretion of the department, based on public interest in the project, the scope of notice, including property owner radius, may be expanded.

The department shall provide a comment period of no less than ten calendar days prior to taking action on an administrative approval, beginning on the date the public notices are mailed. The purpose of the comment period is to enable the public to bring comments or questions to the attention of the department. If the department receives substantive comments or information which establishes that the application should not be approved administratively, the department shall either deny the application or, if requested by the applicant and upon submittal of the applicable fee, schedule a pubic hearing before the planning commission to consider the application.

Any determination of the director with respect to an administrative approval application may be appealed to the planning commission upon submittal to the community development and sustainability department of an appeal application, accompanied by the fee established by resolution of the city council. In the absence of an appeal application being filed within ten days after the determination of the director, such determination is final.