Kitsap County has new technology to speed land-use permitting. Implemented in April, the custom software was designed and developed locally by Poulsbo-based Paladin Data Systems Corporation, the largest independent Oracle consulting firm in the Pacific NW. The new system will provide valuable services to people seeking permits, and provide Kitsap County a tool to improve efficiency. By late summer the system will be Internet-enabled and citizens will be able to dial it up from home.

“The system provides reporting capabilities that will allow the county to track the progress of individual permits,” states Bruce Freeland, Director of Kitsap County’s Department of Community Development (DCD). If something is taking a long time, the system will indicate why, and point to exactly where an application has stalled. A key feature is the Geographic Information System (GIS) that allows people to see all the basic maps that relate to development. “Once the system is on the Internet, people can find the parcel of land they are interested in, by parcel number or by pointing at the map, and see the information the County uses to review a project. They can see the zoning, comprehensive plan, and whether the site is designated as wetlands, or has steep or unstable slopes. This will help people who thinking about development to design a good project.”

Freeland advises that permit applicants can “check on the status of their permit to see where it is among the various steps of approval. The system will tell whose court the ball is in, indicating the person who needs to perform the next step. If someone is working through an architect or engineer, they may know only that they are waiting for a permit. Now they can see that the county is waiting for input from their own people.”

The DCD will assign staff to check-up on any project that is going beyond time limits. Reports will be generated automatically on projects that are lagging. The old paper files did not allow this ability to track applications systematically. The DCD will post monthly reports detailing performance against goals.” These goals will be established during coming months.

Each application type will have its own target for time processing. For example, a residential building permit will have a two-week time period, once it has all the clearances the County needs from other departments such as the Health Dept. Unless someone is building in a wetland, has an environmental issue, or has some other problem, single family home (SFH) permits will be processed in two weeks.

This compares favorably with the City of Tacoma’s timeframe. The Business Journal recently reported on Tacoma’s aggressive permit processing goals and money-back guarantee. Freeland points out, “All Tacoma development is on the sewer and municipal water supply systems, making their overall process simpler and faster. Many Kitsap County locations, in addition to the two weeks to process a SFH permit application, have to establish the ability of the site to percolate for septic systems, or to have a well. We can’t process permits as fast as a City like Tacoma. We can, however hold ourselves accountable to a very high level of performance, and measure it.”

The budget for the Permitting Subsystem is $400,000 of a total project budget of $3,126,000. The DCD has spent $373,000 and the remaining budget will be utilized to bring its services to the Internet. Additional components of the new system are the Assessor and Treasurer functions to be brought on-line by January 1. There will be a synergistic advantage to the DCD being part of a larger system. The hand-off of permitting information to the Assessor’s office will be automatic.

Freeland states, “The Assessor has always needed information from the DCD on permits. This is how they learn that a home is being remodeled, enlarged, or demolished. This knowledge comes from the permits issued. Rather than having to research such activities, the Assessor can simply look in our shared database. Historically, the DCD had to look in separate databases to see what the Assessor knew about a property. Now the Assessor’s data will be in the same database creating efficiencies in both departments.”

The link between the DCD and Treasurer’s offices provides additional synergies. “As we receive fees for permits or impact fees, they go into accounts in the Treasurer’s office. These transactions will become automated in one database. The strongest link will be between the Treasurer and Assessor’s offices. There will be a huge advantage to getting out tax bills, and getting them right.” Tax collections will be integrated with assessments that determine what the tax bill will be.

Freeland noted that Kitsap County owns the system developed by Paladin. “The system is very flexible. If the County came up with a whole new way of processing permits, the system could be adapted. It’s written in a table format driving where you can make modifications to the types of permits and the steps for processing the permits. This is an advantage versus off-the-shelf systems, for which upgrades and modifications require a major expense. With the Paladin software, Kitsap County is not at the mercy of a vendor’s on-going charges.”

Paladin has been working on the County’s new system for 18 months, according to Shannon Childs, Director of Marketing and Communications at the company’s headquarters in Poulsbo. “The development time was 6 months,” she stated. Additional time was invested in planning, system testing and full deployment. “Prior to the year 2000, Kitsap County started the process of replacing Cobalt-based Legacy systems for assessment, taxation and permitting,” she explained. “After researching numerous off-the-shelf solutions, and interviewing a number of counties already using those solutions, it was determined that an integrated land use information system would best suit the needs of county departments and the public.”

In August 2000, Kitsap County engaged Paladin to lead the design and development of this new application. The primary goals of the project were, according to Paladin’s project overview: Re-design assessment/taxation functions using current technology; Integrate permitting data from multiple sources into a single, shared repository; Use assessment/taxation parcel information to drive the permitting process; Provide integrated GIS functionality; Deploy the application on the county intranet; Provide public access to selected functions via the Internet; and, Train county IS staff to take over on-going maintenance of the system.

Further, by providing public access to permit and inspection status information via the Internet, the staff expects to see a reduction in the hours required for phone inquiries and inspection scheduling. The dynamic nature of the design of the Permitting Subsystem will allow county staff to modify how existing permits are processed, or add new permits to the system, as county ordinances change.

Paladin provided two staff persons (one designer and one developer) to team with one county developer on the Permitting Subsystem. The GIS portion of the project included one Paladin GIS specialist (team leader) and two county developers, and the taxation/assessment project currently includes four Paladin staff (two designers and two developers) and five county designer/developers.

Childs believes “it is important that Kitsap government has a strong initiative to look within its own borders when they have a need. County Commissioner Chris Endresen noted the County spends $6 to 7 million annually within Kitsap County. When Kitsap County went looking for a software systems solution, they were very open minded, performed intensive of research, and looked at skill sets within the county to see if their needs could be met. I applaud the County for engaging the local work force. The best way to create economic vitality within Kitsap County is to work with people within the County.”

And what do builders — the people who will use the system think? Art Castle, executive director of the Kitsap County Association of Homebuilders, stated “We have been very supportive of this project from the beginning. There will be a long-term benefit to Kitsap County and the people who need DCD resources.”

Both Freeland and Childs feel the project is progressing successfully. “One reason this has been extremely successful is because of the teamwork between our people and Kitsap County’s Information Services team”, according to Childs. “A winning attitude and proactive approach have produced a successful system that is receiving winning marks from the County.”.