4-8-2024_PW SS Briefings (3) - Laserfiche WebLink

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SHORELINE CITY COUNCIL Mayor Chris Roberts 04� Deputy Mayor Laura Mork CITY OF Councilmember Annette Ademasu SHOMETMC' Councilmember Eben Ramsdell �V..�Irll 7G Councilmember John Ramsdell Councilmember Betsy Robertson Councilmember Keith Scully March 20,2024 The Honorable Pat McCarthy Washington State Auditor PO Box 40031 Olympia,WA 98504 Dear Ms.McCarthy: The City of Shoreline(City)appreciates the opportunity to respond to the Washington State Auditor's Office(SAO)performance audit,"Growth Management Act:County and City Compliance with the State's 120-day Permitting Requirement."We thank your team for their thorough evaluation and recommendations. The City's mission statement is "Fulfilling the community's vision through highly valued public services."The permitting process is one of many public services we provide to our community, and the timeliness and efficiency of the process are integral to the level of service we provide. The performance audit highlighted several details and included six recommendations that apply to the City.Below is the City's response to the audit and its recommendations. Permit Complexity The City appreciates the performance audit noting that available vacant land can be difficult to build on and that regulations have grown more complex over the last few decades,while the 120- day deadline has remained unchanged.The City would further note that in Shoreline's context there is very little vacant land,and the majority of our development applications are redevelopment of sites within areas the City has upzoned to encourage significant amounts of new housing and development near regional transit such as the two light rail stations that will open for service later this year.These planning efforts to get as many people and jobs as possible near transit,we believe, advance citywide and regional goals toward housing and climate.Each of these redevelopment sites contain unique challenges such as aging or undersized utility i infrastructure, stormwater management constraints,or vehicle access limitations that can add to the overall review timeline. Process Improvements In January 2024 the City kicked-off a permit process improvement effort that will evaluate the entire process using principles of continuous improvement.This effort will include hiring an outside consultant to bring the necessary capacity and perspective to objectively identify process bottlenecks and redundancies and to establish an implementation roadmap that will streamline 17500 Midvale Avenue N ♦ Shoreline,Washington 98133 (206)801-2700 ♦ shorelinewa.gov Growth Management AC1 - Agency Respow 42