Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Planning Dcd Workplan topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
DCD director outlines 2026 code rewrite, permitting upgrades and staffing priorities
Summary
San Juan County’s Department of Community Development told the planning commission it will reorganize the unified development code into a new Title 19, expand online permitting through SmartGov, review permit fees, recruit a code-enforcement officer and pursue preapproved building plans to speed affordable housing projects.
Seth, director of the county’s Department of Community Development, told the planning commission on Jan. 16 that the department will prioritize a major reorganization of the unified development code this year and steps to speed permitting.
"We're doing away with 18, and we're just replacing it with... Title 19," Seth said, describing a reorganization intended to remove redundancies and make the code easier for the public and staff to navigate. He said staff expect to present an initial briefing to the commission within about two months and are aiming for formal adoption by the end of the year.
Seth and planner Colin Makoff outlined several interlocking efforts: updating the land-use table and performance standards, completing CAO (critical areas ordinance) updates, incorporating MRO (multi-residence overlay) elements pulled from the comprehensive plan, and wrapping annual docket items into the larger code rewrite so the county can adopt a single, consolidated code.
On permitting, the county plans to expand SmartGov, the online permitting platform, beyond its current use for vacation rentals to accept shoreline tree removals, simple land divisions, boundary-line modifications and other permit types. "You can complete the application online," Seth said, noting the change will help applicants who do not reside on San Juan Island and is intended to reduce processing time once plans reach staff review.
Staff presented recent performance data showing an improvement in building-permit issuance times. After a peak average near 250 days in 2022, the county reported average issuance times decreased to about 80 days in 2025 for building permits; planning-permit trends showed similar improvements.
Seth also outlined an anticipated, multi-month review of permit and building fees — unchanged in about a decade — with public review and commission consideration before the council in the summer. Staff provided an early estimate of a roughly 15% fee increase as a starting point for analysis, but said the final numbers will follow a comparative review and a calculated staffing/time-cost analysis.
Other operational priorities include tightening the temporary-use permit process (to provide clearer and timelier approvals for events), developing preapproved plan sets to speed approvals for certain housing types (with fee incentives considered), a website redesign, and a plans-digitization effort to make legacy records searchable online.
Staff also said the county will begin recruiting a dedicated code-enforcement officer this year, aiming for the position to be filled by April, and noted a contract with David Evans and Associates will run through the end of the year to provide third-party review capacity while internal staffing is rebuilt.
Why it matters: The package of changes — code reorganization, expanded online permitting, fee updates and additional enforcement capacity — is intended to shorten approval timelines for development, reduce administrative delays, and create clearer rules for land use and housing development across San Juan County.
The department invited commissioners to ask questions and signaled it will return with briefings on the code rewrite and fee proposals in the coming months.
