| County considers permit fee hike February 18th, 2005 (Port Angeles) -- County Department of Community Development officials want to speed up the permit application process by adding three staff members and increasing fees to pay for them. DCD Director Rob Robertson wants to add two permit technicians and a code compliance officer. He hopes the increase in permit fees will cover the cost of the new positions. Before the proposed fee changes can be adopted, county commissioners must hold a public hearing, the date of which will be announced March 1st. Robertson says Clallam County permit fees are now about 60 percent less than most other jurisdictions in the state. Robertson says contractors and builders find that time is the most costly factor in their business -- and cutting the amount of time in the permit process will save them money. DCD officials say long-range planning costs the county about 456-thousand dollars per year, but fees only pull in about 93-thousand dollars. County commissioners says they were not likely to raise those fees to the point of being completely self-sufficient. Commissioners and staff agreed to meet Tuesday to discuss the details of the proposed permit fee structure in more detail.
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