Community members are invited to attend a meeting with the Island County commissioners to comment on the proposed changes that, if approved, would increase fees associated with land use and building permits.

During a Board of Commissioners meeting held on Dec. 12, Commissioners Jill Johnson, Janet St. Clair and Melanie Bacon agreed to set a public hearing at 10 a.m. Jan. 9, 2024.

If approved, the new fees would be applied starting Feb. 1.

This is a new chapter in a series of discussions to address community grievances regarding the county’s permitting process.

In October, a group of builders and developers complained that the permitting process is inconsistent, long and further complicated by unpredictable policy changes. As a result, many find that applying for a permit in the county is more expensive, in terms of time and money, than it should be, especially when there is a great need for housing.

Some even said they would be in favor of raising fees in order to expedite the process and make up for the lack of county staff.

Commissioner St. Clair said she will be out of the country on Jan. 9, but is glad the meeting is happening.

“We’ve had input from many of our stakeholders that raising fees is something they support in order to expedite and do better work,” she said.

The building permit fee schedule was last updated in 2009 while the land use permit fee schedule was last updated in 2014.

The proposed schedule shows an increase in costs associated with these permit processes. For example, the total fee for boundary line adjustments was $644. With the new changes, it would increase to a total of $853. A biological site assessment would cost $663, or $163 more than in the previous schedule.