COWLITZ COUNTY BUILDING AND PLANNING B&P Newsletter A Note from the Director: In Building & Planning we take our role in the growth of Cowlitz County seriously. We continuously strive to improve processes to make development as smooth as possible. Our mission gives us clear direction; The purpose of the Cowlitz County Building & Planning Department is to facilitate growth and development in Cowlitz County; identify and protect the County s natural and environmental resources; promote safe development and the preservation of health and safety. We are expecting a busy year with an increasingly active residential construction market and several large industrial and commercial projects coming online over the next 12-18 months. We will continue to work hard to create and refine application materials and permitting processes that are right sized and to leverage technology for increased transparency and efficiency. Whether you are installing a new hot water heater, building your dream house far outside of the urbanized areas of the county, or proposing a major industrial project we hope that your experience is a smooth one and that if it isn t you ll let us know. Please see pages 4-5 for some interesting facts about our department you may not be aware of. Picked up a mechanical permit for a walk-in freezer. Received my permit and my questions answered within 20 minutes Thanks! - Fred Happy Building ~ Elaine Placido In This Issue: Process Changes Sailor of the Quarter Fun Facts about the Department
I was very stressed by the flood and worried about what I should do Jason really helped me with the steps to do the permit process. Friendly & reassuring - Carla Planning Points: New Process Change Effective Immediately We are always looking at ways we can improve our process to make it the most efficient and accurate process possible for both the public and staff when processing permits. Everyone is always so friendly & helpful! This is my first time working with Cowlitz County & everyone has been amazing at giving information through the process. - Brad We have a significant change to announce that will have a major positive impact on our customers as well as our staff! We will no longer be requiring peer reviews on all critical areas and technical analyses as a standard of permit. Basic savings to an applicant: $600 per peer review, minimum time savings of 3 weeks up to 7-8 months. Our review will now be around a week, with no peer review. We will require that the applicants geotechnical professional complete our checklists required for permit really, just a checklist! We may still require a peer review on particularly complex projects but any peer reviews will be under the Director s direction. Kim O Brien was very professional, did a very good job. Knowledgeable about the process. - Jim Ops Corner: Bring us your Pictures! We are doing some much needed updating to our website. We would like to show off some of your great projects, so please feel free to email y o u r p i c t u r e s t o : gonzalesm@co.cowlitz.wa.us, so we can post them for all to see. OR if you just want to bring pictures in for us to put up on our board in the permit center that is great too! New Hours We are now open Monday through Thursday from 7am until 6pm. The office is closed on Fridays. Building inspectors are also on the new schedule and will be inspecting Monday through Thursday 7:30 am to 5:30 pm. We are excited about this change, because this shift in schedules has expanded the hours of availability to the public. As permitting traffic has increased, a substantial lunch rush has developed. Customer feedback indicates that earlier and later hours to access staff and the Permit Center would be beneficial to decrease wait times during those peak hours.
Building Block: Sailors of the Quarter Every quarter a staff member is nominated by their fellow B&P peers for exceptional s e r v ice o r innovation. 4th Quarter 2015: Michael Wilson- Building Official 1st Quarter 2016 Angela Jordan- Department Head Secretary We have made some exciting new changes in your building department. To begin, there are some recent developments which we want to bring to your attention. Building Code Update Every three years the State Building Code is revisited in order to remain current with the needs of the community, industry, and technical innovations. Effective July 1, 2016, Cowlitz County will adopt the 2015 Washington State Building Code as amended for administration within the unincorporated areas of our county. A special point of interest in this code cycle; Cowlitz County is exploring adoption of the International Wildland Urban Interface Code in order to mitigate fire and life-safety hazards unique to the wildland-urban interface areas. This code is widely used throughout the country as a means of serving the public in out-lying areas where traditional fire-fighting infrastructure is inadequate or non-existent. Adoption of this code should provide greater flexibility for developers, builders and homeowners, by creating additional options from which to choose. Just think of it as another tool in the box. Permit Fees No one likes to talk about the amount due, but it is a reality we all must deal with. First, the good news; NO FEE INCREASE for this year. In fact, in response to public interest we have reduced fees in some cases. Your interest and participation is important. Secondly, more good news. In an effort to make the permitting process a bit more user-friendly we recently reorganized the building permit fee schedules. We hope you will find the changes beneficial, as the fee schedules were designed to provide greater detail and be self-explanatory. Please visit our office or website to obtain copies of the fee documents. Although this year began with recovery from recent flood events we are optimistic for what lies ahead as trends forecast steady growth for the construction industry in our community. Please feel free to stop by anytime and discover your building department. Questions are welcomed.
General, core functions and tasking within each division of the department: Building: Commercial plan review and permitting Industrial plan review and permitting Residential plan review and permitting Mechanical and plumbing permitting Building inspection commercial, industrial and residential Fill and Grade (excavation) Mobile home placement Fire Marshal: Voluntary code compliance with case referral to Citizen Liaison (OFM) for enforcement actions Mike Wilson, our Building Official, serves as the County Fire Marshal with all statutory authority and responsibility for provision of services under the IFC and, soon, the Wildland Urban Interface Fire Code plan review, permitting and inspection Coordination and consultation with area Fire Chief s Oversight of contract work for specialized inspection services provided by Cowlitz 2 All fire, life, safety permits issued from fireworks stands and large tents, to sophisticated fire detection and suppression systems Operations: Permit Center and online permitting Staff consultations Project management Planning Clearance Over the County building permits Small project permitting Coordination with Health Department in areas of regulatory and customer service interaction
Environmental Planning- Flood Plain permits SEPA All Shoreline permits Environmental determinations All critical areas permitting Major Special Use permitting Forest conversions and timber moratoriums Regional Coordination, including: Community Forest; Transportation Advisory Committee Local government work; Comp Plan consistency reviews Project Management Kid Valley Community Planning Area, new growth management programs in Kelso, Longview and Kalama Staff the Boundary Review Board Regulatory Updates, including: Comp Plan, Vesting, Zoning Map review, Innocent Purchaser, Forest conversions, Addressing, etc. Just this one section of the 2016 Long Range Planning Work Plan contains updates to 27 ordinances, including 9 that have been identified as Shoreline Administration (SMP) Long Range Planning- Non-discretionary (mandated by state law) code updates, including: Stormwater (LID); Critical Areas Ordinance update; Community Wildfire Protection Plan; Timber Moratorium database management. Mitigation Banks HIGH priority by the BOCC. Administration: Economic Development Project Management including Millennium Bulk Terminals, and Kalama Manufacturing and Marine Export Terminal. Currently over $2 billion dollars in projects are being managed by this office Grant writing including over $2 million in grants written for the Health Department and Emergency Management in 2015 and 2016 LEAN Multiple JDI projects completed in 2015 and 2016; full Mobile Office for in-the-field resulting for building inspection fleet (in implantation); expedited permit option (in measure phase); eliminate inspection redundancy (measure phase); Process mapping for the Law & Justice Committee (arrest to disposition), Office hours assessment (control phase this was a DMAIC project not DMEDI/LEAN) Staff the Board of Equalization Operational planning Staff the Building & Planning Advisory Committee Staff the Planning Commission Manage technology including the permitting system and software, and other technical platforms Regulatory and administrative oversight of the department