Whatcom County Land Use Senior Project: Land Use Intern Journal, September 1997 to June 1998

Whatcom County Planning and Development Services regulates and monitors the land use in the county. The Land Use Office has a staff of 19 people which deal specifically with land use regulations, including specialized employees such as the Critical Area Specialists, State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) Specialist, and the Shoreline Specialist. Engineering, Building Services and Planning are also housed under the umbrella of Planning and Development Services. All incoming project proposals may be subject to review from one or all of the departments. These branches and specialists play a vital and necessary role in governing land use and development in Whatcom County, Washington. This fall my duties were to make sure that there were enough permit applications and project forms in the filing cabinet, to Xerox incoming project information, to compile project files for Ms. Bentley and the County Hearing Examiner, and to perform basic office tasks. These tasks emphasized the pattern of how project permits flow, how the office is organized, and how the system tied the PDS employees to the public