The business community can raise its voice about Clark County’s preferred alternative for the Growth Management Plan at a two-day joint hearing before the Board of County Commissioners and the Planning Commission on Nov. 28 and 29.
The hearings are part of the process for the board to consider changes to urban growth boundaries adopted in 2004.
On the first night, the commissioners will take comments from individual members of the public, property owners and neighborhood associations. The second night is designed for comments from representatives of cities, school districts, public agencies and organizations other than neighborhood groups.
The primary focus of the hearings will be on expansions to current urban growth areas around cities in the county.
At a recent slew of informational open houses about the issue around the county, half of the comments were from property owners whose land is just outside the proposed boundaries and who want in the boundaries, said Community Planning Director Martin Snell.
Ordinary citizens were mostly curious, he said, while those with vested interests want to know the details. They’re paying attention to facilities plans, whether the county can afford transportation facilities and urban holding plans. They want to know what improvements are going to be made, and whether impact fees are going to increase to make up transportation shortfalls.
Development attorneys want to know when their clients will be able to develop land and how much land will be available for immediate development and how much will be held out for phasing.
Snell said some of that information will be available at the hearings, but that there is a lot of work still left to be done.
If some of the information gets to the commissioners later than expected, the public will not have an opportunity to review the material, leaving the possibility that the hearings will be continued to give people enough time to review it.
If all goes according to plan, the planning commission will develop its recommendation for the commissioners at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 30 at Vancouver City Hall, 210 E. 13th Ave. The Board of County Commissioners will craft a final plan by the end of December, and only its decisions are appealable.
The county updated its 1994 comprehensive plan in 2004, but the county’s rapid growth necessitated a review of the planning assumptions that were the basis for the 2004 update. Planning assumptions were revised in 2005 and a new planning process, including the preparation of an environmental impact statement, was undertaken.
A draft EIS that analyzed three alternatives was issued in August and a final EIS that analyzes a preferred alternative will follow this month.
Proposed changes to the comprehensive plan map, test and policies are available from Clark County Community Planning at 360-397-2280 ext. 4558 or can be found at the county’s Web site, www.clark.wa.gov/longrangeplan/review/index/html.
