[{"_1":2,"_111":-5,"_112":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75,87,99],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6607717,"mediaKeyId","2948237-407abb6135f133831a9f0ce50869b930","parentId",2948237,"title","Washington County to review and streamline 1,200-page Community Development Code with DLCD grant support","audioSeconds",226,"startMs",2870355,"endMs",3096849,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2948237-407abb6135f133831a9f0ce50869b930&start=2870&end=3096","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2948237-407abb6135f133831a9f0ce50869b930/thumbnail_2870355.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6607717/Washington-County/Oregon/Washington-County-to-review-and-streamline-1200-page-Community-Development-Code-with-DLCD-grant-support","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6607717-f163404f4e751849540582e751396071/orig.mp4?Expires=1771136989&Signature=Hi20CiXYQZqVUzibV8oTSIPWL574-LRIupQAi-r0Y6uyPsRDdCdf22CY2~EPwAj8W0yzVj56e6rYY71Fe5Tn~Q0oSA2ztZR7Jtovuga1t--ZCxCz1eX0F~hyrltO9ZVobWpgnWFt0g0yy1cwbCC4ZfJU7ggYD9DRK3y5fLiJPM1~JXvVW95tX~axxWZUUAOaEEv8B8ofpac1mbKHVLidzzhj-IpLJeH6BxSct16ENmlTPKQiS5x9nscZsqRhAbnCQB77xGGQC7VaMT2vrrxaoZiTSS9s2Vwmd9HnFVoDbxrfygaR7sot9TGf3UbmEAWnbFUPmQisYn7UTDSBRC-2GQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Washington County","date","2025-04-10T16:36:15.467Z","article","Washington County staff announced a consultant-led Community Development Code (CDC) assessment to identify inconsistencies, repetitive standards and barriers to housing production in the county\u0000s land-use code. The project will run about 15 months and is funded in part by a grant from the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD).

Senior planner Suzanne Sabin said the county\u0000s CDC was adopted in the early 1980s and has grown to about 1,200 pages through incremental changes. “It\u0000s about 1,200 pages now, and one of our staff brought in a food scale and weighed it, and it\u0000s about six pounds,” Sabin said to illustrate the volume of accumulated amendments.

The county hired consultant Pascadia Partners to conduct stakeholder focus-group interviews with service districts and other partners, draft an assessment summarizing identified issues and propose prioritized next steps. Sabin said the assessment will identify unclear or non-objective standards, equity considerations and possible regulatory barriers to housing production, and will recommend an order for addressing the issues.

Staff expect the assessment draft and summary report to be delivered in the months after the stakeholder interviews, followed by a priorities report and an open house (virtual and in person). Sabin estimated the first phase of the project will conclude around May 2026; subsequent phases to revise code language would come later.

Sabin said the county will create a web page and signup for email updates, and that a planning commission member is expected to serve on the technical advisory committee. Staff invited community partners, service districts (Clean Water Services, Tualatin Valley and others) and community planning organizations to take part in interviews and review drafts.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Washington County Development Forum, 04/10/25","oneSentenceSummary","County staff launched a Community Development Code assessment, funded by a Department of Land Conservation and Development grant, to identify unclear, repetitive or inconsistent standards and recommend prioritized fixes; the process will include stakeholder interviews, a draft assessment report and public open house through May 2026.","taxTitle","Washington County, Oregon","taxId",2762,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6607722,"Washington County proposes 8.5% average permit fee increase and a small valuation fee to shore up services",910,1664110,2575090,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2948237-407abb6135f133831a9f0ce50869b930&start=1664&end=2575","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2948237-407abb6135f133831a9f0ce50869b930/thumbnail_1664110.jpg","/articles/6607722/Washington-County/Oregon/Washington-County-proposes-85-average-permit-fee-increase-and-a-small-valuation-fee-to-shore-up-services","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6607722-3b0e0420441acc9fca8d0bb3f0e8f3a2/orig.mp4?Expires=1771136989&Signature=CZIJ2t-TFbMyV~jeZe0Ha2THfWZf3iFzFNTblS7327syLD60Mi-9uRROBCraiDWAUVZsWrKx8emawFnxNoO9pOrgnzg~I9kEaZmEdEeRLuGDkUW9RtDjWOZJypPC750TGTruW0EjIMzhMhbSrrZXymqlwLRqDCkgAiHGdDau2~uGM~jW8VFANTh0b1I5wkkCBbJK1LUHQjKjamcajRlFjNpwmM7NbbTpiJHyUapCqfDuTks3gX8ko33LA39Q8rUWmb9XmK0kqkJ0ZtgG4oW4CRX4FrwDqi4OKs0jFtWKbR1maUIqEOAmRt6zIespuIMEbrw-6Qzsdi~3cWj8H-7-vA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Washington County staff proposed a roughly 8.5% increase to most building permit and current-planning fees for the fiscal year beginning July 1 to maintain service levels and meet reserve requirements, and outlined an optional small valuation-based fee to replace a portion of general-fund support for land-use code compliance.

Carol Johnson, Planning and Development Services division manager, said the division operates primarily on fee revenue and that prior under-indexed fees required a 50% increase in fiscal year 2023-24 to stabilize operations. She said staff now propose an 8.5% increase while holding some fees constant for equity reasons. “We had to hire direct staff to establish these target service levels, because it was important for us to have those targets,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the county is not adopting a separate technology fee at this time, despite rising technology costs associated with the mandated Accela cloud migration; the county instead plans to absorb short-term migration costs and evaluate software options after the mandated upgrade. She said the Accela migration and multiple version upgrades are expected in the fall and that staff may consider a targeted technology fee after completing an assessment of costs and options.

County staff said the proposed valuation-based fee would apply to building permits that create new valuation (for example, new single-family homes or commercial construction) and is modeled on a fee used in Deschutes County. Staff presented examples showing that the valuation fee would add a small percentage (roughly 0.4% to 4% depending on the program and permit type) to typical building permit totals and that mechanical- or electrical-only permits without valuation would not be subject to the fee.

Johnson said building services must maintain 12 to 18 months of reserves per state guidance to accommodate the cyclical development market and that current planning reserves are substantially lower; staff said the proposed increases are intended to stabilize reserves and reduce reliance on general-fund subsidies.

The proposed fee package will be considered by the Board of Commissioners as part of the county budget process; staff said the increases are sensitive to housing production costs and encouraged public comment during the budget hearings.","County staff proposed an 8.5% increase to many building-permit and current-planning fees for the fiscal year beginning July 1, citing staffing costs, vendor cloud migration and reserve requirements; staff propose a small additional valuation-based fee to offset general-fund reductions for code compliance.",{"_33":88,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":89,"_41":90,"_43":91,"_45":92,"_47":93,"_49":94,"_51":95,"_53":96,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":97,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":98,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6607726,"Washington County launches transportation assessment review to give developers written pre-land-use guidance",754,680690,1434860,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2948237-407abb6135f133831a9f0ce50869b930&start=680&end=1434","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2948237-407abb6135f133831a9f0ce50869b930/thumbnail_680690.jpg","/articles/6607726/Washington-County/Oregon/Washington-County-launches-transportation-assessment-review-to-give-developers-written-pre-land-use-guidance","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6607726-6c9eef6cb430c5319bbc13af161ccef2/orig.mp4?Expires=1771136989&Signature=m31blBJHBiLsIpSJBK8FzdEBe6HAwqfbfqnPCAcA-vgNoS2yejxsKGOEJmh6uGipYLgPiZDVmbaJKOho0DP2hyH3t6n1hHC3PSexi8Si9JMo8Pa0mQfGzqsVnR1zkjqxY9ZWMV4Yw78u4ciVrOjq4DaIcvVCrU1dNUAh8pcoweLH3eUzd3bnbz01jC-WmGwQTnP9klZLfdqDGux9z6md7tSfkFRKLTyRXvpSw1rmpH6Z1PJnWn9DHhYLGovl8iecxv3XVsqC5rzcWHcguYOsrHhHClwO5OhO16WLrXiIkF4VNgSJRHBt3p5LcOPGuVdCpsG1p3Yw~62rwWiBnq4qWQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Washington County announced a formal Transportation Assessment Review (TAR) process intended to provide developers with written, pre-land-use guidance on roadway impacts, required frontage improvements and safety concerns.

Tony Mills, associate transportation planner, said the TAR is intended to formalize coordination between applicants, the county and cities so developers know what county comments to expect before filing a land-use application. “We\u0000want to kind of mimic that as the road authorities that you'll come to us for review before you go through that land use process,” Mills said.

Under the proposed workflow, applicants would submit a completed form, a short narrative describing the project, preliminary plans and any draft or preliminary transportation-impact materials to a shared county inbox or, for larger files, to ProjectDocs. Mills said the county\u0000s goal is to issue written comments within 14 days of submittal; complex or larger projects could take up to 30 days.

Mills said the review is intended to identify public improvements, safety issues, specific design concerns (for example, turn lanes or bike facilities), comments on the transportation-impact analysis and potential eligibility for Washington County Transportation Development Tax credits. He said the review is free: “This review is not intended to have any kind of a fee associated with it.”

The county said it is also exploring optional pre-facility review and preliminary design-exception reviews for larger projects, but those additions will require further coordination with county engineering staff before a timeline is set. Mills said the TAR is aimed at reducing post-completeness surprises when applications are already on a city\u0000s 120-day statutory review clock.

Mills asked applicants to use the materials at the back table for more information and said the county will provide application forms and process graphics there.","The county unveiled a Transportation Assessment Review process that provides written comments to applicants before they submit land-use applications; the review is free, aims for a 14-day turnaround and may take up to 30 days for larger projects.",{"_33":100,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":101,"_41":102,"_43":103,"_45":104,"_47":105,"_49":106,"_51":107,"_53":108,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":109,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":110,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6607731,"Washington County to expand online permitting, add direct payment and move Accela to cloud",191,392805,584765,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2948237-407abb6135f133831a9f0ce50869b930&start=392&end=584","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2948237-407abb6135f133831a9f0ce50869b930/thumbnail_392805.jpg","/articles/6607731/Washington-County/Oregon/Washington-County-to-expand-online-permitting-add-direct-payment-and-move-Accela-to-cloud","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6607731-ba417360cc3d0b898a4152a693ef38a4/orig.mp4?Expires=1771136989&Signature=Z3dDPXPb33x5RUONiXihR2OZLFOjlDkAdmLB1qRspzoV0xBv8YGO5p9pob7w3dLvsQWyCxY7nMzN1l5Ye8LwqUWM~laaiyTsRGbt5XPX5BbTOWXPyEDEMorO-F2Bg1jkyAT4oY9f4G3vHRP4FrJ9KHnn75hJjDAAUc8eDoeQ~hsmvlvDmmC1D1OEM4KoWPp2zwqMcKiNz167u0LupgBME-cmd5bqA9GdKjhy366F46R2pFVctZdxJb1tL0ajmaBoJjuEYB68jwwZ~GMOwKC-9PmsVRTxcDRUFVhgIUDYV3J2qvlDGlR19rkRFXnxAwgXBnIfoU4vL~PdW1ffZGKy5A__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Washington County officials said the county will expand its online permitting portal so applicants can submit and pay for permits directly and staff will migrate the permitting software Accela to the cloud.

Planning and Development Services Building Official Derek Moon said the portal currently accepts mechanical, electrical, plumbing, prescriptive solar and some fire sprinkler affidavits and that county staff plan to roll building permit functionality into the portal in September. “You'll be able to fill out your building permit application and pay for it right there in the portal,” Moon said.

County staff said the online workflow is intended to reduce manual data entry that previously required permit technicians to rekey emailed applications into the county system. Moon reported the department is averaging about 200 inspections a day and that building project setups currently take about three days while MEP project setups take about two days; staff expect those measures to improve as more work shifts to the portal.

Moon said ProjectDocs has already been moved to the cloud and that Accela will follow in September. He asked for volunteers to help beta test the expanded portal and said staff will recruit testers when they roll out the building-permit functionality.

Staff described other near-term changes in Building Services: hiring additional permit technicians, a pilot drone program to support roof inspections where inspectors cannot safely access roofs, and moving records and workflows into cloud-hosted systems. County staff said they are interviewing candidates for another permit-tech position and that the earlier fee increases approved last year helped fund staffing increases that are bringing service levels closer to targets.

The county will solicit volunteers to test the portal and provide contact information for staff at the back of the room. The department also encouraged attendees to stop by the back table for printed graphics and current application forms and noted the next development forum is scheduled for Oct. 9.","Washington County officials announced an expanded online permitting portal with in-portal payment, faster processing goals, and a planned migration of Accela to the cloud; staff seek beta testers and expect improved inspection and permit setup times.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Washington County to review and streamline 1,200-page Community Development Code with DLCD grant support

Washington County proposes 8.5% average permit fee increase and a small valuation fee to shore up services

Washington County launches transportation assessment review to give developers written pre-land-use guidance

Washington County to expand online permitting, add direct payment and move Accela to cloud