County officials report large permit backlog, outline steps to speed building and land‑use reviews

San Juan County Department of Community Development officials told the council at its retreat that building permit applications surged in 2024 and that the office is taking steps to reduce a persistent backlog.

The department reported 616 building permit applications received in 2024, with roughly 316 applications previously started and later cancelled; staff said those cancellation counts are tracked separately and that December submittals include a notable number of incomplete applications that may be withdrawn. Staff said they also issued 616 permits during 2024, but that many of those issued in 2024 were submitted in earlier years.

The county’s interim DCD lead, Mark Tompkins (director of health and community services, acting interim for DCD), told the council the large “miscellaneous” category on permit reports groups owner‑builder filings, demolitions, reactivations, revisions and other varied submittals, and that those lumped categories make trend analysis harder. He said building mechanical and solar permits dominate volume: the county issued 258 mechanical/plumbing/solar permits in 2024 and 78 single‑family residential permits, with accessories (ADUs, decks, remodels) and other categories comprising the remainder.

Tompkins and Kyle Dodd (DCD) described permit review times and pending‑permit inventories. Staff said average review time for mechanical/plumbing/solar is about 32 days from submission to issuance; other permit types average longer, with some multi‑hundred‑day averages that reflect legacy cases. When measurements start at the implementation of the county’s SmartGov system (2020) staff reported pending permits as: 2 from 2020, 11 from 2021, 16 from 2022, 24 from 2023 and 175 from 2024 (not counting “incomplete” applications). Tompkins and Dodd said the department is pulling monthly reports to verify when a permit last had staff “eyes on it” and sending reminders to applicants when additional information is required.

To reduce the backlog, staff outlined operational changes: monthly tracking reports shared with management, reminders from billing when applications are incomplete, clearer and standardized permit statuses (for example, addressing an ambiguous “open” state), and onboarding another reviewer from the county’s third‑party land‑use review contractor. Dodd said the county’s current outside land‑use review team of four is adding another member and that his office holds biweekly check‑ins with the contractor to improve consistency.

Council members asked about short‑turnaround needs, such as hot‑water heater permits. Tompkins and Dodd said truly minor internal plumbing permits can be processed in a few days and prioritized so that homeowners and contractors aren’t left waiting. The department also raised a policy question for future council consideration: at what point should the county inactivate permits that have been waiting for applicant responses for months or years?

Why it matters: Delays in routine permits can push construction schedules, affect housing projects and incentivize work without permits. Council members pressed staff for faster turnaround on high‑need, low‑complexity permits and asked that the department return with regular updates on how operational fixes affect issuance rates.

What’s next: DCD staff said they plan to brief the council again about three months after the retreat (April) with updated permit metrics and the status of additional third‑party review capacity.

Speakers: [{"name":"Mark Tompkins","role_title":"Director, Health and Community Services (acting interim for DCD)","affiliation_type":"government","affiliation_name":"San Juan County"},{"name":"Kyle Dodd","role_title":"DCD staff","affiliation_type":"government","affiliation_name":"San Juan County"},{"name":"Chris Jones","role_title":"Building Official","affiliation_type":"government","affiliation_name":"San Juan County"},{"name":"Darcy Nielsen","role_title":"Planning Manager","affiliation_type":"government","affiliation_name":"San Juan County"}],

authorities: [{"type":"other","name":"SmartGov permitting system (San Juan County implementation 2020)","referenced_by":["dcd-building-permits-backlog-and-improvements"]}],

actions: [],

discussion_decision: {"discussion_points":["High volume of mechanical and solar permits","Large miscellaneous permit category complicates trend analysis","Inconsistent permit status labels (open/pending/incomplete)","Legacy permits from 2020–2023 still pending"] ,"directions":["Monthly internal reports to check activity on pending permits","Standardize permit status labels and a policy for inactivating long‑stale permits","Onboard an additional reviewer with the third‑party contractor"],"decisions":[]},

clarifying_details: [{"category":"permits_received_2024","detail":"building permits received in 2024 (reported)","value":"616","units":"count","approximate":false,"source_speaker":"Mark Tompkins"},{"category":"permits_cancelled_2024","detail":"applications started online then cancelled (historical reference)","value":"316","units":"count","approximate":true,"source_speaker":"Mark Tompkins"},{"category":"issued_2024","detail":"building permits issued in 2024 (includes prior years' submittals)","value":"616","units":"count","approximate":false,"source_speaker":"Mark Tompkins"},{"category":"avg_review_days_mechanical","detail":"average days from submission to issuance for mechanical/plumbing/solar","value":32,"units":"days","approximate":true,"source_speaker":"Mark Tompkins"}],

proper_names:[{"name":"SmartGov","type":"other"},{"name":"Department of Community Development","type":"agency"}],

community_relevance:{"geographies":["San Juan County"],"funding_sources":[],"impact_groups":["homeowners","contractors","developers"]},

meeting_context:{"engagement_level":{"speakers_count":4,"duration_minutes":60,"items_count":1},"implementation_risk":"low","history":[]},

searchable_tags:["permits","DCD","backlog","building","ADU","SmartGov"],

provenance:{"transcript_segments":[]},

salience:{"overall":0.65,"overall_justification":"Permitting backlog affects construction and housing in the county; staff proposed concrete operational fixes; multiple council members questioned staff."}},{