EVERETT — Home builders might get a little help from Snohomish County to ease them through the depressed housing and credit markets.
The Snohomish County Council is expected to vote Wednesday on extending some building-permit deadlines for subdivisions, granting developers up to eight years to finish projects. Under the proposal, builders could extend existing five-year permits by three years. Currently, they can request a one-year extension. Without a longer deadline, builders could suffer financial loses from lapsing permits, or rush to build homes ahead of permit deadlines despite the weak market.
“It’s a problem that will loom larger over the next three years,” said Mike Pattison of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties. “We’re still looking for the bottom of the housing market.”
Snohomish County’s planning department recorded 79 housing starts last month, a big drop from April 2005, when there were 295. That’s only part of the problem. The housing industry is having trouble obtaining credit, too.
The permit proposal gained support during County Executive Aaron Reardon’s home-builders summit in February. An extension would cost $500 and provide extra revenue for the county planning department. For developers, the new fee is cheaper than the estimated $12,000 it costs to submit applications a second time.
Without the change, 15 subdivision projects are scheduled to expire by the end of the year, Pattison said. Another 26 would lapse in 2010, 63 in 2011 and 125 in 2012.
The County Council could amend the ordinance with a sunset date, Councilman Dave Somers said.
Also on Wednesday, the County Council is expected to finalize the types of structures allowed on substandard residential lots. A judge’s decision earlier this year to prevent duplexes being built on such lots created confusion about structures such as barns and sheds.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
Public meeting
The Snohomish County Council holds a public hearing on longer permit extensions for subdivisions at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday on the eighth Floor of the Drewel Building, 3000 Rockefeller Ave., Everett.
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