SANDPOINT — In her debut planning update meeting, Bonner County Planning Director Kendra Smith, alongside assistant planning director Alex Feyen, shared the department's key metrics for March.  

Before passing the torch to Feyen, Smith kicked off the meeting to share that the planning department was officially staffed, compared to when she started her job, when there were a handful of positions that needed to be filled.  

Feyen reported 160 building location permits for March, on par with the year-over-year numbers, which indicates the department’s routine uptick in permits starting in the spring months. He further shared that January and February saw 56 and 67 permits, respectively, which were also in line with the year-over-year numbers.  

As in previous years, Feyen said the pace of building permits is expected to remain high as the warmer months are ahead, with applications expected to decline in October.  

Feyen noted that the increase in permits is comparable to the increase in revenue for the department, with $99,310 documented revenue for March as opposed to the previous month of $44,156.87.  

The planning department is currently in the sixth month of the fiscal year. Feyen said the department’s total revenue, $389,970, equals approximately 47% of the revenue budget. He also reported $6,419.31 for March expenses, bringing the department’s total expense budget to $60,983 — 46% of the department’s expense budget.  

“We will see an increase in revenue this year, or for the remainder of the year. We don’t anticipate any large expenses coming out, so everything will stay relatively the same,” Feyen said.  

Budgets pertaining to salaries and benefits were not included in the department's update, as the Board of County Commissioners chose to set out those budget lines outside of the direct oversight of the department. However, revenue disclosed in the update meeting is applicable to the general fund of the department, including salaries and benefits.  

“It didn’t make sense, from our board’s perspective, to have those be something that was looked at as a daily management item within the departments or the offices, and so that allows the board to have more direct oversight with regard to those budget items,” Commissioner Brian Domke said.  

The department also shared 39 new building violations submitted since the start of the year, five of which were closed out, and 19 resulted in building location permit submissions. The department further recorded 12 total zoning violations this year, since March, six of which were abated/unfounded.  

Compliance/Permit Manager Katie Hansen also provided clarity on the online application process for permit submission, where she shared that the online application has allowed for the processing of applications more efficiently. She further shared that since the online portal last summer, turnaround time for building location permits is approximately two to four weeks from submission to approval, as opposed to the original six-to-eight-week timeframe.  

The department is still about 10 days behind processing applications, Hansen said.  

Hansen shared that online submissions do not remove review or site-visit requirements but help streamline the submission process.  

With summer months on the horizon, the planning department expects to keep busy as it receives an influx of building location permits and land use violations, among other planning applications.