Okanogan County issues record number of building permits

Editor’s note: The following meeting summary of the Board of Commissioners of Okanogan County (BOCC) for Tuesday, June 20, is taken from notes provided by County Watch (countywatch.org).

OKANOGAN – The county may be entering a building boom according to figures disclosed to the Board of County Commissioners by county assessor Larry Gilman at the June 20 BOCC meeting.

Okanogan County is seeing the highest volume of building permits ever this year. There currently are 1,376 open permits. Gilman said that the Methow Valley was discovered by buyers/investors in the 1990's and now the rest of the county is getting the same treatment. Gilman credits three factors driving this surge of sales/purchases:

1. Retired people who sell a home elsewhere and purchase here with cash – not using a bank.
2. People who can work from home and live anywhere.
3. People buying their second, third, or fourth home.

In other Commissioner business:

Tuesday, June 20, morning

• A $40,000 budget supplement was approved for a public works window replacement and HVAC installation.

Tuesday, June 20, afternoon

• Solid Waste update: Pond 1 may have a leak. Three years ago it cost $15,000-17,000 to repair Leach A pond. The 30-year-old liner can be replaced for $40,000-$50,000. Repair costs would be about $35,000 vs. buying new.

• The Governor’s budget included a Medicaid increase of 15 percent, adding $267,000 to Medicaid rates for mental health and substitutes. It will impact Okanogan Behavioral Health Care and its ability to pay staff.

• The new 988 crisis line funded through a tax on the telecom system is getting attention. The county is in preliminary talks with the opioid settlement administrator about re-allocating some of those funds to pay for a person to provide services in the jail as needed.

• Copperstone Planned Development had paid its permit fees. The project between Methow and Pateros calls for creation of 56 residential lots and related facilities on 275.5 acres of former orchard and grazing land on the east side of the Methow River and south of the Burma Road bridge. The site is about two miles south of the town of Methow and 8.25 miles north of the City of Pateros.

• Resolution 67-2023 was approved for the Twisp Milltown annexation, a proposal to annex land to the city of Twisp for a development project.