Housing permit approval

AN ACT Relating to ensuring efficient approval of certain housing 1
permit applications; and amending RCW 36.70B.080. 2
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:3
Sec. 1. RCW 36.70B.080 and 2023 c 338 s 7 are each amended to 4
read as follows: 5
(1)(a) Development regulations adopted pursuant to RCW 36.70A.040 6
must establish and implement time periods for local government 7
actions for each type of project permit application and provide 8
timely and predictable procedures to determine whether a completed 9
project permit application meets the requirements of those 10
development regulations. The time periods for local government 11
actions for each type of complete project permit application or 12
project type should not exceed those specified in this section.13
(b) For project permits submitted after January 1, 2025, the 14
development regulations must, for each type of permit application, 15
specify the contents of a completed project permit application 16
necessary for the complete compliance with the time periods and 17
procedures. 18
(c) A jurisdiction may exclude certain permit types and timelines 19
for processing project permit applications as provided for in RCW 20
36.70B.140. 21
H-0581.3
HOUSE BILL 1438
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Representatives Connors, Klicker, Schmidt, Rude, Caldier,
Jacobsen, Reed, Barkis, Eslick, Manjarrez, Engell, and Dufault
Read first time 01/21/25. Referred to Committee on Local Government.
p. 1 HB 1438
(d) The time periods for local government action to issue a final 1
decision for each type of complete project permit application or 2
project type subject to this chapter should not exceed the following 3
time periods unless modified by the local government pursuant to this 4
section or RCW 36.70B.140: 5
(i) For project permits which do not require public notice under 6
RCW 36.70B.110, a local government must issue a final decision within 7
65 days of the determination of completeness under RCW 36.70B.070;8
(ii) For project permits which require public notice under RCW 9
36.70B.110, a local government must issue a final decision within 100 10
days of the determination of completeness under RCW 36.70B.070; and11
(iii) For project permits which require public notice under RCW 12
36.70B.110 and a public hearing, a local government must issue a 13
final decision within 170 days of the determination of completeness 14
under RCW 36.70B.070. 15
(e) A jurisdiction may modify the provisions in (d) of this 16
subsection to add permit types not identified, change the permit 17
names or types in each category, address how consolidated review time 18
periods may be different than permits submitted individually, and 19
provide for how projects of a certain size or type may be 20
differentiated, including by differentiating between residential and 21
nonresidential permits. Unless otherwise provided for the 22
consolidated review of more than one permit, the time period for a 23
final decision shall be the longest of the permit time periods 24
identified in (d) of this subsection or as amended by a local 25
government. 26
(f) If a local government does not adopt an ordinance or 27
resolution modifying the provisions in (d) of this subsection, the 28
time periods in (d) of this subsection apply. 29
(g) The number of days an application is in review with the 30
county or city shall be calculated from the day completeness is 31
determined under RCW 36.70B.070 to the date a final decision is 32
issued on the project permit application. The number of days shall be 33
calculated by counting every calendar day and excluding the following 34
time periods: 35
(i) Any period between the day that the county or city has 36
notified the applicant, in writing, that additional information is 37
required to further process the application and the day when 38
responsive information is resubmitted by the applicant;39
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(ii) Any period after an applicant informs the local government, 1
in writing, that they would like to temporarily suspend review of the 2
project permit application until the time that the applicant notifies 3
the local government, in writing, that they would like to resume the 4
application. A local government may set conditions for the temporary 5
suspension of a permit application; and 6
(iii) Any period after an administrative appeal is filed until 7
the administrative appeal is resolved and any additional time period 8
provided by the administrative appeal has expired. 9
(h) The time periods for a local government to process a permit 10
shall start over if an applicant proposes a change in use that adds 11
or removes commercial or residential elements from the original 12
application that would make the application fail to meet the 13
determination of procedural completeness for the new use, as required 14
by the local government under RCW 36.70B.070. 15
(i) If, at any time, an applicant informs the local government, 16
in writing, that the applicant would like to temporarily suspend the 17
review of the project for more than 60 days, or if an applicant is 18
not responsive for more than 60 consecutive days after the county or 19
city has notified the applicant, in writing, that additional 20
information is required to further process the application, an 21
additional 30 days may be added to the time periods for local 22
government action to issue a final decision for each type of project 23
permit that is subject to this chapter. Any written notice from the 24
local government to the applicant that additional information is 25
required to further process the application must include a notice 26
that nonresponsiveness for 60 consecutive days may result in 30 days 27
being added to the time for review. For the purposes of this 28
subsection, "nonresponsiveness" means that an applicant is not making 29
demonstrable progress on providing additional requested information 30
to the local government, or that there is no ongoing communication 31
from the applicant to the local government on the applicant's ability 32
or willingness to provide the additional information.33
(j) Annual amendments to the comprehensive plan are not subject 34
to the requirements of this section. 35
(k) A county's or city's adoption of a resolution or ordinance to 36
implement this subsection shall not be subject to appeal under 37
chapter 36.70A RCW unless the resolution or ordinance modifies the 38
time periods provided in (d) of this subsection by providing for a 39
review period of more than 170 days for any project permit.40
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(l)(i) When permit time periods provided for in (d) of this 1
subsection, as may be amended by a local government, and as may be 2
extended as provided for in (i) of this subsection, are not met, a 3
portion of the permit fee must be refunded to the applicant as 4
provided in this subsection. A local government may provide for the 5
collection of only 80 percent of a permit fee initially, and for the 6
collection of the remaining balance if the permitting time periods 7
are met. The portion of the fee refunded for missing time periods 8
shall be: 9
(A) 10 percent if the final decision of the project permit 10
application was made after the applicable deadline but the period 11
from the passage of the deadline to the time of issuance of the final 12
decision did not exceed 20 percent of the original time period; or13
(B) 20 percent if the period from the passage of the deadline to 14
the time of the issuance of the final decision exceeded 20 percent of 15
the original time period. 16
(ii) Except as provided in RCW 36.70B.160, the provisions in (i) 17
of this subsection (((l)(i) of this section )) are not applicable to 18
cities and counties which have implemented at least three of the 19
options in RCW 36.70B.160(1) (a) through (j) at the time an 20
application is deemed procedurally complete. 21
(2) If the permit time periods provided for in this section are 22
not met, a city or county must approve a project and issue the 23
building permits on the next business day following expiration of the 24
applicable permit time period if:25
(a) The project is located in an urban growth area as defined in 26
RCW 36.70A.030;27
(b) The project contains one or more residential dwelling units;28
(c) The application included plans, computations, or 29
specifications that were prepared, stamped, and signed by a 30
professional engineer or architect, licensed under the laws of the 31
state of Washington, in the specific discipline as appropriate; and32
(d) The city or county does not identify, in writing, serious 33
public health or safety issues that prevent approval of the project.34
(3)(a) Counties subject to the requirements of RCW 36.70A.215 and 35
the cities within those counties that have populations of at least 36
20,000 must, for each type of permit application, identify the total 37
number of project permit applications for which decisions are issued 38
according to the provisions of this chapter. For each type of project 39
permit application identified, these counties and cities must 40
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establish and implement a deadline for issuing a notice of final 1
decision as required by subsection (1) of this section and minimum 2
requirements for applications to be deemed complete under RCW 3
36.70B.070 as required by subsection (1) of this section.4
(b) Counties and cities subject to the requirements of this 5
subsection also must prepare an annual performance report that 6
includes information outlining time periods for certain permit types 7
associated with housing. The report must provide: 8
(i) Permit time periods for certain permit processes in the 9
county or city in relation to those established under this section, 10
including whether the county or city has established shorter time 11
periods than those provided in this section; 12
(ii) The total number of decisions issued during the year for the 13
following permit types: Preliminary subdivisions, final subdivisions, 14
binding site plans, permit processes associated with the approval of 15
multifamily housing, and construction plan review for each of these 16
permit types when submitted separately; 17
(iii) The total number of decisions for each permit type which 18
included consolidated project permit review, such as concurrent 19
review of a rezone or construction plans; 20
(iv) The average number of days from a submittal to a decision 21
being issued for the project permit types listed in (b)(ii) of this 22
subsection (((2)(a)(ii) of this section )). This shall be calculated 23
from the day completeness is determined under RCW 36.70B.070 to the 24
date a decision is issued on the application. The number of days 25
shall be calculated by counting every calendar day;26
(v) The total number of days each project permit application of a 27
type listed in (b)(ii) of this subsection (((2)(a)(ii) of this 28
section)) was in review with the county or city. This shall be 29
calculated from the day completeness is determined under RCW 30
36.70B.070 to the date a final decision is issued on the application. 31
The number of days shall be calculated by counting every calendar 32
day. The days the application is in review with the county or city 33
does not include the time periods in subsection (1)(g)(i)((-(iii) 34
[(1)(g)(i) through (iii)])) through (iii) of this section;35
(vi) The total number of days that were excluded from the time 36
period calculation under subsection (1)(g)(i)((-(iii) [(1)(g)(i) 37
through (iii)])) through (iii) of this section for each project 38
permit application of a type listed in (b)(ii) of this subsection 39
(((2)(a)(ii) of this section)). 40
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(c) Counties and cities subject to the requirements of this 1
subsection must: 2
(i) Post the annual performance report through the county's or 3
city's website; and 4
(ii) Submit the annual performance report to the department of 5
commerce by March 1st each year. 6
(d) No later than July 1st each year, the department of commerce 7
shall publish a report which includes the annual performance report 8
data for each county and city subject to the requirements of this 9
subsection and a list of those counties and cities whose time periods 10
are shorter than those provided for in this section.11
The annual report must also include key metrics and findings from 12
the information collected. 13
(e) The initial annual report required under this subsection must 14
be submitted to the department of commerce by March 1, 2025, and must 15
include information from permitting in 2024. 16
(((3))) (4) Nothing in this section prohibits a county or city 17
from extending a deadline for issuing a decision for a specific 18
project permit application for any reasonable period of time mutually 19
agreed upon by the applicant and the local government.20
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