Permit Processing Related News

October 14th, 2009
An Emergency Ordinance of the Pierce County Council, Ord. #2009-97, has been adopted. Requiring Planned Development Districts (PDDs) with Less than Five Feet of Building Separation Distance from the Property Line to Incorporate Fire Resistance Rated Construction (One-Hour Fire Wall) Pursuant to the Requirement of the International Residential Code Into the Exterior Wall Adjacent to the Reduced Separation; Setting an Effective Date of October 14th and a Sunset Date 180 days later; and Declaring an Emergency.

October 2009
The Building Amnesty Program is now available to help property owners obtain building permits for structures that were built without the required permit(s). See the complete press release. The details of the program and the answers to the most common questions can be found in Bulletin 66 and on the Building Amnesty Program and Environmental Enforcement webpage.

Attention: In accordance with the Economic Stimulus Package for Pierce County, and Ordinance 2008-115s provisions are now available for one twenty-four (24) month time extensions on active building permits, vesting rights, and land use, subdivision, and other development applications & approvals. All requests for time extensions must be received between January 1, 2009 and close of business on June 30, 2009. All questions regarding the time extension should be directed to the County hot line, 253-798-7113. Calls will be returned as promptly as possible.

November 2008
The Pierce County Planning and Land Services Department is pleased to announce the addition of a SEPA Register to the Environmental portion of our website. The page includes a listing of environmental determinations recently issued in accordance with the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) with links to a copy of the signed environmental determination as well as the environmental application and a link to the public hearing agendas. We welcome any comments and/or suggestions.

Reduced Fire Prevention Counter Support
Fire Prevention staff members will be attending training on several Mondays starting in June and running into October. There will be no Fire Prevention staff available to the Development Center staff or customers during the training. More information and the training schedule can be found here.

2007 Development Center Lobby Wait Study
Zucker Systems recently presented the final Lobby Wait Study to the Performance Audit Committee. A copy of the report can be found here.

Planning and Land Services Permit In-Take Workshops are now available.
Join us for a 'brown-bag lunch' meeting to learn about the new permit in-take process, how to build a quality permit package and other topics that can help you with your building and land use project.
When: 1st Tuesday of each month, 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm
Where: Pierce County Annex, Conference Room A, 2401 S. 35th Street, Tacoma WA
What: Current Agenda
Why: Workshop Poster

Local Planning Related News

The following 15 history and historic preservation projects were approved for Pierce County Historic Preservation Matching Grant in 2008-2009 by Pierce County Council and Landmarks and Historic Preservation Commission: All of the projects are now completed. Please contact Julia Park, Historic Preservation Officer and Senior Planner in the Advance Planning Division, Planning and Land Services Department at jpark@co.pierce.wa.us, for further information.

Pierce County Historical Property and Document Survey Project 2009-2010
Pierce County and the Pierce County Landmarks and Historic Preservation Commission has launched two projects. The first is a Comprehensive Survey and Inventory of Historic Properties in Unincorporated Pierce County and Cities in Pierce County without Historic Preservation programs and the second project is the Comprehensive Historical Document Survey project to be conducted on a countywide basis. More information about these projects can be found on the Historic Preservation site along with the Repository and Collection Information Form. Please contact Julia Park, Historic Preservation Officer and Senior Planner, Pierce County Planning and Land Services Department, (253) 798-2783 or jpark@co.pierce.wa.us if you have any questions or need more information.

Applicants needed for Land Use Advisory Commissions
Applicants are needed for vacancies on the Pierce County Land Use Advisory Commissions in the Frederickson, Gig Harbor, Graham, South Hill, Spanaway, Summit View and Summit Waller areas.
The land use advisory commissions meet monthly to review development applications and issues affecting their jurisdictional area. If you live in any of the areas above, please consider volunteering.

More information about Land Use Commissions can be found at here. To apply, contact the Planning and Land Services Department at (253) 798-2630 or (253) 798-7037.
CONTACT: Cindy Anderson, Clerk to the Board, at (253) 798-2630.