DURHAM - Proposals to streamline Durham's development-review process will be rolled out over the next nine months. The first installment emerged Thursday, drawing praise from several City Council members.

Deputy City Manager Ted Voorhees presented four steps in the development-approval process that could be tweaked and shortened, potentially shaving months off the time it takes to get a project OK'd. Other facets of the plan will be tackled each month -- except July, when the council takes vacation -- through January, according to a timeline laid out Thursday.

"This is precisely, from my viewpoint, the systematic approach that needs to be taken on this," said Mayor Bill Bell, who has been emphatic in recent weeks that he wants to see action on the much-debated matter.

Casey Steinbacher, president and CEO of the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, also praised the "significant detail and solid timelines" presented Thursday. She and other business community representatives have been at the table with city planners as they've worked on the review process.

"We are very happy it's moving forward, and we are very happy staff has engaged us along the way," Steinbacher said.

Developer complaints about slow-moving bureaucracies are by no means unique to Durham.

"Developers would love things to be quicker, cheaper, faster, whatever," Voorhees said, but he added that planners are charged with making sure development is environmentally sound, compatible with its surroundings and other safeguards that take some time.

But staff members have been pressed into action by Bell, council member Eugene Brown and others, who have argued that Durham's development process is particularly cumbersome.

They cite horror stories about some development proposals being held up for years.

Council member Mike Woodard also praised Thursday's proposals and the work that went into them. But he cautioned against sacrificing public interest for efficiency.

"I think we need to set a different and better standard at some points," he said, adding that neighborhood groups needed to be involved in the streamlining effort.