Methow Valley Real Estate Senate Bill 6091

The Hirst Decision of October 2016 brought sweeping changes across the State  of Washington impacting the process one works through to garner a building permit.  In our County of Okanogan the process entailed getting a certification of water availability for any vacant land with no current documented water right, and or a water usage already associated with the subject property. Each vacant land property is unique and the Okanogan Planning Office was left with the burden to figure who did and did not need to get a water certifcation, and if so go through the certification process which could take from three months to five months to make a determination.  Needless to say it was tougher than prior to October of 2016 to get a building permit.  The new Senate Bill 6091 hopes to address some of the difficulties both buyers and sellers seeking to purchase vacant land may have encountered in the past two years.  The Washington Department of Ecology has website with information about this new bill and what it might mean to vacant land owners at https://ecology.wa.gov/Water-Shorelines/Water-supply/Water-rights/Case-law/Hirst-decision

There is a map of the various regions of the state, and a copy of the bill to help explain the new changes.

It will be interesting to see how the process for getting a building permit changes, now that this bill has passed. Stay tuned.