Last year the Jefferson County planning department rolled out their shiny new SDR (Site Development review) process.

You need one before you can get a building permit. I applied last year. Six months later, it looks like I might finally have one. It appears that they did zero planning on how to manage their own new process.

I’m also wondering what’s going on with my building permit process. It’s been over four months since I submitted it. I was told that the process should take 12 to 15 weeks. The guy who reviews the actual house plans has been done for a couple of months, but without the other permit paperwork, that doesn’t matter.

I’ve been told several times that the rest of the review process would be done in a couple of weeks. Nope. The heath department says 12 weeks for a septic permit. I’m on week 17. They can’t even hazard a guess on when it might be done. I asked a day ago.

This whole thing is compounded by the fact that I already have a house built on the same property two years ago. Now, if I just need a permit for a tiny ADU, why do we need so much process around adding to what’s already built?

I was told months ago that the county had a plan for dealing with my situation, but that clearly hasn’t happened.

What happens to the people building houses for a living? I’ve heard some are running out of work before their permits come through. At least I don’t have to start laying guys off.

We already can’t build houses fast enough to keep up with the demand. This is just putting the fire out with gasoline.

Robert Zormeir

PORT TOWNSEND