Your Future, Your Voice: Call to Action for the Clark County Joint Hearing on the Preferred Alternative for the Comp Plan Update on January 8th
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 over 500 acres of prime agricultural lands and meaningful climate action in Clark County’s Comprehensive Plan Update.
What’s happening?
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 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 at the request of the cities of Ridgefield and La Center, who included urban growth area expansion into designated agricultural land in their proposed alternatives.
If the Clark County Council selects any alternative that allows de-designation of agricultural land , they will be permitting the permanent destruction of hundreds of acres of our prime farmlands. 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 that is unnecessary.
The purpose of the joint hearing will be to take public testimony on a preferred land use alternative. The Clark County Council will ultimately select a preferred land use alternative, and a final EIS will be prepared on that alternative.
Again, the county’s own modeling establishes that all cities can accommodate all projected population growth within existing urban growth areas (UGAs).
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 prime agricultural lands and farmlands of statewide importance. 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 Agricultural Lands Study found that all currently designated agricultural resource lands provide long-term commercial significance to the agricultural industry using the criteria outlined in Washington State law (WAC 365-190-050). In fact, “96 percent of the Agricultural Designations (31,400 acres) are classified as Prime Farmland or Farmland of Statewide Importance.” 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. Therefore, the findings of this study indicate there is no justification for de-designating the agricultural lands the cities have proposed to build over.
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 council should honor the recommendations of the Agricultural Advisory Commission, which voted to maintain all existing agricultural designations.
- 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.
- Urbanization begets urbanization. To use encroaching development as a justification to de-designate land, you would essentially always be chipping away at agricultural land, which goes against the conservation purpose of the agricultural land designations.
Tips
- 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 (and add your own!).
More Information
Submit your written comments by January 7th (county staff have requested 24 hours to get comments in ahead of the hearing) OR testify virtually, in person, or over the phone for up to 3 minutes at the hearing at 6:30pm on January 8th.
The hearing will be held on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. in a hybrid format. Attendees can join in person in the sixth-floor hearing room of the Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin St., or virtually via Webex. Information on how to attend the meeting can be found on the council’s meeting page at https://bit.ly/CCCouncil.
Proposed mapping and related information is available at https://bit.ly/2025CPUpdate. The staff report and related materials are here: https://bit.ly/CCPlanComm.
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 are available on the county website at https://bit.ly/CCCouncil.
Learn more about the county Comprehensive Plan Update project, Your Future. Your Voice. at: https://bit.ly/2025CPUpdate.