Let Your Voice Be Heard: Clark County’s Comp Plan Workshop Comment Period
Help us advocate for our vision for the future of sustainable agriculture in Clark County and meaningful climate action!
What’s at stake?
The loss of 519 acres of prime agricultural lands in Clark County’s Comprehensive Plan Update and the delayed implementation and potential loss of funding for urgent climate, transportation, housing, and parks policies.
What’s happening?
The cities of Ridgefield and La Center have convinced a majority of the Clark County Council to spend $300,000 for a consultant to undertake a countywide study of agricultural lands in order to permanently build over our prime farmlands, even as the county has agreed that all of our current urban areas have the capacity for expected growth over the next 20 year horizon—meaning expansion of our current boundaries and paving over farmland for expensive, sprawling development is entirely unnecessary.
Some councilors ignored their highly knowledgeable staff and are looking for a draft ag land study report in less than 60 days, clearly depriving the public of any meaningful participation. An adequate study takes time, energy and input from thousands of Clark County residents, which is typically a multi-year process. In addition, the council voted for this knowing that they will miss the December 31st, 2025 deadline to submit their Comp Plan update, meaning that the county will again be out of compliance with the law and become ineligible for state grants and low interest loans.
In spite of overwhelming public comment against this action and in contradiction of the council’s stated strong support for local agriculture, 3 councilors went to great lengths to ensure 519 acres of agricultural land remains on the chopping block. Again, the county’s own modeling establishes that all cities can accommodate all projected population growth within existing urban growth areas (UGAs).
Now, as the hasty agricultural lands study gets going and as the Clark County Climate Community Advisory Group’s recommended policies are working their way through the approval process, the county is holding an online, self-paced workshop for residents to provide their opinion on what the Comp Plan Preferred Alternative should look like. We need you to voice your opinion in support of our vision for the future of sustainable agriculture and meaningful climate action in Clark County’s Comp Plan update!
Get your comments on the record:
Main Statements:
1) Clark County’s Preferred Alternative for the Comp Plan should reflect the county’s prior decisions that all forecasted growth for housing, population, and employment can be accommodated within current UGAs, meaning there is no legal reason to expand UGAs.
2) The combined 519 acres that Ridgefield and La Center are requesting to pave over forever are predominantly prime agricultural lands and farmlands of statewide significance that are not characterized by urban growth. With the climate emergency underway, food security is a huge concern and we need these farmlands to build climate resilience.
3) The County is required by law to have a sufficient supply of agricultural lands to sustain a local agricultural economy. I support Friends of Clark County’s vision for agriculture in Clark County to maintain and sustain a climate resilient local agricultural economy.
4) The Clark County Climate Advisory Group (CAG) was made up of a wide variety of stakeholders who put in many hours of volunteer work to reach consensus on a suite of urgent climate policies—including those relating to agriculture. Pass the Climate CAG’s climate draft as is, while honoring the majority vote on the language that did not reach consensus.
5) I support the county meeting the Comp Plan deadline and I do not support the county being out of compliance with the law and jeopardizing much needed funding from the state for work the county needs to get done on climate, transportation, parks, housing, and more.
Additional Points:
- The amount of agricultural land in Clark County has been eroded by the county’s actions over the decades since the passage of the original Comprehensive Plan. The de-designation of any agricultural land for unnecessary UGA expansions would continue to undermine the capability of our agricultural sector to rise to its highest levels of productivity, which would also undermine our communities’ access to food and our successful adaptation to the climate emergency. Just as our residents need housing, population, and jobs, they also need food.
- The agricultural lands study is going to be inadequate because the sufficient amount of public participation is not possible in the allotted amount of time. The public and all stakeholders will be prevented from having meaningful participation in the development of this agricultural lands study and it will not yield enough information.
- The council should consider the needs of the entire county, and not reward 2 cities for failing to propose alternatives for their cities that do not include paving over prime farmland.
- Ridgefield and La Center are encroaching upon agricultural land because they have not been building multifamily housing (0 new units over the past two years).
- Councilors Yung and Little should fulfill their campaign promises and personal commitments to a sustainable and vibrant community, which includes a healthy and thriving local agricultural community, by protecting our precious agricultural land.
Tips
- We recommend you keep your commentary short, sweet, and to the point.
- Be sure to indicate where in the county you live.
- If you have time, try and paraphrase the points we’ve provided rather than copy/pasting.
- The online, self-paced open house is essentially a comment form with a user-friendly map showing all the alternatives, so it should take you only the amount of time it takes to write your comments.
- Get your commentary in by the June 30th deadline!
Link to the online, self-paced open house to submit your comments (Click Submit a Comment button on the right):
https://clark.wa.gov/community-planning/2025-update-online-open-house