LDA Permit Support · Snohomish County
LDA permits in Snohomish County, without the runaround.
LDA — Land Disturbing Activity — is Snohomish County's gate for clearing, grading, and filling. Cross the thresholds and the county wants engineered plans: grading, drainage, erosion control, sometimes critical-areas studies, all packaged the way their reviewers expect.
This is bread-and-butter work for AXE's Arlington bench. We prepare LDA packages end to end, and because the same engineers design the drainage that rides along with the permit, nothing gets lost between disciplines.
Who this page is for
- Owners clearing or grading county parcels for a future build
- Builders whose project triggered LDA review during permit intake
- Developers preparing sites ahead of plat or commercial construction
- Anyone who started earthwork and received a county stop-work or compliance notice
What AXE handles
- Determining whether your scope of work actually triggers an LDA permit
- Grading plans with cut/fill quantities the county can verify
- Erosion and sediment control (ESC) plans and small SWPPPs
- The drainage engineering that LDA review requires alongside grading
- Critical-areas coordination when overlays touch the work area
- Compliance-response engineering after a stop-work notice
The local picture
The county measures land disturbance in area cleared and yards moved — and the thresholds catch more projects than owners expect, because driveways, building pads, and utility trenching all count toward the total.
LDA review runs through Snohomish County PDS and routinely pulls drainage and critical-areas review into the same file. A complete first submittal — grading, ESC, drainage, all consistent — is the difference between one review cycle and three.
Commonly served ZIP codes in this area: 98223 · 98270 · 98287 · 98290 · 98292
How it works, start to stamp.
01 · Threshold check
We quantify your disturbance area and earthwork volumes against the county's current LDA triggers — sometimes the honest answer is that you don't need the permit.
02 · Engineered package
Grading plan, erosion control, drainage — designed together so county review reads one coherent project.
03 · Submittal + tracking
We package to the PDS checklist and track the file through intake and review.
04 · Comments to issuance
Review responses handled by the engineer of record until the LDA issues and your earthwork can legally start.
PE-licensed. Founded 2017. One engineer of record from feasibility through approval.
Questions we hear about lda permit support in Snohomish County.
How do I know if my project needs an LDA permit?
Add up everything that disturbs ground — clearing, grading, driveway, building pad, trenching. If the combined area or volume crosses the county's thresholds, LDA review applies. Send us a site sketch and we'll make the determination quickly, at no charge for the first look.
I already got a stop-work notice. Can this be fixed?
Almost always. The county wants the site stabilized and the engineering done — we prepare the compliance package (ESC, grading, drainage as required) and walk it through PDS so work can restart.
Does the LDA cover my drainage requirement too, or is that separate?
Drainage review typically rides inside the LDA file — the county evaluates them together. That's why having one firm engineer both saves cycles: the grading plan and the drainage plan can't contradict each other.
Earthwork waiting on an LDA?
Describe the site work and send the parcel number. We'll confirm the permit path and quote the engineering — written proposal within one business day.
Start the conversation