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complete an application within 120 days, state law allows them to follow certain <br />processes. About 50 cities and counties are also required to publish annual reports <br />on the timeliness of their permit reviews. <br />To determine whether local governments are complying with the 120-day rule, <br />including the annual reporting requirement, we looked at six local governments <br />chosen to represent high -growth areas in the state. <br />Audited governments met state -mandated <br />permitting deadlines inconsistently in some areas, <br />sometimes by wide margins (page 13) <br />State law sets out a 120-day deadline for local governments to process land use, <br />civil and building permits. Performance of the six local governments against this <br />target varied widely and depended on the type of permit being processed. Audited <br />governments met the state -mandated deadline for more than 90 percent of building <br />permits, but some struggled to process land use and civil permits in time — often by <br />wide margins. <br />In the case of land use permits, four governments processed at least 75 percent <br />of applications within 120 days. Key factors for slow processing of these permits <br />included project complexity, staffing shortages and inefficient processes. <br />Washington law gives local governments two ways to make exceptions to the <br />120-day rule. However, none of the audited governments documented the process <br />for extending permit deadlines for specific projects. Two audited governments <br />inappropriately used waivers to eliminate permit deadlines entirely. <br />Almough already using many ieading practices, <br />audited governments could adopt practices to <br />further improve permit review times (page <br />Although audited governments used many leading practices around permit <br />processing, most did not fully apply practices related to continuous improvement. <br />All audited governments used leading practices related to education and outreach. <br />In addition, most had partially implemented staffing flexibility plans for high - <br />volume periods. However, audited governments could also improve their <br />implementation of continuous improvement practices. <br />Growth Management Act Executive Summary 14 <br />