Two years into his term as Snohomish County executive, Aaron Reardon has done something that eluded all of his predecessors.
He has received praise from a builder for how he changed the county’s system of handling development permits.
For at least the past 25 years, developers have lashed out at the county’s planning and permit system, saying it doesn’t treat everyone fairly, costs them money because it’s unpredictable and lengthy, and is too complicated and difficult to understand.
In February 2004, Reardon threw the problem at his citizens cabinet, a group of advisers assigned with getting rid of obstacles to economic development. Later that year, he issued an executive order telling staff members to expedite the permit process.
“The system has been the bane of developers’ very existence,” Reardon said. “There’s no magic elixir, we’ve just made a concerted effort to fix it.”
One of the major changes, he said, was the adoption of an online permit process, which now handles 55 percent of the applications. Reardon said he expects the online system to handle 75 percent of them eventually.
Simple permits are expected to be processed within 24 hours.
“It can free up people at the counter for more complex permits,” Reardon said.
He added that the recent focus has been on reducing the time for final plat approvals for developers, “with no dilution of the environmental regulations.”
“It’s still the same process, but it’s more flexible,” Reardon said, lauding the efforts of Craig Ladiser, his planning director. “A lot of this is due to Craig’s leadership.”
Reardon said the changes haven’t been aimed only at aiding developers. Employees have been empowered to be more innovative in processing the permits without giving up environmental safeguards, he said.
“It’s improving morale,” Reardon said.
Which brings us back to praise from developers.
“Overall, I am very pleased with the progress that Planning and Development Services has made in implementing the recommendations that as a developer I care most about,” wrote Larry Sundquist of Sundquist Homes in Lynnwood.
“Beyond the recommendations, however, there has been another positive outcome from this process, and that is the attitude of staff. While we have heard isolated grumbling, I believe that the general attitude of the PDS staff has never been better than it is right now.”
Sundquist noted that his company was involved in a pilot project for handling developments, and that within 38 days he had received a positive State Environmental Policy Act review and that the hearing examiner had verbally approved the project at the end of the hearing.
“This is unprecedented,” he wrote.
His letter talks about more “tremendous progress,” and even suggests that the process could actually start moving faster than the developers.
“With the pace of technology implementation that has occurred this past year, it is highly probably that the permit process will not only catch up with the development and design community, but begin pushing us at a faster pace,” Sundquist wrote.
Praise for the county’s development process – that, too, is unprecedented.
Identity theft
A number of readers called or e-mailed last week after my column on some tips making the rounds on the Internet for protecting yourself from identity theft.
Most were responding to a suggestion that instead of signing your credit card, you should write on it insisting that whoever is putting through the charge ask for photo ID. The idea is not to show thieves how you usually sign your card, and also to require that the user has appropriate identification.
Large numbers of people pointed out that the companies issuing the cards insist that they be signed, and that the agreement with stores, restaurants and other retailers is that unsigned cards should not be processed.
Thanks for pointing that out, although I still like the idea of not showing thieves how to copy your signature. It might be smart to have two cards, one signed and one with the photo ID note, and use whichever one works.
One e-mailer also said the suggestion that plastic hotel key cards be destroyed because they are loaded with personal credit information stems from an urban legend.
He steered me to a spot on the Web that indeed said the concern was a legend, stemming from an incorrect claim involving a police officer. It quoted Hilton Hotels as saying that information contained on the cards is minimal – name, room number, length of stay, etc.
You can check it out yourself at urbanlegends.about.com/ library/bl_hotel_keycards.htm.
So do with those key cards what you will. Being a cautious person, I’m still likely to destroy the cards anyway. I don’t like even basic information about me floating around out there.
Mike Benbow: 425-339-3459; benbow@heraldnet.com
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