Fast track permitting

A. Purpose. The purpose of this section is to support the fast track development of residential workforce housing by codifying the County's priority permitting policy for expediting its permit process and giving priority to qualified residential workforce housing projects. B. Project qualifications. A project comprised of 100 percent residential workforce housing units with a fully-executed residential workforce housing agreement between the developer and the County, recorded in the bureau of conveyances or registered in the land court, in compliance with this chapter, shall be eligible for fast track permitting. C. Permits subject to fast track permitting. Qualified projects may utilize the fast track permitting process to expedite the review and issuance of all County permits necessary for the development of the project site, including subdivision applications, civil construction plan permits, and other plans and permits associated with the development of the project site. Building permits shall only be expedited for residential workforce housing units. Fast track permitting applies to applications that require review or approval by the planning commissions, the council, or any other County board or commission. The processing of fast track applications shall be given first priority by County departments while complying with all statutory and procedural requirements. D. Fast track permitting processing procedure. All applicable County departments shall review and process permits for qualified projects in accordance with state and county laws. Applicable departments shall begin the permit review process for fast track projects no later than two working days following submission of all required applications and forms deemed complete. Applicable departments shall submit initial comments to the applicant within fifteen working days following submission of all required applications and forms deemed complete. If on the sixteenth working day an applicant does not receive initial comments, the permit will be deemed approved by the applicable department. Applicable departments shall begin the permit review process for qualified projects before all other permit applications for projects not eligible for fast track permitting. E. Fast track applications requiring council review. For qualified projects subject to fast track permitting, the council shall schedule the initial meeting for such application within thirty days of the referral to the appropriate committee. The council shall make its reasonable best efforts to approve or deny the application within sixty days of the referral to committee. F. Annual report. The department shall prepare and submit an annual report to the council on the following: 1. The number of qualified projects that utilized the County's fast track permitting process. 2. The length of review time for each permit by each department. G. Rules. The director may adopt administrative rules to implement the fast track permitting procedure provided for in this section or amend rules adopted to implement this chapter to include fast track permitting. ( Ord. No. 4939 , § 2, 2018)