The Office of the City Planning and Development Coordinator (OCPDC) through City Ordinance No. 1624 last April 3, 1974, then known as the Department of Economic Development and Planning (DEDP), primarily to strengthen development and planning at the local level and provide assistance and staff support to the then City Planning and Development Board. The office was manned by twelve (12) personnel, headed by an Economic Planning Officer.

In 1976, the DEDP was changed to the Department of Development and Planning, with the City Planning Officer as its head. In 1980, its office head came to be known as the City Development Coordinator, equal in rank and salary grade with other city department heads. With Batas Pambansa No. 337, then known as the Local Government Code, the creation of this office became mandatory in all levels of the Local Government Units (LGUs) in the country, except within the Barangay level. The various levels of Planning Offices then became known either as City/Provincial/Municipal Planning and Development Coordinator.

The importance and mandatory nature of this office, being the technical arm of the LGUs, is further emphasized with the passage of Republic Act No. 7160, otherwise known as the “Local Government Code of 1991”. Hence, from the original twelve men staff, the office now has a workforce of thirty one, including its Department and Assistant Department Heads. It has four divisions namely; Special Projects Division with four (4) personnel; Research, Evaluation and Statistics Division with five (5) personnel; Zoning, Planning and Programming Division with eleven (11) personnel; and the Administrative Staff with nine (9) personnel.