🚨 CALL-TO-ACTION to Save Hundred of Acres of Agricultural Land in the Clark County Comprehensive Plan Update May 7th at 1pm!
What’s at stake?
The loss of 519 acres of agricultural land in Clark County’s Comprehensive Plan Update to sprawling development, the delay (6 months to a year or more) of passing urgent climate, transportation, and housing policies, noncompliance with state law, and ineligibility for grants and low-interest loans from the state that could be lost forever.
What’s happening?
The majority of the Clark County Council recently voted to move forward with a hasty countywide study of agricultural lands (required by law to de-designate it for housing or commercial development), ensuring that they will be late in submitting Clark County’s Comprehensive Plan Update, at the request of Ridgefield and La Center’s leadership and a few landowners to expand their urban growth areas into agricultural land to develop it.
This action was taken despite county staff’s warnings that the county would be out of compliance with state law by not meeting the Comp Plan deadline at the end of the year, would become ineligible for state grants and low interest loans, and that the Comp Plan submittal would likely be legally challenged—which would even further delay the implementation of critical Comp Plan policies such as those relating to addressing the climate crisis, housing, transportation, as well as addressing our parks deficit. The council was advised that certain grants could be lost forever and that $10 million had been lost during the last Comp Plan update for the same reasons. In addition, county staff has already indicated through modeling that all cities can accommodate projected population growth within existing urban growth areas.
What is the action?
FOCC, our partners and supporters must generate a BIG showing on May 7th at the 1pm Council Time, so please plan on testifying in person at the Public Service Center in downtown Vancouver or online (scroll down to locate the address and Webex Link for the Wednesday, May 7th 1pm Council Time meeting, the agenda item is under Old Business, 4.2 Comprehensive Plan Update) to ask Councilors Yung, Little, and/or Belkot to change their vote to not pursue a study of ag land right now and ensure the Comp Plan deadline gets met. We must remind them of all they are putting in jeopardy for the unnecessary action of destroying agricultural land. In person, online, or phoning in testimony is the preferred strategy, but if you cannot make it, please send in written comments to Councilors Yung and Little with the subject line and recipients below:
Subject Line: Delay the Ag Study and Meet the Comp Plan Deadline
Send to: comp.plan@clark.wa.gov CC glen.yung@clark.wa.gov matt.little@clark.wa.gov rebecca.messinger@clark.wa.gov
Main Statement: Please ensure Clark County complies with state law by meeting the Comprehensive Plan update deadline and delay the study of agricultural land until after the Comp Plan is submitted in December 2025.
Supporting Talking Points:Â
- Delaying the Comp Plan deadline delays adoption of all of the urgent climate and housing policies that are part of the Comp Plan Update. We do not have time to lose in implementation of these policies. The cities of Yacolt, Battle Ground and Camas, who have been playing by the rules, would be forced to delay their comprehensive plans as well.
- County staff have told the council time and again that we will not meet the Comp Plan deadline with the inclusion of a hasty study of agricultural land in the process, which will render the county out of compliance and ineligible for state grants and low-interest loans. These grants could be lost forever depending on the deadline and the county should not be in a position to delay applying for critical grant funds for potentially a year or more, which also delays getting the work done that the grants would fund.
- Ridgefield and La Center are encroaching upon agricultural land because of their own prior poor land use planning and are not building multifamily housing (0 new units over the past two years). City planners are well aware of state requirements as it is their job to know them. All of Clark County should not be punished for the negligence of Ridgefield and La Center to submit a plan that does not include de-designation of agricultural land.
- Recent discussion among La Center leadership demonstrates that La Center simply does not believe in the goals of the Growth Management Act to reduce sprawl, protect resource lands, or provide housing for all incomes, even as they are required to abide by it. The county should not enable La Center or Ridgefield in their efforts to defy the Growth Management Act and to implement exclusionary zoning.
- La Center and Ridgefield both are aware of the deadlines and the need for a study to de-designate ag land. They did not request this early in the process, so are clearly just reacting to developers/landowners, not acting in the best interests of their cities.
- Councilor Yung ran a campaign on upholding existing environmental law, protecting natural resources, and reducing sprawl. Councilor Little ran a campaign on protecting farmland and Clark County’s rural character. Both ran on affordable housing. How is helping La Center and Ridgefield de-designate ag land and intentionally going out of compliance with state law consistent with those campaign promises? How is delaying adoption of Comp Plan housing requirements and rewarding Ridgefield and La Center for choosing not to build multifamily housing consistent with those campaign promises?