Anacortes staff present ordinance to align permit review timelines with state law; council to move measure to next week's consent agenda

Planning manager Libby Grage presented ordinance 4092 on March 9, explaining the draft would align the city's permit-review deadlines with Washington State Senate Bill 5290 and add local procedures intended to improve predictability in permit processing.

Grage said SB 5290 revises the local project review act and establishes default review windows (65, 100 and 170 days depending on permit complexity) and includes a fee-refund requirement unless jurisdictions adopt at least three optional measures. "The proposed amendments are intended to bring the city into compliance with SB 5290," Grage said, and she summarized staff's recommendation to adopt three optional measures: budget for on-call permitting assistance, make certain housing types an outright permitted use where appropriate, and add a procedure to offer applicants meetings to resolve outstanding review issues.

Grage also described code changes that would allow the director to expire applications that have been deemed complete but then left incomplete in the review process, and she noted updates to ensure adult family homes are permitted where residential uses are allowed. She reminded council that the planning commission recommended approval in December and that a hearing-examiner decision on a SEPA appeal was issued Feb. 18, 2026.

Council and staff discussed implementation details and outreach (one council member suggested explaining the changes to homeowner associations to avoid confusion about private HOA rules). There was no final vote; councilmember McDougall (via the council floor) asked that the item be placed on next week's consent agenda for further action.