The mission of the Department of Design, Construction and Land Use was to protect the public's health, safety, and welfare through enforcement of land use, housing, and construction codes and standards. Department responsibilities include code development, inspection of new construction, code enforcement, and review of development applications. DCLU programs are funded primarily through a variety of permit fees. The Department of Construction and Land Use was formed in 1980 by merging the Code Enforcement, Housing Conservation, and Administrative Services divisions of the Building Department with the Department of Community Development's Technical Review Section. This consolidated land use administration in one department. The Department name was changed to Design, Construction and Land Use in 1998 to reflect an effort to increase the visibility of good design in the built environment. The Building Department, DCLU's predecessor agency, was created in 1910 to administer public buildings and enforce City construction codes. The Department was responsible for issuing all building permits for construction within the City limits.
The Department of Design, Construction and Land Use (DCLU) annual reports date from 1979 to 1999. The reports include narrative information on projects within DCLU such as preparing the Land Use Code, evaluation of the Master Use Permit process and review of Seattle's shoreline regulations. The reports also include building permit statistics and budget information for the department.
Records are open to the public.
A Comptroller or Clerk File (CF) can consist of correspondence, reports, petitions, contracts, agreements, etc. from elected officials, City departments, other government agencies, or the general public, which have been placed "on file" with the Office of the City Clerk (OCC). They are primarily permanent records, but also include routine material which was periodically purged. Certain archival records identified in the CF have been removed, arranged into records series, and incorporated into the collection of the Seattle Municipal Archives, a program of the OCC.
[Item and date], Department of Design, Construction and Land Use Annual Reports, Record Series 1802-G1 Box [number], Folder [number]. Seattle Municipal Archives.