Kittitas County planning panel backs local rules to implement Senate Bill 5290 on permit timelines

The Kittitas County Planning Commission on Jan. 14 recommended that the Kittitas County Board of Commissioners adopt local regulations to implement Senate Bill 5290, a state law setting maximum review times for land-use and building permits and creating financial consequences if jurisdictions fail to meet those timelines.

The change is aimed at shortening processing times and increasing accountability for both applicants and county staff. Long range planner Jeremy Johnson, who led the presentation, told the panel that the law establishes different maximum clocks for types of applications and a set of “stop clock” rules that pause the deadline when the county requests additional information.

"The whole point of this bill was to make project timelines more efficient and more predictable," Jeremy Johnson, long range planner, said during the meeting. He described three processing tiers discussed in the bill: an administrative category with a maximum 65-day processing period for simple, no-notice applications; an intermediate category (in the staff presentation described as reduced to 90 days from a prior definition); and a nonadministrative category requiring public notice and hearings — such as preliminary plats — with a 170-day maximum once an application is…