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March 27, 2024 <br />State Auditor Pat McCarthy <br />Office of the Washington State Auditor <br />Olympia, WA 98504 <br />Dear Auditor McCarthy, <br />n. <br />ie5ponse <br />Snohomish County <br />Planning and Development <br />Services <br />3000 Rockefeller Ave., MIS 604 <br />Everett, WA 98201-4046 <br />(425) 388-3311 <br />www.snoco.org <br />Dave Somers <br />County Executive <br />On behalf of Snohomish County, thank you for the performance audit of the Growth Management Act. County <br />and city compliance with the state's 120-day permitting requirement. We appreciate how your audit team <br />worked with us and the other jurisdictions to provide a comprehensive report on the requirements, audit <br />findings, and challenges faced by local jurisdictions. Through the audit we received clarification and <br />interpretation of the requirements which we previously did not have. <br />Permitting is very important to Snohomish County. We have reviewed the report and recommendations, and we <br />want you to know we are workingvery hard to overcome the challenges we face in permitting development in <br />our county. The challenges of approving permits within established time frames are significant. Some of these <br />include the following: <br />• We are currently experiencing a severe staffing shortage of engineers who are a critical component of <br />our permit review process. As such, we have hired consultants to help us with the backlog of permits <br />under review. <br />* The increasing complexity of land use regulations and building codes has over the years negatively <br />impacted our time frames. Because reviews are taking longer than they used to, we may need to hire <br />more staff. We are conducting a thorough staffing analysis as part of our 2025-2026 biennial budget <br />development. . <br />We are identifying key issues that are critical to our success and that will help us meet the new time <br />frames established hi Senate Bill 5290. We are participating in the Department of Commerce's Permit <br />Review Work Group to better understand all the issues related to the new requirements, share our <br />experiences, and provide feedback to the legislature. <br />a One reason our time frames are longerthan other jurisdictions, and why we used waivers (which we <br />thought were allowed), is because of our customer service values. We have tried to work with applicants <br />as long as it takes to achieve full compliance with county and state regulations, rather than deny their <br />application. If several rounds of review are required on a project, it will take longer to reach a decision. <br />We are exploring ways to still live up to our core values and also meet time frames. <br />* We are reviewing our permit tracking system and making improvements to streamline the intake and <br />processing of electronic submittals. <br />Once again, thank you forteam's work on this audit. We recognize we have room for improvement, and we are <br />taking specific and appropriate steps to achieve the legislature's goals for improving permit review time frames. <br />Sincerely, <br />X1e 4d 11Ve 'r <br />Michael McCrary <br />Director, Planning and Development Services <br />Growth Management Act ^ Agency Aespnnse 147 <br />