New planning manager hired, major reorganization underway, five staff fired
“It’s not quite as easy as we were thinking it was going to be,” acting Department of Community Development (DCD) director Mark Tompkins told the San Juan County council on Oct. 21, three months after a major restructuring of the department. Still, Tompkins is “cautiously optimistic” that things are beginning to improve.
The County has been struggling to fix problems in the planning department for the past several years. Frustration among permit applicants over delays and confusing communications reached a breaking point in May 2023, when planning director Dave Williams was terminated.
Despite two recruitment efforts since then, a permanent director of DCD still has not been hired. For over a year, the department continued to struggle.
In July, a major reorganization was announced. Five employees out of eight in the land use/planning department were given 10-day job separation notices.
Double duty
Tompkins is serving as acting director of DCD in addition to his position as director of the Department of Health and Community Services (plus his recent position as interim county manager). Kyle Dodd is serving as deputy director of DCD, in addition to his position as Environmental Health Manager.
Recruitment for a new DCD Director is underway again, and Tompkins remarked, “I think it’s important to have somebody that can be long-term, who can give their full focus to the department.”
Tompkins reported to the council on restaffing the department. In addition to the director position, a second code enforcement officer will be added, with interviews now underway. A permit tech was hired, “a transfer in lieu of lay-off,” Tompkins said, referring to one of the five planners initially let go.
An unanticipated opening occurred when the administrative/records specialist for the department resigned on Oct. 1, leaving the department without a public records official. Tompkins said this position is “vital” not only for public records requests, but for working with Tompkins and Dodd on permit reports, plus the employee was “a resident expert on SmartGov,” an online permit system.
Additionally, Darcie Nielsen was hired as the new planning manager in September. Nielsen worked in the early 1990s as a senior planner for San Juan County, developing the first Growth Management Area Comprehensive Plan, then served two terms as county commissioner in 1996–2004.
With family on San Juan Island and in Whatcom County, she spent time in both places growing up, and most recently lived in Whatcom County before moving back to San Juan Island for this position. For Nielsen, the job literally means coming back home. Coincidentally, she was born in the very same building, the former medical center, where she now works as planning manager.
Third-party reviews
The restructuring plan involves certain permit applications now being outsourced to third-party reviewers.
San Juan County wishes not to publicize the name of the private firm, because the premise is that the reviewers should be able to work uninterrupted by questions or phone calls from applicants. It is a large, Seattle-based firm, according to Nielsen
With the online permit system SmartGov, applicants are responsible for entering their own information. Applicants still deal only with San Juan County Planning Department staff, who review applications for completeness and serve as intermediaries between the applicant and the third-party reviewer.
SmartGov was first introduced in 2019 but was not fully implemented until 2021 for building permits. Nielsen said that land use permits are not yet fully integrated into the system. These applications are submitted on paper and then downloaded into the system by DCD staff. “In the future, land use applications will be submitted through the portal as well,” Nielsen said, “we’ll be working on that in the months ahead.”
The private firm in August began reviewing any building permits with special issues. DDC and the consultants communicate weekly, Dodd told the council, and they are becoming more efficient every week.
“They understand the backlog and have added a fifth reviewer to their team,” Dodd said.
Nonetheless, there is a significant learning curve. “It’s not instantaneous,” Dodd said, explaining that consultants must “come up to speed with the County’s development code” as well as learning the technicalities of SmartGov. “I underestimated the amount of time it would take to onboard,” Dodd said, but the addition of the fifth reviewer should make a difference.
How many permits?
In 2024 to date, San Juan County has received 480 building permit applications and 137 land use and shoreline permits. When asked by council member Christine Minney about the backlog of permits remaining from 2022, Tompkins said “there are still 28 permits in process,” with six now completed and ready for the applicant to finalize.
Nielsen later said that there are pending permits from the last couple of years numbering in the 100s. “We are making some progress to move a bunch of permits out the door,” Nielsen said.
Carl Petterson, a builder on Lopez Island, is a superintendent for JAS Design and has a crew of eight employees. He said delays in permits can make it hard to keep his crew busy. His firm submitted two permit applications early this spring; one was issued in August, the other is not yet completed. Both permits were held up in the land use department.
“We passed building review, but were stuck in the transition between staff in the land use department” he said. The properties have no specific issues such as wetlands, but are shoreline parcels, which do have additional considerations.
Petterson said he primarily works on the back end of a permit, after it has been issued, and has “certainly been able to work with Chris Jones,” one of the building inspectors, and has been able to obtain clear answers and communication. This is an improvement from the lack of communication two years ago, he said.
Certain land use permits were sent out for third party review, including the OPALCO Bailer Hill solar array application.
More than permits
Tompkins told the San Juan County council on Oct. 21 that the DCD is busy with other large projects in addition to permits. An update of the Comprehensive Plan is due by the end of 2025. Public input is currently taking place. A Housing Needs Assessment and a Land Capacity Analysis are underway. A new Climate Element will be added, now being developed by the Environmental Stewardship Department. The Critical Areas Ordinance, which is incomplete from 2016 also needs to be updated.
The Shoreline Education project has been grant-funded, and a user guide will be completed to assist shoreline property owners. This project is due at the end of 2025.
Another large project, being led by the Prosecuting Attorney’s office, is code revision. This is currently underway, with a Planning Commission public hearing scheduled for Nov. 15.
New state requirements
In addition to changes unique to San Juan County, the permit process will be modified statewide.
New Washington state requirements for permit reviews will go into effect on Jan. 1. The 2023 Legislature amended the Local Project Review Act, to increase the timeliness and predictability of local project review.
The Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC) says the changes include updated local permit review timelines, clarifications regarding the determination of completeness process, updated annual reporting requirements related to permit issuance, and provisions requiring partial permit fee refunds for failure to timely process permit applications, among other requirements.
Nielsen said the county is aware of the new regulations and, “yes, from 2025 we will need to try and meet the new deadlines.”
The new Washington state permitting requirements have also in part prompted Skagit County to launch a new online permitting system on Nov. 12. The system they are using is called Civic Access, developed by Tyler Technologies, which is replacing previous software installed in 1997 which had reached the end of it useful life.
San Juan County’s Planning and Development Services Department permit counter will still be open, with a new customer kiosk computer and staff available to provide guided assistance during regular business hours. Skagit County will not be using third-party reviews.
— By Nancy DeVaux