Who Really Runs Your City Hall?

Who Really Runs Your City Hall? Community Planning vs. Development Services — Explained Without the Spin One of the biggest misunderstandings in municipal politics is the belief that City Hall is one big machine making decisions behind closed doors. It isn’t. There are two very different branches inside every municipality that shape your community — and confusing them is exactly how bad decisions slip through without accountability. COMMUNITY PLANNING — The Rule-Makers Community Planning decides what is allowed and where — long before a shovel ever hits the ground. They deal with Official Plans, Secondary Plans, zoning bylaws, land-use policy, and long-term growth vision. Their job isn’t approving buildings — it’s deciding what kind of city or town you’ll live in 10, 20, or 30 years from now. Mr. X translation: Community Planning designs the city before anyone applies for permission. DEVELOPMENT SERVICES — The Rule-Enforcers Development Services steps in after the rules are already written. They don’t decide what should go there — they decide whether a specific project follows the rules already in place. They handle site plans, subdivisions, engineering, servicing, permits, and inspections. Mr. X translation: Development Services makes sure developers follow the rules — not invent new ones. The Simple Analogy Community Planning is the legislature. Development Services is the permit office. Community Planning decides what can be built. Development Services decides how it’s built. Why This Matters - When residents show up angry about a development, they’re often told it complies with policy and council’s hands are tied. That’s usually because the real decision was made years earlier in a planning document most people never saw. If the public doesn’t like what’s being built, the issue is almost always bad policy — not permits. Final Mr. X Line: Cities aren’t changed by cranes and concrete. They’re changed quietly — by planners writing rules nobody’s reading