The City of Bellevue’s Permitting Dashboard provides information on permitting volumes and timeline performance. Below, find core permitting data, including application volumes, review milestone information and comparative processing timelines across permit types.
Permitting Dashboard Reports
Data updates: The dashboard is updated nightly using data from the City of Bellevue’s Development Services permitting system. It includes four main screens:
- Permit Volume and Valuation: Provides data on applications received, permits issued, and total valuation for the past 10 years.
- Overall Timeline Performance: Shows total days from application intake to issuance (for land use permits) or ready-for-issuance (for building permits). This metric reflects both city review time and applicant response time. The dashboard offers a two-year comparison of median and 80th percentile durations, grouped by permit type: Building, Clear & Grade, Fire, Land Use, Right of Way (ROW), Signs and Utilities.
First Review Decision (FRD) Timeline Performance: Measures days from application intake to the city’s initial determination for building or land use applications. The dashboard provides a two-year comparison of median and 80th percentile durations for permits currently under review, grouped by permit type: Building, Clear & Grade, Fire, Land Use, Right of Way (ROW), Signs and Utilities.
Development Services establishes FRD performance targets for each permit type. These targets are based on historical performance and represent ambitious but achievable goals. The department aims to meet these targets at least 80% of the time and reviews them periodically to ensure alignment with operational performance.
Revision Cycle Timeline Performance: Shows the time required for each round of plan review after applicants submit revised plans. Staff review the updated submittal for code compliance and either issue additional comments or approve the application.
Because multiple revision cycles may occur, the dashboard provides a two-year comparison of median and 80th percentile durations and the average number of revision cycles, grouped by permit type: Building, Clear & Grade, Fire, Land Use, Right of Way (ROW), Signs and Utilities.
Calculation Methods and Term Definitions
- Median vs. Average: Median is used for most performance measures because it reflects the experience of a typical applicant. Half of permits finish sooner than the median and half take longer. This approach prevents unusually long or short processing times from skewing the results.
- 80th Percentile: This metric represents the amount of time within which 80% of permits are completed. In other words, four out of five permits finish on or before this timeframe, while the remaining 20 percent take longer. The 80th percentile helps highlight the longer end of typical processing times and provides a more complete picture of overall performance than the median alone.
- Major Project: The term "Major Project" referenced throughout the reports includes both:
- Medium Commercial Project (BM): 1,000–4,000 square feet
- Major Commercial Project (BB): more than 4,000 square feet
- Wireless Communications Facilities: Permits for Wireless Communication Facilities (WCF) that allow installation of communication infrastructure that transmits and receives data.