60-day Development Review

Web page revised 1.1.26

What is the 60-Day Development Review process?

The 60-day process replaces the county’s Fast Lane process. The process provides concurrent preliminary and final review. Developers are required to resolve most land use and technical issues prior to the start of the 60-day timeline. The process provides construction approval within 60 calendar days if no holds occur during the review process.

Who can apply for this process?

The 60-day process is an option for developers with straightforward Type II site plan and post-decision projects where the developer’s consultant team wants to work collaboratively with county staff to obtain both preliminary and final review in a significantly shortened timeframe. Due to the county’s commitment to complete these project reviews within a 60-day timeline, the directors of Community Development and Public Works will evaluate whether a request for 60-day review can be accommodated.

What are the key features?
  • The 60-day process is based on calendar days.
  • Preliminary and final reviews occur concurrently, within the 60-day timeline.
  • There is no formal pre-application conference or report.
  • The applicant formally presents the proposed project to county staff in a Project Introduction meeting.
  • A Case Manager is assigned to serve as primary contact for both the developer’s consultant team and county staff.
  • Major issues are resolved prior to submission of an Initial Submittal Package for the project.
  • Day One of the 60-day process commences after the county determines the project is ‘Fully Complete’ and the applicant submits a final ‘Fully Complete’ package electronically.
  • Site plans subject to Shoreline or Columbia River Gorge requirements are not eligible for the 60-day process due to conflicts with state notice timelines.
What needs to be done before the 60-day review timeline begins?
  1. Applicant submits a request to the Community Development (CD) Director to use the 60-day review process. The request must be accompanied by a conceptual plan, location map, and narrative describing the proposed project.
  2. Following consultation with the Public Works director, CD Director issues a determination on whether the project is accepted for review under the 60-day process.
  3. A case manager is assigned to serve as the primary contact for both the applicant and county staff.
  4. Applicable Habitat / Wetlands / Floodplain / Geological Hazard / Archaeological Predeterminations must be completed and a legal lot determination conducted. These predeterminations should occur before the Project Introduction meeting is scheduled.
  5. A Project Introduction meeting is scheduled for the applicant to formally present the proposed project to county staff. At the project introduction meeting, the applicant provides a copy of the plans, GIS packet, traffic information report, and a conceptual stormwater plan, at a minimum.
  6. The Case Manager compiles a list of any issues, concerns, omissions, or other items that the applicant must address in the application submittal, based on comments from review staff after attending the project introduction and studying the materials and applicable review criteria. This summary is emailed to the applicant as a substitute for a pre-application conference report.
  7. The applicant consults with technical discipline staff as often as necessary to collaboratively resolve specific issues. The Case Manager may participate, as needed.

  8. The applicant must obtain pre-approval of any applicable related permits:
    a.  Road modifications and deviation requests must be submitted and preliminarily approved (formal approval occurs when the land decision is issued).
    b.  The traffic study must be submitted and deemed acceptable by Transportation Concurrency staff. The traffic modeling must be completed, mitigation identified and negotiated, and a City of Vancouver review completed, if applicable.
    c.  Environmental (Critical Area) Public Interest Exceptions must be pre-approved by environmental staff.

    d.  Any stormwater variance must be requested and pre-approved.

    e.  Obtain final letter from Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, if applicable.

    f.  Any state and federal required permits must be obtained.

  9. For projects in the Mixed Use zone or the Highway 99 overlay district, the applicant will need to consult extensively with the case planner regarding compliance with specific design requirements of the form based code.
  10. The applicant contacts the Case Manager to schedule an appointment to submit the Initial Submittal Package.
How long after the initial submittal does the 60-day review timeline commence?

Each county department will review the Initial Submittal Package to determine if major issues are adequately addressed. This review is similar to a ‘Fully Complete’ determination but requires more detailed information than is normally provided at preliminary review due to the expedited nature of the 60-day process.

The county has two weeks to review the package for completeness. If all identified issues have not been resolved or information necessary to review the project is missing, a ‘Not Fully Complete’ letter will be issued which identifies the missing items. It will be the applicant’s responsibility to contact the Case Manager to make arrangements for submittal of the requested materials. This step repeats as necessary until all information is submitted.

Once the submittal package contains all necessary information, a ‘Fully Complete’ determination letter is issued. The applicant then submits the fully complete package electronically (on CD or to the county’s FTP site), or submits the required number of hard copies. Day One of the 60-day review timeline starts on the day of this submittal.

What happens after the final ‘Fully Complete’ application package has been submitted?

The Case Manager will provide the applicant and all review staff with a detailed 60-day process calendar which includes the dates of all steps in the process, including meetings, submittal deadlines, and responses.

If the applicant is unable to meet an established deadline, the Case Manager may approve a requested hold on the process. There is no arbitrary limit to either the number or duration of holds for the applicant; however, a hold may need to be extended in some cases to afford staff adequate time for their response. The 60-day timeline resumes upon release of the hold, and the Case Manager will distribute an updated copy of the 60-day process calendar with the remaining dates adjusted.

Projects may be rejected from the 60-day process if significant changes occur to the development proposal during the review process, in which case the review would revert to the standard process, as determined by the Community Development Director.

If an appeal is filed on the land use decision, the project timelines are immediately placed on hold and no further activities will occur until a decision on the appeal is rendered.

Are there special fees applied to a project reviewed under this process?
  • Land use review and case management services are provided by Community Development staff. To provide the higher service level afforded by the case manager, the site plan review fee is increased by 25 percent.
  • Development Engineering fees are the same as standard review procedures for preliminary and final reviews; no surcharge applies.
Submittal Requirements

See Type II / Type III Land Use submittal checklist. All Land Use reviews are completed online. 

Follow the Land Use Application Submittal Process and these instructions on how to apply online.

Contact planningapps@clark.wa.gov  with questions on how to apply.  

In addition to the items required per the Type II / Type III Land Use submittal checklist, the following items must be submitted:

  • Narrative - A written narrative shall be submitted that addresses the following:
    • Description of the proposal, including proposed uses, hours of operation, frequency of truck deliveries, and construction schedule
    • How the application meets or exceeds each of the applicable approval criteria and standards
    • How the proposed plan meets the development standards of the zone
    • How the issues identified in the staff summary have been addressed, and generally, how services will be provided to the site
  • Preliminary boundary survey - A preliminary boundary survey of the development site shall be submitted with the development application.
  • Final stormwater technical information report per Chapter 3 of the Clark County Stormwater Manual
  • Final engineering construction plans
  • Traffic study - Depending on the impacts associated with the proposal, a traffic study may be required to be undertaken by an engineer licensed to practice within the state of Washington, with special training and experience in traffic engineering.
    • Traffic study must be stamped, signed, and dated by a Professional Civil Engineer registered in the State of Washington.
  • Additional required documentation - If applicable, copies of the following documents shall be included in the submittal package:
    • Wetland Pre-Determination or Delineation           
    • Habitat Pre-Determination   
    • Geo-Technical Report
    • Floodplain Review/Determination
    • Legal Lot Determination

Note: Final Engineering and Final Site Plan must run concurrently with the 60-Day review process. Visit Development Engineering for information. 

Fee Schedule

The following fees are required to be paid when the application is submitted.

Land use application submittal fee $1,069
Wetland/Habitat application submittal fee $233
Issuance $94

The following fees are required to be paid when the application has been deemed Fully Complete.

Type II or commercial pad
Planning $7,186
60-day review $1,474
Issuance $94

Residential – fee per unit
21 units or greater $53

Commercial – fee per building sq. ft.
10,001-50,000 sq. ft. $0.18
50,001 sq. ft. or greater $0.09

Engineering $2,743
Issuance $94

SEPA Review, if required $2,174
Issuance $53

Fire Marshal Review $626

Unoccupied Commercial and Utility Structures
Planning $4,275
60-day review $1,474
Issuance $94

Engineering $601
Issuance $94

SEPA Review, if required $2,174
Issuance $53

Fire Marshal Review $626