Development Services Director Andrew Espinoza Ousted, Permitting to Combine With Planning And Urban Design
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In a memorandum filed Friday afternoon, Interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert announced that the Planning and Urban Design Department and Development Services Department will combine as the Planning and Development Department.
Under Emily Liu‘s leadership, new assignments include Planning Deputy Director Andrea Gilles, Zoning Deputy Director Andreea Udrea, Permitting Interim Deputy Director and Chief Building Official Sam Eskander, and Customer/Team Excellence Deputy Director Vernon Young.
Andrew Espinoza, who was the city’s director of development services, is no longer at the helm of the city’s permitting office, former CandysDirt.com writer Bethany Erickson reported Friday.
“His last day is August 5; in the meantime, he’ll be working on unnamed projects under interim Assistant City Manager Donzell Gipson,” the story states.
Espinoza recently came under fire for his role in moving city employees to the “lemon on Stemmons,” a story CandysDirt.com broke about the building that had almost three dozen fire code violations and had not secured proper permits.
“The goal of the new Planning and Development Department is to achieve positive outcomes that build trust with the Dallas development community and encourage robust investment at the speed of business,” Tolbert wrote in her memo.
The changes are effective June 27.
District 13 Dallas City Council Member Gay Donnell Willis referenced the combined departments in her weekly newsletter.
“We need these departments to function well to keep projects moving forward and to keep them in Dallas,” she said.
CandysDirt.com will continue to follow this story.
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All I can say is wow!! Really Mina (Sam) Eskander as chief building official and deputy director wow. This man is nothing more than a joke. He knows nothing about building code or even how the entire process works, not to mention scared to make any decisions. He willingly participated in putting employees lives in danger by placing employees under his command in that building on Stemmons. He like Espinosa should be relived of his duties and demoted back to an engineer in room 200. He has no ability to lead and not to mention he has never been certified as a building official ever.
The city should be looking at Megan Wimer to be the next building official and deputy director since she has all the credentials to be the building official. In addition she knows how every aspect of the department touches each portion of the permit process. She has been an assistant building official for over 5 years and has planning experience as well.
City of dallas good luck with the continuation of idiocy with Sam Eskander.