Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced community planner Manish Kumar will take the helm at the city's planning department, pending City Council's approval. Kumar will be the first permanent head the agency has had since Laura Aldrete left the role in August.
"As a Denver local and veteran community planning expert with uniquely diverse experience, Manish understands what it takes to provide great customer service and deliver world-class projects for our city," Johnston said in a statement. "I couldn't be more excited to have him on the team."
According to the Mayor's Office, Kumar will work to grow the city equitably and effectively, while collaborating with residents and businesses.
Kumar's appointment is one of the last unfilled department head positions the mayor had to hire for since he took office in July and is especially critical as Johnston pledged to expedite permitting times as part of his mayoral campaign and his 2024 goals.
In recent years, Community Planning and Development has had backlogged permitting, though the agency has managed to turn some of that around.
Still, the agency is under pressure, both from developers who say it's too slow and expensive to build in Denver and Auditor Tim O'Brien, who released a brutal 62-page report demonstrating errors in construction plan reviews, a confusing process, little managerial supervision for reviewers and high costs that were slowing down development.
Kumar has worked as a United States diplomat, with the FasTracks initiative, and as a developer with his company LHI Development Group.
He will take over the department starting in April.
