Tweet A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of sitting down with the Director to Planning and Development at the City of Phoenix, Debra Stark. We talked about all the different things the department is doing to encourage reuse of existing buildings, promote energy efficiency and take away barriers of building for small businesses. Merger of Planning and Historic Preservation with Development Services: The merger of three different but related departments initially occurred because of City budget cuts but according to Debra, it’s proven to be great for collaboration and the streamlining of services. About a year and a…