Start with the adoption action, then identify the code text it references. Keep their identifiers separate in your notes.
King County Archives’ permitting research guide describes code changes as ordinances or resolutions. Referenced Uniform Building Code (UBC) text may be attached or separate, especially in older files. Those are different objects to seek, even when one cites the other.
Pair the action with its referenced edition
Copy the action’s exact number, date, title and any edition or section cited. Then label the pages you actually have: adoption action, supporting legislative file, attached excerpt, or separate published UBC text. If an attachment is mentioned but absent, ask for that named attachment rather than calling the ordinance incomplete without a file check. If the action names an edition but supplies no copy, request the edition separately. Do not silently substitute a later edition just because it is easier to find.
| Record in hand or needed | Reference to keep with the request |
|---|---|
| Adoption action | Number and date. |
| Supporting or attached text | Cited attachment and missing pages. |
| Published UBC edition | Edition year and cited section. |
This worksheet does not decide which code governed any project. It prevents a narrower mistake: treating the ordinance number as if it were the code-book number, or treating an index entry as if it supplied the referenced pages. Keep the source and date on every page so a later compilation does not silently replace the version cited in the earlier action.
Use the legislative number to choose the records route
The Archives’ legislative-history guide sends ordinances 1–13986 to the Legislative Archive, with five-digit number padding, and ordinances 13987 onward to Legisearch. It also separates custody of physical supporting records: Archives for ordinances 1–14824 and the Council Clerk from 14825 onward. The online-text break and physical-file break are not the same boundary. Commissioners’ resolutions are another Archives record class.
The current Legisearch welcome page describes legislative records from January 2000 onward and points to an earlier archive. Its legislation form exposes legislative text, title, number, date or year, type, status and a Building Code subject. Those are legislative search descriptors, not address or APN fields for an individual permit. No number, year or subject query was submitted for this article; the older-archive link could not be opened during this check, so no old document was reviewed.
A search result, when a reader obtains one, should be treated as a pointer. Preserve the exact action identifier and ask the custodian of the supporting file whether the referenced UBC text was attached. If it was separately published, name the edition and section in a second inquiry. Archives also points to library editions; that is a possible text lead, not proof of what any particular legislative file contains.
A fictional missing-attachment case
Imagine a fictional folder marked Ordinance 01234 that cites a particular UBC edition, but the packet contains only the adoption page. The padded number is a search clue, not an attachment. First request the ordinance and its supporting file under that action number. Then ask for the cited edition or missing section as a separate text object. If the answer supplies only an index entry, retain that result and keep the text question open. No actual King County ordinance, book or property was checked in this example.
If a record instead identifies a commissioners’ resolution, do not force it into the ordinance-number route. Preserve the resolution title and date and ask Archives for that class. If a newer ordinance cites an older action, record both numbers and ask which file actually holds the attachment. The aim is a reproducible chain of references, not a guess about what the county intended.
Keep property evidence and code history separate
The historic permit-register guide helps with a property’s permit card or register. The plan-file transfer guide follows issued plans and later file custody. Neither record automatically supplies the adoption action or the cited UBC edition. An address or parcel number may help identify a property file, but it was not a verified input to the legislative form used here.
Ask for a named action, supporting file and edition with the identifiers you possess. An inaccessible link or one untested search route does not resolve whether a separate attachment survives. Keep the unresolved object on the worksheet and the custodian’s answer beside it.
An adoption record does not prove that a particular permit was issued, that an inspection passed, or which code legally applied to a property. Match the dated legislative text to the referenced edition first, and leave property-specific conclusions to the relevant dated permit and decision records.
Official King County Archives and Council search guidance were checked October 9, 2026 UTC. The earlier-archive link could not be opened during this check. No legislative query, ordinance, resolution, UBC text, property record, account, request or copy was opened.