At least King County’s Department of Development and Environmental Services is consistent with processing times.

Several years ago, an off-Island client wanted to lease an existing industrial building for business expansion. He wanted a location that was readily accessible to the highway system and was most urgently in need of remodeling and occupancy permits at the earliest possible date.

I contacted two counties and five cities explaining the circumstances and asking their estimated time for processing. Generally the answers were in the range of five to 12 weeks. The City of Tacoma building department said if he would lease a building within the city limits they would assemble the necessary staff, meet when we came in and give us an over-the-counter permit the same day. 

King County suggested they could do it in 13 months. Needless to say, no locations were investigated within unincorporated King County.

— Keith Putnam, architect