Joint city-county planning office seeks inspectors, office redesign and new fees as caseloads spike

The City–County Metropolitan Area Planning Department (MAPD) presented staffing and program requests during Sedgwick County’s budget hearings, citing a heavy and spiky workload in 2025 and near-term retirement exposure in enforcement ranks.

Scott Wadel, MAPD lead, said the department—staffed at about 20 FTEEs and funded roughly 50/50 by the city and county—handled 272 non-subdivision zoning cases in 2025 and finished 78 subdivision matters. He described spikes in workload at certain meetings and said the median time from application to governing-body action for county cases was about 83 days. "We're very efficient," Wadel said, noting the department’s effort to digitize records and raise fee recovery toward 30%.

MAPD proposed a full inspector/zoning-enforcement position (total cost about $102,560, showing both full cost and county share options), $20,000 for an office-design consultant to convert storage to workspace, and a modest $50 application fee for historic-preservation and design-review cases (projected revenue around $3,000). The presentation also noted an ongoing complexity around MABCD funding and a 20% rule that affects how costs are allocated between the city and the county.

Commissioners discussed the shared-funding history and emphasized maintaining the 50/50 partnership spirit while recognizing the county’s growing workload on rural and special projects such as data centers and solar applications. MAPD staff said the city had signaled limited appetite to fund some items this year, and the department will return updated cost splits and additional analysis.

Next steps: MAPD to supply final cost splits and any needed contract estimates before recommended-budget decisions.