Chapter 14.30
PERMIT TYPES

Sections:

14.30.010    Permits by type.

14.30.020    Permit procedures by type.

14.30.030    Consolidation of permits.

14.30.040    Exemptions.

14.30.010 Permits by type.

Type 1	Type 2A	Type 2B	Type 3A	Type 3B	Type 4
Building Permits		Preliminary Short Plats	Shoreline Conditional Use Permit		Zoning Reclassifications
Temporary Permits			Shoreline Variances	Conditional Use Permits
Sign Permits	SEPA Reviews	Design Review	Plat Alterations	Preliminary Plats
Clearing and Tree Removal Permits			Plat Vacations
Accessory Dwelling Unit	Shoreline Substantial Development Permits		Zoning Variances
Boundary Line Adjustments			Critical Area Reasonable Use Exception
Eligible Facility Modification	Administrative Wireless Permit
Shoreline Letters of Exemption	Comprehensive Sign Review
Critical Area Permits	Short Plat Alteration
Critical Area Exemption	Short Plat Vacation
Site Plan

(Ord. 1686 § 5, 2023; Ord. 1615 § 22, 2019; Ord. 1600 § 1, 2018; Ord. 1533 § 3, 2016; Ord. 1505 § 3, 2015).

14.30.020 Permit procedures by type.

	Type 1	Type 2A and 2B	Type 3A and 3B	Type 4
Pre-Application	Optional	Optional	Optional	Optional
Notice of Complete Application1	Required	Required	Required	Required
Public Notice of Application2	No	Required	Required	Required
Public Hearing3	No	No	Required	Required
Staff Report4	No	Required5	Required	Required
Written Decision6	No	Required	Required	Required
Notice of Decision	No	Required7	Required	Required
Recommendation	N/A	N/A	Director	Hearing Examiner9
Decision Maker	Director	Director	Hearing Examiner	City Council
Administrative Appeal10	Yes	Yes	No	No
Judicial Appeal11	Yes12	Yes12	Yes	Yes
1. See BLMC 14.40.030. 2. See BLMC 14.50.010, 14.50.030 and 14.50.040; except for SEPA reviews. Public notice requirements for SEPA are governed by Chapter 16.06 BLMC. 3. See BLMC 14.50.030, 14.50.040, and Chapter 14.60 BLMC. 4. See BLMC 14.40.070. 5. A staff report is not required for a SEPA threshold determination. 6. See BLMC 14.40.090 and 14.50.050. 7. The notice of decision for a SEPA review is the threshold determination (e.g., DNS, MDNS, DS); a separate notice of decision is not required. The threshold determination shall be disturbed as provided for in BLMC 16.06.030, 16.10.040 or 16.10.050. 8. Repealed. 9. The hearing examiner conducts the required public hearing and makes a recommendation to the city council which issues the final decision on the underlying permit. 10. See BLMC 14.120.020, except that an appeal of a building permit decision is provided in BLMC 14.120.030. 11. See BLMC 14.120.040 and 14.120.050. 12. Types 1, 2A, and 2B are administrative determinations that must first be appealed to the hearing examiner and the decision of the hearing examiner can then be judicially appealed.

(Ord. 1701 § 2, 2023; Ord. 1686 § 6, 2023; Ord. 1641 § 2, 2020; Ord. 1600 § 2, 2018; Ord. 1505 § 3, 2015).

14.30.030 Consolidation of permits.

If a proposal requires more than one permit, permits shall be consolidated to the extent feasible and desired by the applicant, as follows:

A. Such information as name, address, and legal description need only be entered once, by such means as a master permit application form or master cover sheet.

B. The director shall utilize the process of that permit type which includes all reviews required for the various permits.

C. If one permit cannot be reasonably processed until another is issued, such as a building permit that cannot be processed until a variance is issued, the 120 days within which a notice of decision must be issued for the contingent permit (in this example, the building permit) shall not begin until the other permit has been issued.

D. Appeals of one or more Type 1 or Type 2 permits shall be combined with any required open public hearing.

E. Appeals of more than one of the permits required for a project shall be consolidated in a single appeal, to the extent that the appeals bodies are identical.

F. SEPA reviews shall be integrated in the processing of permits at the earliest point possible as provided for in the city’s SEPA code. (Ord. 1701 § 3, 2023; Ord. 1505 § 3, 2015).

14.30.040 Exemptions.

The following actions (with BLMC citations where applicable) are not permits for the purpose of this development code, do not appear in the table in BLMC 14.30.020 and are exempt from Chapters 14.40 through 14.60 BLMC:

A. Business licenses/home occupation reviews (Chapter 5.08 BLMC);

B. Right-of-way permits and variances (Chapter 12.08 BLMC);

C. Final plats and short plats (BLMC 17.20.040);

D. Code interpretations (BLMC 14.10.140);

E. Approvals of minor changes to permits (BLMC 14.10.120);

F. Appeals (Chapter 14.120 BLMC);

G. Amendments to the comprehensive plan or development code, including area-wide zoning reclassifications (Chapter 14.140 BLMC);

H. Site-specific zoning reclassifications processed concurrently with amendments to the comprehensive plan (Chapter 14.140 BLMC);

I. Administrative variations and waivers (BLMC 15.20.060 and 18.20.050(E));

J. Street vacations (Chapter 12.40 BLMC);

K. Development agreements (Chapter 14.70 BLMC);

L. Permission to connect to city sanitary sewer (Chapter 13.12 BLMC), stormwater system (Chapter 15.13 BLMC), or water system (Chapter 13.04 BLMC);

M. Minor approvals for use of public properties. (Ord. 1686 § 7, 2023; Ord. 1580 § 12, 2017; Ord. 1505 § 3, 2015).