Community and economic development report: permits up, 11,000 permits scanned and CivicPlus contract to end

Amy Roscoe delivered the Community and Economic Development quarterly report, summarizing active construction projects, permit-review workload and digital-records progress.

Roscoe said 246 building permits were applied for between January and March and 103 were issued in that period. She said 14 code-enforcement cases remain open and 170 have been closed. To improve public access and records management, staff have scanned 11,000 building permits (full permit files, not pages) and uploaded about 6,000 into Laserfiche; work continues on the remaining records and on civil and land-use files.

Roscoe said the city will not renew its CivicPlus contract and will return to iWorx while staff work with finance on longer-term systems to integrate permitting and financial systems. She previewed an interlocal agreement with Marysville for Project Cascade (which crosses jurisdictional lines) and said a development agreement for the Higgins Building is in progress; code amendments through July were also outlined. Roscoe reminded the council that the 2026 spring cleanup is scheduled for June 13.

Councilmember Yvonne Gallardo Van Ornam asked about the radius for mailed land-use notices; Roscoe said notices go to property owners within a 500-foot radius and renters typically do not receive the mailed postcards unless they are property owners.