Kim Gunderson, Community Development Director

kgunderson@cityoforting.org

Kim Gunderson: (253) 375-9839

Tim Lincoln, Building Official/Inspector: (253) 208-5281

Curt Ek, Code Enforcement Officer: (253) 385-9525

The Community Development Department is overseen and managed by the Community Development Director and includes the City's Code Enforcement, Planning, and Building Divisions. The goals and functions of each Division are further discussed below. 

Planning

Administrative

The Planning Division is often the first point of contact for development proposals and staffs all meetings with the Architectural Design Review Board, Planning Commission, City Council, and public hearings before the Hearing Examiner and other hearing bodies. The Planning Division is often asked to provide drafts of agenda bills, resolutions and ordinances, and assistance with grant applications.  The Planning Division functions are handled mostly in-house by the Community Development Director and by the Planning Secretary for Planning Commission support. Since September 2019, the Planning Division functions have been performed by AHBL, Inc., a third-party planning consultant organization. With the hiring of the Community Development Director in 2024, day-to-day planning functions are now largely managed by City staff and supplemented as-needed by AHBL.

Current Planning or Development Review

The Planning Division is responsible for coordinating and leading the City’s review of land use applications which includes a variety of permits and review processes, and participating in review of building and engineering permit applications. The Planning Division is also responsible for conducting environmental review under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) and administering the City’s critical areas regulations, Shoreline Master Program, and floodplain development regulations.

Long-Range Planning

The Planning Division is responsible for preparing land use code updates as well as updates of long-range policy documents such as the Comprehensive Plan, subarea plans, the Shoreline Master Program, buildable lands reporting, and portions of the City’s Capital Improvement and Transportation Improvement Plans. This work involves coordination with outside agencies and the City Attorney.

Divisional Goals for 2025

The Planning Division has several goals for 2025. Some are based on code or state mandated timelines, while others are related to reducing liability or increasing customer service. These include:

• Identify and prepare code amendments on a timely basis;
• Update forms to include most recently adopted codes and processes, and create a Planning webpage on the City’s website where planning forms, applications, and frequently asked questions (FAQs) can be easily accessed by the community;
• Update the City’s Fee
• Schedule to establish an upfront deposit for third party review services in development review;
• Establish a site plan review process in the Orting Municipal Code;
• Identity and apply for grants annually; and
• Return all phone calls within 24 hours and schedule pre-application meetings within three days.

Building/Code Enforcement

Building and code enforcement were combined under one budget starting in 2020. One reason is strictly due to how the state auditor organizes these expenses in our chart of accounts. The second reason is that these are really two complementary functions, and in a lot of cases Code Enforcement and the Building Official work side by side on various code enforcement issues.

The primary goal for Code Enforcement is to manage code enforcement issues, preferably through voluntary compliance. Voluntary compliance requires relationship building, and gaining credibility and a sense of community can be difficult over the phone and through compliance letters.  Progress sometimes requires further efforts, to include authorizing the City Attorney to pursue compliance of Chronic Nuisance properties through the court system.

The goal of the building division is to ensure that all structures that are built within the city are built to meet the current building codes that the city and the State of Washington have adopted. Further, the building official makes sure that all structures that are built within the floodplain in the city meet FEMA’s regulations. The building division works with the City Planner and City Engineer to ensure that all current regulations are being followed. The increase to the 2025 budget revenue is based upon the construction of 32 new homes.