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Public works and building staff outline permit backlog, Accela workflow and plans to speed development review
Summary
Public works and building and planning staff reviewed a current list of development review projects in the Accela portal, explained causes of incomplete applications, discussed staffing shortages and training plans, and signaled possible transfer of private-road reviews back to building and planning subject to ordinance changes.
Cowlitz County public works and building and planning staff presented commissioners with an update on active development review cases, explained how Accela tracks incomplete applications, and described steps to reduce processing time for permits and private-road reviews.
Public works engineer Susan (surname not specified) told the Board that as of noon the office had 15 projects on its active list, 13 after removing short plats, with a mix of residential, private-road and planning projects. She said darker-colored entries in the report indicate permits that are incomplete because building and planning is awaiting additional documents; those short plats are still processed on paper and require multiple signatures, a quirk that causes them to appear in the public works Accela list.
Staff described common reasons for an “incomplete” status: missing documents required by building and planning; preliminary reviews sent back to applicants for correction; or projects filed as short plats that must be handled outside Accela’s full digital workflow for final plat signatures. Susan said public works has been providing targeted comments to applicants and that some incomplete items have been finished and signed after follow-up.
Commissioners and staff discussed turnaround expectations under new state planning timelines for GMA counties; Tracy Jackson, building and planning, explained the recently adopted state rules apply to GMA counties and not to Cowlitz County, but noted the county has considered local time-frame resolutions for processing permits. Staff emphasized that the review “clock” pauses while an applicant holds an incomplete resubmittal and restarts when the applicant returns corrected materials.
Public works said staffing constraints have increased processing times. Susan said she expects to train a junior engineer by June to help with development-review workloads, and that two open positions (covering water, sewer, stormwater, development review and diking) are being recruited with second-round interviews scheduled. She also reported that public works is exploring transferring private-road review responsibility back to building and planning, but that would require ordinance changes and further analysis.
Commissioners asked about how quickly a complete road or engineering plan could be reviewed; staff estimated the current personal workload produces a 2–3 week turnaround for private-road reviews and said training and hiring would shorten that interval. Staff committed to share the Acela project list with the clerk so commissioners can more easily track which projects are in incomplete status and which have advanced.
No formal motions or policy changes were adopted at the meeting; staff were asked to continue recruiting and training to reduce review time and to return with proposed ordinance or process changes if the private-road responsibilities are to move between departments.
