King County Department Of Environmental Review And Permitting

Really, really hard to work with. No one in the office for over a year. Woman who was supposed to be working on our permit got fired or quit. Six months after putting in initial app, still hadn't heard one word from them, then extreme rudeness, not helpful on the phone. The steps/hoops they want you to go through aren't clear, so you never know what you should or *can* be doing. Convoluted & expensive--have to have 987 studies done by every type of "-ologist" you can't even imagine before you can even start the process. And yep, you get to pay for all of those reports/studies. When calling or emailing with questions, no one knows the answers. This place needs a major overhaul.

I have been trying to contact this office past couple of months but unable to contact anyone to get the answer. I have sent many email but did not get reply. I been trying to call but unanswered. This place is a example of the worse service anywhere on earth. NEED SOME OVERSIGHT to get the work done

It must be all the DPER employees giving this agency 5 stars, because it is a joke. If this were run like a regular business, they would have been bankrupt, because they are totally incompetent. After going through a building process that was about 1 1/2 years from start of application to permit until the house was done, the inspector that came out for the final after multiple visits throughout the 1 year+ we were building decided 2 weeks before we were to move into our house that we had to do a full drainage review. I don't know why it took them that long to come up with that, but boy, what a surprise. They showed us the napkin that had our rough house plan on it and told us we were not supposed to clear more than 50 ft around our house. Of course there were not guides on the napkin actually showing the acreage to be cleared, but whatever it was, we got it wrong. It's 2+ years later and they still have not approved a drainage plan for us, so our front yard is awesome piles of dirt. Once we get in that drainage pond they want us to build, it should be much more appealing. We all know that drainage tile and grass/landscaping couldn't have possibly done what a huge retention pond can do. I like calling DPER just to get routed to voice mail and leaving messages that never get a response. Ditto on the emails too. It's not just the employees that suck, but their management too. I'd say they are all equally incompetent. The funny thing is, we tried to follow all the rules and do what we were supposed to do. I guess this is why most people just go ahead and bypass notifying the county about anything, because if you try to follow the rules, they make your life miserable. Signed, Still waiting for a whole lot of nothing.

45 days for a preliminary review that you have all the correct documents attached. Then 5-6 months to review plans for an 800 sq ft addition... WOW. Lady on the phone says they are understaffed..

I am looking into buying a piece of land and they were very helpful through email. It takes about 1 - 2 days for an answer. Just be aware if your land is in a city or unincorporated area. They service incorporated King County.

Worst customer service staff on the planet. Lazy was coined after these folks.

They give me the right answers before bought my land, nice & helpful people here

Move out of their jurisdiction ! Pray you’ll Never have to deal with this people.

Being able to find out what I'm looking for in Washington issues for property's value.

After ten years of dealing with this agency, I am glad that I moved out of its jurisdiction.