The City of Raleigh, growing at a seemingly undeniable pace, is aiming to "get ahead" of the governance challenges such growth portends by splitting the City's Department of Planning and Development into two separate departments: (1) City Planning and (2) Development Services.  The split is intended to separate the charge of "long-term planning" from the "nitty grittty details of inspections and construction", according to the News and Observer.

The new Department of City Planning will focus on strategic planning, looking as far as is reasonable into the future and helping to decide what types of development should happen in different areas of the City and the transportation that will serve that development.

The new Department of Development Services will handle smaller, street-level details of current growth, ensuring that buildings and structures meet the City's standards and laws.

This is the latest work of the City's "new" manager, Ruffin Hall.   

The change should streamline some more straightforward decisionmaking, according to reports, and should increase effectiveness as to the more complex others.