The Planning Team provides planning and permitting assistance for private, municipal, and tribal clients throughout the northern California region and beyond. Whether you need assistance preparing and processing a development application, need additional staff to meet your workload needs or need support preparing long range planning documents, we’re here to help you navigate the planning and permitting process.
Our team members have prepared more than 1,000 environmental planning and permitting documents. Our approach to planning focuses on achieving practical win-win solutions, with broad community support, and a clear path toward implementation. We leverage our firm’s technical expertise and longstanding relationships with regional experts to design projects that are technically grounded and achievable, an asset in communicating with regulatory agencies. Our approach improves the likelihood and turnaround time for regulatory approval of your project.
Our team, which includes certified Planners, have expertise in the following:
- Preparing and processing entitlements, including:
- Conditional Use Permits
- Coastal Development Permits
- Residential and Commercial Subdivisions
- Lot Line Adjustments
- See LACO’s Surveying and Engineering page for additional information regarding site planning and development.
- Environmental Planning Services including:
- CEQA environmental compliance documents including:
- Initial Studies and Categorical Exemptions
- Mitigation and Monitoring and Reporting Programs (MMRPs)
- NEPA environmental compliance documents including:
- Categorical Exclusions
- Environmental Assessments (EAs)
- Findings of No Significant Impact (FONSIs)
- CEQA environmental compliance documents including:
- Lake and Streambed Alteration Notifications for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife
- Water Quality permits for the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board and the United States Army Corps of Engineers
- See LACO’s Geology page for additional information regarding water availability analysis’, groundwater well testing and onsite wastewater treatment systems designs and evaluations.
- Tribal Planning Services, including:
- Development of:
- Community Plans and Policies; and
- Specific Plans, such as Local Hazard Mitigation Plans
- Municipal Planning Services, including:
- Extension of City/County staff to perform daily functions of the Department for long range and current planning projects
- Draft and process long range planning documents, such as general and community plans for zoning ordinances; and
- Project Management for complex projects and Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs)
- See LACO’s Grant Management page for additional information regarding preparation, processing, and grant management services
We are also prepared to provide the following special studies and services:
- Development feasibility analyses and identification of constraints and opportunities
- Air Quality Impact analysis including CalEEMod modeling and greenhouse gas emissions quantitative and qualitative reviews
- Public outreach processes including design charrettes, public scoping, and visioning