A welder reinforces rebar before concrete is poured onto a new foundation.Navigating the regulatory environment can be a complex undertaking for manufacturers. Washington’s new online Regulatory Roadmap will ease some of that pain, allowing businesses to explore their options through a new online portal.

The portal is the first of its kind in the state and is a partnership between the Department of Commerce, Pierce County and the city of Sumner. The city of Tacoma will be coming online in a couple of months and other cities and counties are on the drawing board.

Manufacturing access the Regulatory Roadmap Portal 2.0 at http://RegulatoryRoadmap.wa.gov. Companies can view available plots of land, associated zoning requirements and the accompanying regulatory requirements for selected locations. Applicable zoning, high-level considerations and thresholds for different topics appear within the portal, streamlining the discovery phase of site selection.

The new portal builds upon the success of the state Regulatory Roadmap program’s original manufacturing roadmaps, which guided businesses step-by-step through the regulatory process using downloadable spreadsheets. These legacy roadmaps were launched by the cities of Arlington, Lynnwood and Marysville. Other Regulatory Roadmaps provide a range of online tools for restaurant owners in Seattle, Spokane, Spokane Valley and Tacoma, and for residential contractors in the city of Kennewick.

“One of our core goals was to develop a Regulatory Roadmap that could be customized for specific jurisdictions yet be flexible enough for us to add additional locations and industries as it’s scaled,” said Commerce director Lisa Brown. “This creates a one-stop website that incorporates regulatory information for multiple agencies, allowing business owners to evaluate the feasibility of a particular location using a single online portal.”

Commerce is hoping that more jurisdictions will see the value of the Regulatory Roadmap portal for their own industries and available sites.

“Working together with our local government and industry partners, we are strengthening communities by making it easier to do business and create jobs in Washington,” Brown said.

Learn more about the state’s new Regulatory Roadmap Portal.

To become a city or county partner, contact Lynn Fetch for more information. Lynn’s email is lynn.fetch@commerce.wa.gov.