Seattle’s reforms offer lessons for streamlining housing reviews while preserving key safeguards.

Seattle eliminated an administrative appeals process that had delayed major zoning reforms and housing development. Environmental reviews remain in place, but challenges must now proceed through the courts or the state’s growth management process. Supporters argue that the former system added months to project timelines while rarely producing meaningful changes, increasing costs and uncertainty as the city works to expand housing supply.

Maryland counties are similarly examining how development review procedures can support housing production while maintaining environmental safeguards, infrastructure planning, and opportunities for public participation. Seattle’s experience offers one example of how jurisdictions may evaluate whether existing review and appeal mechanisms remain appropriately calibrated, particularly where overlapping processes can affect project timelines, financing, and regulatory predictability.

Read the full story. 

At the 2026 MACo Summer Conference general session, “Moving at the Speed of Need: Permitting for Maryland’s Future,” panelists will discuss how counties can improve coordination, increase predictability, maintain transparency, and balance the demand for speed with public process, community priorities, and responsible growth.