News

ARTICLE
Date ArticleType
9/1/2023 Member News

Washington County Shares Permitting Data with HBA Members


As part of HBA’s ongoing engagement efforts with Washington County, our staff and members meet quarterly with the Land Use and Transportation leadership team. At our last meeting, LUT provided a snapshot of county-wide permitting data going back several years, as well as current target levels for permitting functions, including an update on permit intake and inspections delays.

Click here for the slide deck.

Over the past two years Washington County’s permitting and inspections services have experienced significant delays. From permitting intake, file check/approvals, and, more recently, field inspections, the Land Use and Transportation teams that serve unincorporated Washington County have struggled to provide our industry with adequate services. Because of this, and due to the County being an important place for new home construction, HBA’s has zeroed in on the county and made it a priority jurisdiction both politically and through our policy work.

Over the past year, HBA’s staff has had regular, often weekly communications with LUT leadership, the County’s elected officials, and other advocacy groups working in that space. We believe that those efforts are starting to pay off. For instance, at its lowest point, permit set up and file checks took the county roughly 2.5 months to process. Now, those two actions take 13 days. On the inspections side, we were seeing wait times of over 14 days just two months ago. Now, inspections take on average 3-4 days to schedule and complete.

While these are still not ideal, they do represent significant progress over the course of a relatively short amount of time for government reform. We’ll continue to update you with new data as soon as we get it, but thought you’d like to know how your engagement and membership is working to support a more efficient and productive building environment for our entire industry.