PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County is extending its deadline for accepting possible stock plans for residential buildings, adding another 30 days to the submission period.
The county’s Department of Community Development put out a notice in February it was requesting universal designs for residential housing with the hope of creating a stock of preapproved designs for local builders to use.
The original deadline for submission was May 15, but at the Board of County Commissioners meeting Monday, the deadline was extended to June 15.
“Stock plans have shown to increase the number of dwelling units by expediting the approval process,” DCD Director Brett Butler said.
The county already has received some design proposals, which will be available for review by the community from June 17-30, Butler said. Commissioners’ final approval is scheduled for some time in August.
Several communities make stock plans available and Butler said DCD is working closely with the City of Port Townsend to make sure plans are acceptable both in the county and the city.
Any plans accepted by the county will eventually have to be approved by county commissioners and reviewed by county staff.
The Department of Community Development is currently planning a review fee of 65 percent of the base building costs for the first time a plan is approved and a 35 percent fee for the administrative cost of adding an approved plan to the county’s database.
Subsequent users of an approved plan will be charged a 20 percent fee for each use of the plan.
The 20 percent base fee covers costs associated with site-specific plan review for foundations, fire and egress, but not for any land use, public works or environmental health review.
Commissioners Greg Brotherton and Heidi Eisenhour were supportive of the proposal but had questions about what the actual cost of using a stock plan would be.
The state updates its building code every three years, and the current code is set to change effective July 1. Stock plans must comply with the upcoming building code.
Because of the three-year code cycles, plans would only have a shelf life for the duration of the current code.
Though the designer would grant DCD the right to reproduce the plans, community members seeking plans would purchase them directly from the architect or designer, who would remain available as a resource to the builder to answer any questions that may arise in the construction process.
Butler said DCD was encouraging submitters to also submit their fees for the design set, the engineering fee and hourly or billable rates for consultation during the construction phase.
He added that DCD has received feedback from local designers about what kind of housing would be accepted — triplexes were a particular area of interest — and that questions from the community and answers are posted to the Planning Commission’s stock plan subcommittee’s webpage.
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Reporter Peter Segall can be reached at peter.segall@peninsuladailynews.com.
