RCW 36.70B.070(1) requires local governments fully planning under the Growth Management Act to send or provide in person a notice of completeness (or one stating that the application is incomplete and what is required to make it complete) within 28 days after receiving a project permit application. The "penalty" for failure to comply with this requirement is that the application will be "deemed complete." RCW 36.70B.070(4)(a).

Despite an application being deemed complete, the city or county may still request additional information. RCW 36.70B.070(2) provides in part:

The determination of completeness shall not preclude the local government from requesting additional information or studies either at the time of the notice of completeness or subsequently if new information is required or substantial changes in the proposed action occur.

In most cases, local governments should use 120 days as the basic limit for project permit review, although they can exceed this if they make written findings that a specified amount of additional time is needed to process a specific project permit application or type of project.  RCW 36.70B.080(1) provides for the following :

Development regulations adopted pursuant to RCW 36.70A.040 must establish and implement time periods for local government actions for each type of project permit application and provide timely and predictable procedures to determine whether a completed project permit application meets the requirements of those development regulations. The time periods for local government actions for each type of complete project permit application or project type should not exceed one hundred twenty days, unless the local government makes written findings that a specified amount of additional time is needed to process specific complete project permit applications or project types.

The development regulations must, for each type of permit application, specify the contents of a completed project permit application necessary for the complete compliance with the time periods and procedures.

Further, RCW 36.70B.080(3) allows a county or city to extend a deadline for issuing a specific project permit application for a “reasonable” amount of time mutually agreed upon by the applicant and the local government. 

Local governments do face potential liability if they fail to act within a 120-day time period or other time limit established by the local government pursuant to RCW 36.70B.080 discussed above. This potential for liability is based on RCW 64.40.020(1), which reads:

Owners of a property interest who have filed an application for a permit have an action for damages to obtain relief from acts of an agency which are arbitrary, capricious, unlawful, or exceed lawful authority, or relief from a failure to act within time limits established by law.

So, if a city or county fails to process a permit application within the timeline it has established in its development regulations, it is subject to potential liability under RCW 64.40.020(1). As a result, cities and counties may want to review established timelines to assure that they can be dependably met.