EVERETT – Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon wants a report by Oct. 1 detailing how the county Department of Planning and Community Development Services can speed up and improve the permitting process.
Reardon issued an executive order Tuesday asking for the report.
In doing so, he said he was following the recommendation of the Snohomish County Citizens Cabinet on Economic Development, which issued a report last week seeking such changes.
“The citizens Cabinet was clear,” Reardon said in a statement. “The county needs to administer its regulatory services, programs and activities to encourage business investment and regional economic expansion.”
The executive order calls for 12 initiatives, ranging from allowing people to check the Internet on the progress of permit applications to establishing time frames for permit reviews.
It also seeks a risk assessment of each pending land-use decision, and an expansion of agricultural land uses that doesn’t permanently remove the land from farm use.
“We are going to run Snohomish County like a business,” Reardon said.
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