Senior Planner

CAREER DESCRIPTION

SENIOR PLANNER

SALARY INFORMATION

Salary may be negotiable within the range listed above based on position requirements and successful candidates qualifications subject to appropriate authorization.

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

This recruitment is being held to establish an open eligible list to fill current and future Senior Planner vacancies within OC Community Resources / OC Parks. The eligible list established may also be used to fill similar and / or lower-level classifications throughout the County of Orange.

DEADLINE TOAPPLY

Monday December 8 2025 at 11 : 59 pm (PT)

Qualified applicants are encouraged to apply immediately.

OC COMMUNITY RESOURCES (OCCR)

OC Community Resources is a multi-faceted department comprised of OC Animal Care OC Community Services OC Housing & Community Development OC Parks and OC Public Libraries. Click here for more information on the County of Orange.

OC PARKS

OC Parks encompasses regional wilderness and historical facilities as well as coastal areas throughout the County of Orange in California. Featuring 60000 acres of parkland open space and shoreline Orange Countys award-winning parks and programs are enjoyed by millions of residents and visitors each year in ways as diverse as the parks themselves.

THE OPPORTUNITY

OC Parks is seeking a strong motivated team member to serve as a Senior Planner within the Entitlement Division at OC Parks reporting to the OC Parks Entitlement Project Manager (Development Services Administrator).

Under the supervision and guidance from the OC Parks Entitlement Project Manager the Senior Planner is responsible for helping to ensure that the mission of preserving and enhancing OC Parks natural and cultural resources for recreation education and exploration is upheld by providing comprehensive and timely review of third-party development proposals and permit requests on OC Parks land. The Senior Planner works to research and analyze underlying County parkland restrictions such as easements and habitat reserve restrictions in their review of third-party requests on or adjacent to County parkland and prepares reports and recommendations. The Senior Planner serves as a subject matter expert on a wide variety of land use and planning issues and must be resourceful and responsive to specialized assignments which may be priorities from OC Parks Executive Management or the Board of Supervisors. Additionally the Senior Planner serves as a liaison between external agencies and internal OC Parks working groups and other County agencies including County Counsel County Executive Office / Real Estate and OC Public Works.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to the following :

• Reviews third-party development proposals to ensure that work is performed in a manner that is compatible with OC Parks mission and goals and consistent with the vision and goals set forth in park planning documents including General Development Plans (GDPs) and Resource Management Plans (RMPs)
• Reviews third-party California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) documents (e.g. Initial Studies Mitigated Negative Declarations Environmental Impact Reports) for potential impacts to OC Parks and provides comments on behalf of OC Parks
• Coordinates with internal OC Parks working groups and other County departments including County Counsel County Executive Office / Real Estate and Orange County Public Works to obtain timely feedback on project reviews
• When appropriate conduct field inspections to gather data relevant to Entitlement projects
• Coordinates obtains and compiles project review feedback from OC Parks staff including but not limited to Operations and Natural Resources
• Utilizes the Countys geographic information systems mapping for data gathering
• Manages and prepares final documents such as formal reports and provides support on preparing interdepartmental agreements
• Provides support in developing real estate instruments including easement documents leases and licenses
• Prepares and presents project briefings to Directors Office and other executives as needed
• Provides responsive high quality service on behalf of OC Parks while working collaboratively with stakeholder groups at all levels including US Fish & Wildlife US Army Corps of Engineers Caltrans CA Fish & Wildlife CA Coastal Commission OC Transportation Authority OC Fire Authority Coastal Greenbelt Authority neighboring cities water and sanitation districts developers homeowner associations and others
• Enters development permit information associated with assigned projects into a central database
• Presents to OC Parks advisory bodies OC Parks and County leadership other government agencies and staff at large meetings / trainings as necessary

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS AND CORE COMPETENCIES

The ideal candidate will have five (5) or more years of significant and progressively responsible professional work experience in planning land use entitlements implementation of real estate agreements / instruments or other closely related field and possess a bachelors degree or higher in urban planning or a related field.

The ideal candidate will also have professional knowledge of and / or experience in all of the following areas :

In addition the ideal candidate will possess knowledge and experience in the following core competencies :

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND LEADERSHIP

PLANNING AND ORGANIZATION

PROBLEM SOLVING ANALYTICAL SKILLS

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Please click here to learn about the minimum qualifications including the physical and mental requirements as well as the environmental conditions for the Senior Planner classification.

RECRUITMENT PROCESS

Application Screening(Refer / Non-Refer)

Applications and supplemental responses will be screened for qualifications that are highly

desirable and most needed to successfully perform the duties of this job. Only those applicants that meet the qualifications as listed in the job bulletin will be referred to the next step.

Structured Oral Interview SOI (Weighted 100%)

Candidates will be interviewed and rated by an oral interview panel of job knowledge experts. Each candidates rating will be based on responses to a series of questions designed to elicit the candidates qualifications for the job. Only the most successful candidates will be placed on to the eligible list.

Based on the Departments needs the selection procedures above may be modified. Candidates will be notified of any changes in the selection procedures.

Eligible List

Once the assessment has been completed Human Resource Services will establish an eligible list of candidates. Candidates placed on the eligible list may be referred to a selection interview to be considered for present and future vacancies.

Veterans Employment Preference

The County is committed to providing a mechanism to give preferential consideration in the employment process to veterans and their eligible spouses and will provide eligible participants the opportunity to receive interviews in the selection process for employment and paid internship openings. Please click here to review the policy.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

EMAIL NOTIFICATION : Email is the primary form of notification during the recruitment process. Please ensure your correct email address is included in our application and use only one email account.

NOTE : User accounts are established for one person only and should not be shared with another person. Multiple applications with multiple users may jeopardize your status in the recruitment process for any positions for which you apply. Candidates will be notified regarding their status as the recruitment proceeds via email through the site. Please check your email folders including spam / junk folders and / or accept emails ending with and . If your email address should change please update your profile at .

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS :

Click here for additional Frequently Asked Questions.

For questions regarding this recruitment please contact Rula Dabit at or .

EEO INFORMATION

Orange County as an equal employment opportunity employer

encourages applicants from diverse backgrounds to apply.

Required Experience :

Senior IC

Key Skills

Presentation Skills,Six Sigma,Construction Estimating,Earned Value Management,Emergency Management,Joint Operations,Production Planning,Project Planning,Strategic Planning,Microsoft Project,Auto Estimating,Exercise Planning

Employment Type : Full-Time

Experience : years

Vacancy : 1

Yearly Salary Salary : 99944 - 134700