Your Future, Your Voice: Call to Action for the Clark County Council Hearing on the Preferred Alternative for the Comp Plan Update on Monday, April 27th
Help us advocate for a sustainable future balancing growth, the preservation of prime agricultural land, and meaningful climate action in Clark County.
What’s at stake?
The loss of hundreds of acres of prime agricultural lands and meaningful climate action in Clark County’s Comprehensive Plan Update.
Background
Clark County is revising its Comprehensive Growth Management Plan, a 20-year guide for managing growth and development with respect to the natural environment and available resources. In addition, the cities of Vancouver, Battle Ground, Camas, La Center, Ridgefield, Washougal, Woodland and Yacolt are also updating their comprehensive plans.
Three land use alternatives were studied for those cities and the county in a draft environmental impact statement (EIS). In addition, the Clark County Council majority ordered and the county carried out an Agricultural Lands Study.
What’s happening?
If the Clark County Council selects any alternative that allows for urban growth area (UGA) expansions, especially those that include the de-designation of agricultural land, they will be permitting the permanent destruction of hundreds of acres of our prime farmlands. According to the county’s own modeling, 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 and emissions-inducing development is unnecessary. Therefore, Alternative 1 (the No Change Alternative) is the only responsible choice.
The purpose of the joint hearing will be to take public testimony on a preferred land use alternative. The Clark County Council will select a preferred land use alternative, and a final EIS will be prepared on that alternative.
Call to action
We need you to voice your opinion in support of Alternative 1, our vision for the future of sustainable agriculture, and meaningful climate action in Clark County’s Comp Plan update!
Submit your written comments by the morning of Friday, April 24th (allowing for comments to be received and read ahead of the hearing) OR testify virtually, in person, or over the phone for up to 3 minutes at the hearing on April 27th, 2026 at 4pm.
Attendees can join in person in the sixth-floor hearing room of the Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin St., or virtually via Webex. Meeting information
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. Alternative 1 is the only alternative that does not expand UGAs.
2) The hundreds of acres that Ridgefield, La Center, and Camas are requesting to pave over forever are designated prime agricultural lands and farmlands of statewide importance. Additionally, Battle Ground’s proposed expansion would pave over hundreds of acres of ag-quality rural lands identified in the Agricultural Lands Study. These lands represent an invaluable community resource as we consider the need to feed our growing population, local food security and climate change resiliency, and the future of the farming industry and jobs in the agricultural sector as a whole.
3) Clark County must match the City of Vancouver’s greenhouse gas Emissions Goals, as the recommendations made by the Clark County Climate Community Advisory Group (CAG) will be rendered toothless without an explicit greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goal. Clark County, as well as the world, are far behind in acting meaningfully to address the climate emergency at the urgency and scale articulated by global scientific consensus.
4) Urbanization begets urbanization. To use encroaching development as a justification to de-designate land, will continue to chip away at agricultural land, which goes against the conservation purpose of the agricultural land designations. This de-designation risk has been articulated in Washington state law, and was recently noted by Clark County’s own lawyer as “the absolute definition of urban sprawl”.
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 and jobs, they also need food.
- 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.
- The Council should honor the recommendations of the Agricultural Advisory Commission, which voted to maintain all existing agricultural designations and requested a moratorium on upzoning of lands that meet the legal criteria for agricultural designation.
- The Council should consider the needs of the entire county and our collective future, not reward cities for failing to propose alternatives for their cities that do not include paving over prime farmland.
Tips for writing an effective public comment
- Keep your commentary relevant, respectful, and succinct.
- 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.
- Make it personal: Share your feelings, concerns, and how you and your community will be impacted by this Comp Plan decision.
More information
Proposed mapping and related information
Staff report and related materials
Written comments for the hearing can be submitted via email to Jeffrey.Delapena@clark.wa.gov or via the U.S. Postal Service to Clark County Planning Commission, c/o Jeffrey Delapena, PO Box 9810, Vancouver, WA 98666-9810.
Comments can also be read into the record. Instructions from the county website.
Learn more about the county Comprehensive Plan Update project