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County plans online permitting rollout, proposes 8.5% fee increase and small new fees for compliance and planning
Summary
Washington County staff told the Planning Commission they are launching online trade‑permit applications, preparing an eventual online land use application, and proposing an 8.5% across‑the‑board fee increase plus two small new fees to stabilize reserves and support code compliance and community planning.
Washington County staff briefed the Planning Commission on near‑term changes to permitting and proposed fee adjustments intended to stabilize permit program reserves and fund county planning work.
An unidentified county staff member delivering the director’s report said the county has just implemented an online application process for trade permits (building, plumbing, mechanical) with an eventual rollout to full building permits and a refined online process planned for current planning (land‑use) applications. Staff noted a roughly 60‑day timeline for beta testing the land‑use online application and said going digital should reduce manual data entry and improve transparency by allowing documents to be posted immediately online.
The same staff member described proposed fee changes: an overall proposed 8.5% increase across both current planning and building services, driven in part by a county decision to pick up 6% of PERS costs this year and other one‑time county cost increases. To reduce general‑fund cuts to code compliance and community planning, staff proposed two additional fees: a 0.004% fee on building permits to support the code compliance program and an additional 0.04% fee to support community planning. Staff characterized those new fees as designed to offset otherwise significant general fund reductions for those programs.
Staff also described a new workflow tool, Project Docs, to streamline service provider letters where the county is the service provider or where development in a city accesses a county road. Tony Mills was identified as the county staff contact for Project Docs.
Other director’s‑report items included a development forum held last Thursday with about 30 participants to discuss technology changes and development review improvements, and staff noted the next development forum will be Oct. 9. Metro’s Regional Flexible Fund Allocation (RFFA) step‑2 public comment period was noted as open through April 30. Staff reminded commissioners of a volunteer appreciation event April 24 at 5:30 p.m. at the Wingspan Event Center in Hillsboro; RSVPs were due the next day.
Commissioners asked whether online permitting will save time for applicants. Staff said early expectations are modest time savings ("at least a day to two days" on trade permits) and faster routing and improved transparency for current planning when applications are digital. Staff said they are also migrating to a newer cloud version of Accela to improve reporting and workflow transparency.
