We received as phone call the other day asking where we get the Island County permits and could they have the web address so they could get them themselves. When I told them most of our permits are not online our customer was silent for a moment and then said, “You mean you drive around and pick them up?” To which I replied “Yes, for most of them we do.”

Here is how our permit process works:

Every Tuesday Elizabeth gets in her car and drives to Whatcom County, City of Mt Vernon, City of Burlington, and Anacortes. On alternating weeks, she goes to Whidbey Island for City of Oak Harbor and Island County permits or Lynden. Some of the places we hand write them and some, like Island County, which also charges us a per page fee.

Monthly we receive City of Sedro Woolley permits. Up until a couple months ago, she had to drive there and write them all down.

Ferndale permits are also suppose to be monthly, but we have to wait until they upload them and sometimes they are several months behind. Calling and asking when they will be uploaded does not help. They are snarky about it.

Skagit County permits we get online weekly.

City of Bellingham emails them to us weekly.

It costs WCR about $20,000 a year to gather and enter permits for publishing on Thursday.

Also, we get other permits from Newspapers. Sometimes these don’t seem to show up during our pick-up process which we label as WCRNEWS. Like this one:

3 Story Apartment Building – A NOTICE OF APPLICATION
APPLICATION: Site Plan SIT-17-05
APPLICATION: Landscape PLN-17-10
APPLICATION: Transportation Concurrency TRC-17-09
PROJECT PROPOSAL AND LOCATION: A formal site plan (SIT-17-05) and associated applications for the proposed construction of a 13,875 square foot, three story, 11 unit apartment building. The 11 units will consist of one, two and three bedroom units. The application and associated documents were submitted on Mr. Al Taylor, Taylor Design Architects for KG Lang Construction, property owner. The project location is 245 SE Ely Street, Building A. This project was previously reviewed and approved in 2006 / 2007. Mirabella Square building B was constructed and finaled at that time. The site plan approval for building A has expired.
DETERMINATION OF COMPLETENESS: The above applications submitted on October 12, December 5, December 12 and December 18, 2017 by Mr. Al Taylor, Taylor Design Architects for AHA Investments, property owners have been determined complete for the purpose of reviewing on December 18, 2017.
APPLICABLE REGULATIONS AND REVIEW CRITERIA: The above applications will be reviewed for compliance with the Oak Harbor Comprehensive Plan (Nov. 2014), Municipal Code. This may not be a comprehensive list of the applicable regulations and review criteria against which this application will be reviewed.
PUBLIC HEARING NOT REQUIRED: A Public Hearing is not required for this project.
ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENTS AND/OR STUDIES APPLICABLE TO THIS PROJECT: The SEPA environmental checklist (SEP-06-00017) was issued a determination of non-significance on January 10, 2007.
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD: If you have questions regarding this application, please contact the Development Services Department at (360) 279-4510, between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday thru Friday. To make written comments on this application, please mail or hand-deliver specific comments to: City of Oak Harbor, Development Services Department, 865 SE Barrington Drive, Oak Harbor, WA 98277, no later than 5:00 p.m. on January 10, 2018
To receive notification of the decision on this proposal, please send a self-addressed, stamped envelope and request a Notification of Decision for Site plan SIT-17-05 from the City of Oak Harbor, Development Services Department, 865 SE Barrington Drive, Oak Harbor, WA 98277.
Lisa Bebee Permit Coordinator

Have any questions? Please contact us. We love to be of service.