The recent adoption of 19 square miles to Clark County’s urban growth area is a step in the right direction, say some in the development community, but the added lands do not come without issues.
The expanded boundaries go into effect Jan. 1, but it could be years before that land is ready for development, and much of it comes with environmental constraints.
The new urban growth areas must have infrastructure services available and be annexed to adjacent cities before development can take place, and Ridgefield and La Center both lack sewer capacity to serve their new urban growth areas.
School- and transportation-impact fees are increasing dramatically, and the county is poised to adopt a state-mandated set of stormwater management regulations that will require three to five times the amount of stormwater storage than is currently required, said Steve Horenstein, land use attorney and partner in charge of Miller Nash’s Vancouver law office.
“Clearly, it will require more land available for stormwater storage, and make less land available for vertical development,” Horenstein said.
New industrial land is part of the solution.
Employment centers
In total, commissioners added 1,660 acres of industrial, 21 acres of heavy industrial and 1,362 acres of “employment center” land.
Employment center lands are implemented with office campus and business park base zones, and are intended to provide employment opportunities, said Oliver Orjiako, Clark County’s land use program manager.
The areas allow for more intensive job-related uses, such as professional offices and research- and technology-related industries in a campus-like setting, he said.
Employment center land offers more flexibility than industrial land and is attractive to the high-tech and renewable energy sectors.
Battle Ground and Camas were designated 71 acres and 320 acres of employment center land, respectively, and La Center and Ridgefield were designated 607 acres and 176 acres of industrial land, respectively.
Vancouver was designated 252 acres of employment center land and 1,053 acres of industrial, and Washougal was designated 542 acres of employment center land and 21 acres of heavy industrial.
Yacolt’s boundaries did not expand.
“It’s not without challenges, but expanding the boundaries is a huge step in the direction of accommodating and managing growth,” Horenstein said.
Mark Hinton, owner of Vancouver-based Hinton Development Corp., said the updated growth plan is positive, particularly, the attention that was paid to the Discovery Corridor.
Hinton is not so impressed with the addition of a large amount of industrial land along State Route 503 near Brush Prairie.
“The problem with some of the industrial ground in that area is that it’s very hard for companies to get excited about because of its (lack of) proximity to major transportation routes,” he said.
The location has become more attractive since the development of Padden Parkway, he added.
Some industrial property in Battle Ground is also suffering because it is out of the way, Hinton said.
Some of the added lands will be constrained by topography – industrial users want flat ground – and environmental issues, he said.
Bob Durgan, vice president of Portland-based Andersen Construction – in the midst of building Barberton Industrial Park, near Northeast 72nd Avenue and Northeast St. Johns Road – was not so optimistic.
Durgan was doubtful the expanded growth would ease tension in the industrial market.
“How many acres of developable heavy industrial were added?” he said in an email. “Of the light industrial lands, how many are shovel-ready with infrastructure available?”
The only heavy industrial land added was 21 acres on the east end of Washougal.
“Vancouver is out of industrial dirt outside of the port,” said Bill Connelly, vice president of Eric Fuller and Assoc. “Expansion is the only alternative. If you don’t provide land, you can’t expand, but it has to be the right location and the right kind of property.”
Horenstein projected the development hot spots to be La Center, Camas and Washougal, but Vancouver may see industrial development before other cities because it has a great deal of sewer capacity, he said.
“We’re always focused on the long-term, and long-term, we have to have industrial land to create jobs,” said Bart Phillips, president of the Columbia River Economic Development Council.
The CREDC has been involved in the process since 1994 to ensure there is adequate land supply to attract business.
A good amount of industrial land was added, but much is constrained by critical lands – predominantly wetlands, Phillips said.
“This process never really stops,” he said. “First we get the land, then the infrastructure, then mitigation, then development. It’s a cycle, and we’ve solved the land piece for the immediate cycle.”
Horenstein said there hasn’t been any significant dirt turned in the county since the 2004 plan and very little since the 1994 plan, but Connelly disagrees.
“There has been a huge amount of dirt turned,” he said, pointing to Orchards, Union Ridge in Ridgefield, infill along 88th and 77th streets and Columbia Tech Center in Vancouver. There has been quite a bit of dirt sold in Camas, he added, and said about half of the lands added to the growth boundaries are in prime locations
“We’ve always been out of buildable land,” Connelly said. “The target is always 1,000 acres of shovel-ready dirt, and we’ve always been underserved from an industrial standpoint.
“Why,” he said, “is a political question.”
