Okay, Marchel, I'm going to
start the recording. Oh, dear.
Oh let's see. Confirm. And then
I'm going to start the
transcription language. That
should we should be good to go.
Examiner Marshall thank you.
>> You're welcome. Thank you,
Miss Bowen. Yes. And I just saw
the alert that this is being
recorded and transcribed. So
good evening everyone. My name
is Stephanie Marshall. I am the
City of Vancouver Hearing
Examiner. Today is Tuesday,
July 21st, 2026, and it is 6:01
p.m. There is only one item on
the agenda this evening, and
that is a public hearing on an
application for a preliminary,
excuse me, preliminary
subdivision. And this is file
number PRJ-169503 and LUP dash
85740. This is the southeast
19th Street subdivision
proposal. I'm going to go
through some introductory
remarks and make some
disclosures, and then provide
an overview of the order of the
hearing. This is a quasi
judicial public hearing, which
means that I will be judging
the application. I have
received and reviewed the staff
report and exhibits that were
submitted along with. There was
an additional memorandum to the
record that was provided to me
yesterday. So we have exhibits
A through R plus. The memo that
I received yesterday. I will
also be considering testimony
provided at the hearing tonight,
as well as any additional
exhibits that people wish to
submit. Anything that you wish
me to consider in my final
order on this application,
please, please make sure to
raise it during the hearing
this evening. Otherwise it will
be waived. And if you've
already submitted written
comments, there is no
requirement for you to testify.
Tonight. I will be reviewing
again everything that's in the
record. All testimony will be
provided under oath and this
hearing is being recorded. It's
also being broadcast live on
Kadee CVTV. I will be swearing
in each individual before you
begin your testimony. And I ask
that public testimony be
limited to three minutes. As
far as my disclosures, I have
not had any ex parte. That
means outside of this room,
outside of this hearing, I've
not received any ex parte
contact from anyone interested
in or opposed to the
application. As I previously
stated, I have received and
reviewed the staff report and
all of the exhibits that
support the application.
Anything that you wish to
submit into the record, I will
be making another statement at
the end of the hearing, and
we'll make sure that you
coordinate with the hearing.
Examiner Clerk Clarissa Boguhn.
I've not I don't have any
personal interest in the
outcome of this application.
I'm not associated with anyone
associated with the applicant.
I don't have any connections to
anyone that has submitted
public comment in the record,
nor anyone on staff. And I've
not prejudged this application.
While it is true that there are
other subdivision applications
that come before the City
Hearing examiner, each
application is decided on its
own merits, based on the facts,
based on the layout of the of
the area, the surrounding
streets, critical areas. We'll
be talking about that this
evening. So each application is
individually judged. The order
of the hearing this evening I
will begin by hearing from the
applicant or anyone. The
applicant wishes to provide
testimony. After that, I will
hear from staff, city staff who
will present the staff report,
and then at that time, I will
hear from members of the public.
If you are in attendance online,
please use the raise hand
button and we will call on
individual persons in order. It
is not a question and answer
type of situation. So if you
have questions about something
that you might have heard in
the applicant's testimony or in
the city's presentation of the
staff report, please state
those questions. And following
public testimony, the city will
have a chance to address
questions and rebuttal, and the
applicant will as well. The
applicant will have the final
word because the applicant
carries the burden of proof in
these proceedings. I think I've
covered everything, and we will
begin with the testimony. So
first up will be the applicant.
And who is the applicant's
representative? Who will be
providing testimony this
evening? Mr. Taylor, let me
swear you in real quick. Yes.
Do you swear or affirm the
testimony you give will be the
truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth.
>> I do.
>> Okay, great. You may proceed.
>> Perfect. I'm going to share
my screen.
>> Oh, and I forgot to to state
for the for the written record.
Mr. Taylor, if you could please
state your name, spell your
last name, and make a brief
statement as to how you
represent the applicant, what
your role is. Thank you.
>> Yes. My name is Jason Taylor.
I work with work for PLZ
engineering as a planner and
engineer and I am representing
the applicant for for this
project. And you want me to
spell my last name as well. Is
that correct?
>> Yeah, that would be great.
>> Thank you. So Jason Taylor,
TAYLOR.
>> Great. Thank you. Okay, you
may proceed.
>> Okay. So the proposal is
19th Street Subdivision. It's a
subdivision that includes 23
lots. Most of the homes are
attached dwellings. There are 4
or 5 plexes, a duplex, and then
one single family detached home.
The. The proposal is relatively
simple. We have frontage
improvements on the existing
southeast 19th Street on the
north end of the project, and
then we have a public road that
is very short, comes into the
site and terminates with a
modified cul de sac detail,
kind of a custom turnaround
that better, better provides
access to the lots within the
project. Given the the unique
shape and dimensions of the
site. And. Yeah, within within
the plan there are provisions
to serve each of the lots with
public sanitary sewer, public
water, and and stormwater
systems to deal with stormwater.
This is the general location of
the site. The site is mostly a
field with. With some brush and
some trees along the perimeter
of the site. It also shows how
there's an undeveloped site to
the east of us. East of us
there's residential, a
residential community to the
north and further east of us
there's there's newer single
family homes that have been
developed, but SR 14 is to the
South Ellsworth Road is is to
the west of 19th Is forms the
northern border. The. The chunk
that's taken out of the western
end of the property is. Area
that is owned by Wasch dot. And
we don't we don't have we don't
have improvements proposed
within within that area, within
the washed out right of way.
The zone of the site is R 22,
which allows 23 to 27 units
within the site. The applicant
proposed to do a residential
residential subdivision, though
an apartment complex with, you
know, up to 27 units would have
been allowed. The applicant
decided that fee simple lots
and and attached housing was a
better option for for this site
given the location.
>> Excuse me. Jason Corissa
Boguhn hearing clerk. I don't
think we are able to see your
PowerPoint.
>> Oh you're not.
>> Yes. I was just going to
jump in and say, are you
referring to something? Because
I'm not seeing it.
>> Okay, I am sorry.
>> Sorry for the interruption.
Yes.
>> So.
>> Let me I thought I was
sharing, but I guess it was it
just went into presentation
mode. Okay. Can you see the
screen? Okay. Perfect.
>> Yes.
>> Thank you. This was the
first slide that we skipped
over. And this is the site.
This is. This is the general
area, the field, the 19th
Street, Ellsworth SR 14 to the
south of us. This is the zoning.
So we're we're within an R 22
zone. There's a lower density
zone to the west of us. And
further to the east there's
also an R9R9 zone. Sure.
Everyone's aware that the the
city is updating their
comprehensive plan becomes
effective in about a week. So
these these zones are relevant
for this application given the
vesting that we have. But a lot
of these zones, these zones
will no longer exist within the
next within the next week. But
that's yeah, that's not
relevant to this application.
Here's our preliminary plat. It
shows kind of a lot of detail
for for the site. It shows
where driveways are, where
we're going to have parking
spaces, where all the utilities
are going to go, street trees.
So basically the plan that
shows all of the, all of the
elements of the site and how,
how they can all be
accommodated within the same
plan without, without conflicts.
The lots, a lot of the lots are
at the minimum lot size of
1500ft². And there, there are a
number of lots that are served
by by shared driveways that
that come off of the. The, the
109th court, which is the, the
modified cul de sac detail that
I was describing previously.
Yeah, because of, because of
this constrained site, we do
have underground stormwater
facilities. The sites also
sloped away from southeast 19th
Street. So there wasn't an
ability to serve a majority of
the site with gravity sanitary
sewer. So, you know, a lot of
the lots are served by grinder
grinder pump systems. But the
site is served by public public
water. There. There's a
location to the south or there.
There are critical areas on
site. The area on the south end
of the site is proposed to be
retained, which includes the
larger wetland area that's
located on site there. There
are three other small wetland
areas on site. Two and a half
of them are proposed to be
filled. And. And we are
currently working with
Department of Ecology to to get
the necessary permits to to
complete the fill of those fill
of those wetlands. So I believe
there's a letter from
Department of Ecology and the
record where they indicate that
they don't have any. They
generally don't have issues
with with the proposal as, as
it currently is shown. But
there there's a condition for
us to, to get those permits
prior to prior to getting final
engineering approval. This this
plan also shows the grading of
the site. There's a wall on the
south end and you can see how
there's, there's a lot of grade
from the north end to the to
the south end of the site and,
and how it shows how the site
will, will be graded out in its
final configuration. In. In the
end, we, we believe that all,
you know, the application was
complete and all of those
requirements were met. We
believe we meet the approval
criteria and all the City of
Vancouver development standards
have have been met with this
proposal. We. We are we're good
with the findings and
conditions that were written in
the city staff report. I think
there are a few a few minor
changes that we've requested
and coordinated with the city.
Crystal may go into more detail
on these items, but the. I
think there's a removal of.
We're requesting removal of
conditions seven, eight, 13 and
14, mostly because I think some
of them just don't apply to the
specific proposal that that we
have. And then the one
condition that we would request
to be modified is condition
four. Regarding the. The Wasch
dot. Regarding obtaining
approval from from Wasch dot
for for our proposal. We we
believe that all of our
improvements are outside of
Wasch dot right of way, so we
don't. If we happen to have
improvements within Wasch dot
right, we don't have an issue
with getting approval from them,
but we believe there should be.
The condition should be
modified to, say obtain
approval from Wasch dot if
there are improvements in Wasch
dot right of way, that gives us
flexibility. There may be some
debate about the northwest
corner as to where Wasch dot
right of way ends, and where
city of Vancouver right of way
starts. Based on our research,
our improvements are within the
city of Vancouver right of way.
But we're, you know, we'll
we'll make sure to work with
the city and Wasch dot to, to
arrive to the, to the correct
conclusion there. But having
that having that line on that
condition would, would give us
some flexibility so that we're
not outright required to get
some kind of approval from,
from Wasch dot and that. And
that is that is all I have.
Thank you.
>> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Taylor.
I do not have any questions for
you at this time. So we unless
the applicant has any other any
other person providing
testimony on the application, I
will go to Crystal Sanchez on
behalf of the city.
>> I believe we're done. Thank
you.
>> Okay. Thank you very much.
Okay. Miss Sanchez, do you
swear or affirm the testimony
you give will be the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but
the truth? Yes. Okay. Thank you.
You may proceed. Please
introduce yourself and tell us
who you are and spell your last
name. Thank you.
>> Hi, I'm Crystal Sanchez,
last name SANCHEZ, and I'm the
associate planner with the City
of Vancouver case manager for
this project. Okay, let me
share my screen so we can see
the presentation. Can you see
the screen?
>> Yes I can, thank you.
>> Perfect. Like I mentioned
before, we are here for
southeast 19th Street
subdivision. Let's go to the
next slide. This is just an
aerial overview of the site.
This is for 23 lot subdivision
in the R 22 higher density
residential district. To
clarify, this project is being
proposed with a public street
and two smaller streets. The
staff report did mention that
this was being approved with a
private street as a main street,
but that was a slight error on
my part. And just to clarify, I
believe this is the most up to
date site plan. I believe the
middle median had to be removed
to meet solid waste
requirements. So the applicant
is utilizing narrow development
standards for these lots.
Narrow lots require one guest
parking space for every three
narrow lots. The applicant is
providing a on street parking
spaces on southeast 19th Street,
which meets this requirement. A
final determination of
Non-significance for Cepa was
issued with the staff report.
And the applicant is proposing.
There's two. Actually, there's
two critical areas mapped on
these lots wetlands and Oregon
White Oak, a critical area
report in Banceu memo were
submitted. So the applicant is
proposing to partially fill the
existing wetland habitat and
retain the High moor, the high
functioning areas that will be
located in tract A. The partial
fill will require about 6.051
wetland credits to be purchased
from the Columbia River
mitigation Bank. The critical
area in Bank use memo have also
been reviewed by the Clark
County Wetland biologist as a
third party reviewer, and they
concur with the findings found
in the report and regarding the
Oregon White Oak, the applicant
submitted a memo with findings
regarding this on our. We had a
historic mapping that showed an
Oregon white oak. From this
memo, they found out that
there's evidence that indicates
that the Oregon White oak
naturally fell from the
adjacent eastern parcel, with
the upper portion extending
onto the property now providing
habitat value within the
wetland that will be protected.
Next slide. We did hold a
notice of application and
public comment period. The
comment period was held from
April 30th to June 1st. Public
comments are included with the
staff report as exhibit P. We
received four public comments
during this period. Some common
topics that were brought up
were residential density,
compatibility, traffic safety
and critical areas, as well as
stormwater concerns. The
applicant is proposing attached
single family dwellings and one
detached single family homes,
which is allowed in the R 22
zoning. Zoning also allows
smaller lot sizes as small as
1500ft². This project has been
reviewed by city's
transportation and stormwater
departments, and was deemed
that the project can meet the
requirements as conditioned.
Here's another aerial showing
the zoning. It's surrounded by
art 22 on the north and east
side to the south of the
property. It's separated by
highway 14, and we have our our
four zoning located on the
other side to the west is. It's
also separated by a street, and
it has our. Nine zoning on the
other side. And we've gone over
these applicable code sections
listed here already. So staff
is reviewing this for
subdivision approval. The
approval process for this is a
type three subdivision which is
required for ten lots or more.
It was reviewed against the
preliminary plat approval
criteria and subdivision
technical standards. And like
Jason mentioned earlier, the
city is in agreement with a
with a revision of condition
number four and the removal
condition number seven, eight,
13, and 14. And staff
recommends approval of the
subdivision as condition in the
staff report. With those
revisions. All right. I'll stop
sharing.
>> Okay. Thank you, Miss
Sanchez. And I appreciate both
you and Mr. Taylor addressing
the revision of condition four
and the removal of those other
four conditions. So thank you
for that. Again, I don't have
any questions at this time, but
I may have some after public
testimony, so thank you. Okay.
All right. Now is the time for
public testimony. Again, I will
be swearing you in because
testimony will be provided
under oath. I ask that you
limit your comments to three
minutes. One additional request
I have is that if you have
submitted a written public
comment, you do not need to
read from that because I will
be reviewing all the comments
that are already in the record.
So with that, who would like to
provide public testimony,
please use the raise hand
button and we will call on you.
I'm not seeing any raised hands
at this time.
>> I'm not seeing any raised
hands either. Examiner Marchel.
>> Okay.
>> Oh, no, we have yes.
Rosalind.
>> Rosalind. Rosalind. Good
evening. Thank you for raising
your hand. I'm happy to swear
you in. And if you've got some
comments you'd like to make on
this application. Oh, hello.
Good evening. All right. Please
raise your right hand. Do you
swear or affirm the testimony
you give will be the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but
the truth? Yes. Okay, great.
Thank you for joining us.
Please state your name and
spell your last name and let us
know how you relate to this
property. Are you a neighboring
property owner or interested
citizen?
>> Yes. So my name is Rosalind
Hupp is spelled ROSELAND. Last
name is H as in Henry, UPP as
in Paul, and I reside at 10404
Southeast French Road, which is
adjacent from the property that
we're talking about.
>> Okay. All right. Thank you.
Go ahead.
>> Okay. So I think I had a
couple or a few questions
regarding this property because
I don't overall have any like
concerns about the type of
development that is, is going
to be. But it's overall more
about like the proposed 23 lot
development and how that will
potentially have all of this
traffic that's funneling
through like the single access
point on southeast 19th Street.
So I'm sure or maybe you don't
know, but there are two other
or I should say three other
developments along our area. So
one specifically about maybe a
quarter of the mile up the
street on the left hand side,
if you're going north north up
Ellsworth, there's a community
there, a small community of
houses that were built. And
then on the adjacent corner of
on French Road and southeast
Ellsworth, there's another
development that's being
developed there on that corner.
And then now we have another
development that's a little bit
further down the street on
southeast 19th. That's a pretty
large development of four
bedroom homes with single car
garages. And now we're talking
about another development on
the corner again, which is
fantastic. Of these 23 lot
development townhomes. And so
my main concerns is thinking
about the traffic that's going
to come from this. We at that
corner of southeast Ellsworth
and French Road and Southeast
19th, that's a four way stop.
So one thing I'm wondering is
will there be some kind of
street light or any additional.
Development that will be
created to manage traffic? And
as well as, you know, being
able to deal with like the, the
additional traffic. Because
again, when we're looking at
southeast 19th Street and as
well as Southeast French Road,
we're directly up against a
highway, highway 14. And in
addition to that, we recently
have had, you know, someone
murdered on our street, which
is actually my husband. And so
my other concern is. Safety. So
I think with all that, that's
that's pretty much my biggest
concern is the safety factor.
The, the increased foot, do
they increase traffic and as
well as like, you know, what
type of parking is going to be
the situation? Because even if
they have garages or parking
lots, that can also assume that
potentially you might have
people parking on the street
from time to time. And this is
after the development is
complete. And then I think the
other piece of it is, is, you
know, how will the, the, the,
the noise, you know, in
addition to what we already
have with the traffic noise,
how will that be dealt with?
>> Sorry, I was still muted.
Thank you, miss. Miss Hupp, I
appreciate your comments. And I
do see that you've asked some
questions. So at the conclusion
of public testimony, when I
turn it back to Miss Sanchez
and Mr. Taylor, hopefully they
can address some of those
questions that you have. Thank
you again.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> You're welcome. Is there
anyone else that would like to
provide public testimony this
evening? If so, please raise
your hand with the raise hand
button.
>> I'm not seeing another.
Raise hand.
>> Okay, okay. Well, I'm going
to move on then to Miss Sanchez.
If you are experiencing issues
with the raise hand button and
you manage to get that to work,
we will take your testimony out
of turn. Okay, miss Sanchez,
rebuttal testimony for the city,
please.
>> So regarding transportation,
our transportation department
have, of course, reviewed the
applicant's doc plans and
documents, and they have deemed
that this project can meet the
requirements as conditioned.
Regarding the garages, the
proposing at least a one car
garage per lot. And there is
eight on street parking spaces
that will be provided on
southeast 19th Street. I don't
believe there is a stop sign or
a light proposed with this
development, but I will pass it
over to the applicant to verify.
That is pretty much the
rebuttal from the city.
>> Okay. Thank you, Miss
Sanchez. Mr. Taylor. Or if
there's another person for the
applicant, I'm Mr. Taylor. Good
to see you again. All right,
it's your turn for rebuttal.
>> With. With projects like
this, we we rely on the city to
tell us to what extent we need
to study traffic and
intersections within the area.
Generally, if you propose a
larger project, you're going to
have to study the level of
service of intersections, and
the city does a pretty good job
at kind of understanding where
there are current issues and
where things need to be, where
things need to be looked at.
With the 23 lot subdivision,
where a majority of those homes
are smaller attached homes,
that doesn't actually generate
a lot of traffic. I think we
had like 14 p.m. peak hour
trips, which is usually the the
number that you look at when,
when looking for traffic
impacts during the times where
there's the most traffic, most
traffic, you know, the 4:04
p.m. to 6 p.m. window. So with
only with only 14 trips, the
city required us to. Submit a
trip generation memo which
details details the trips that
are created by the development
and also. You know, looks at
where those trips will go
within the City of Vancouver
Roadway Network. City of
Vancouver also collects. Fees
based on where you send trips.
There are certain intersections
where they know there are
issues and they have plans to,
you know, collect fees so that
they can then provide
mitigation and improve
intersections. So so this, this
development didn't send trips
to any of those intersections
that the city had identified.
And the city didn't indicate
that there's no indication that
there was a failing
intersection near the site. So
no, no intersections were
specifically studied for level
of service standards. So, so
yes, there, there is a, a minor
increase in traffic based on
the development, but based on
the size of the proposed
development, no, no mitigation
is being required. There are
there is a stop sign on 19th
Street. We looked at site
distance for the proposed
intersection and 19th Street.
So there's there's available
sight distance. Our proposed
entrance meets intersection
spacing standards and we're
providing frontage improvements
that will. We're providing
frontage improvements that will
widen out the, you know, 19th
Street on the north end of our
site. While we're not while
we're not providing any
striping for a left turn lane
or anything like that, the the
width of 19th Street will be
36ft wide at our frontage as it
intersects with Ellsworth. It
will at least give the city an
opportunity if they decide it's
necessary in the future to put
in a dedicated right turn lane
or left turn lane from from
ninth 19th Street onto
Ellsworth. So that's that's all
I have from a traffic
perspective as far as safety,
there's there's not much that.
Not much we can do with a
residential subdivision
development. There's, you know,
we, you know, the future
residents will pay will pay
taxes. That goes towards the
city's cities fund, where,
where they provide policing and
safety services. So there's
nothing specific that the
proposed development is doing.
Though I'm not sure exactly
what the homes you know, what
the design of the homes will be.
But most, most modern
subdivisions include some kind
of ring doorbell. You know, a
lot of the new subdivisions
that I've that I've seen come
come with doorbells like that.
I don't know if the, the home
builder is going to be
providing those, but you can
drive some neighborhood, some
new neighborhoods you can drive
through at night and see all
the, the glowing green dots. I
think that goes a long ways to
providing a safer neighborhood
where there. There are cameras.
Things are being recorded in it.
You know, it makes it so that
there's less likely, that's
less likely that somebody is
going to be committing crimes.
And in newer neighborhoods like
that, regarding the noise, it's
something something we
understand that there is a lot
of traffic noise because of SR
14. There's nothing specific
that I know of that the
developer is going to do to
address noise, though at. I'm
sure it's going to be a factor
when they start to build homes
where they're going to make
sure that the windows are of
such a quality and the
insulation is of such a quality
that it doesn't pose an issue
to future residents. That I
think that addresses all the
issues that I that I heard, but
I'm here to answer any other
questions.
>> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Taylor.
I want to state for the record.
It looks like Miss Hupp put a
comment in the chat and I. I'm.
I regret not stating this at
the outset of the hearing. The
chat is not monitored by by me.
I did see it flash up there and
comments introduced into the
chat will not become part of
the record, so I just have to
let Miss Hupp know that. So I,
I did see that you had maybe
made a statement or asked
another question, but
unfortunately, it's it's past
that time to address that. So
thank you. Anyway, Mr. Taylor,
and also Miss Sanchez, I do not
have any additional questions.
And it appears that we are at
the conclusion of the public
hearing. So at this time, I
will go ahead and close the
public hearing and I will close
the record. No new exhibits
were introduced during the
hearing, and I have a date by
which my final order will be
issued on the application. And
that date is Tuesday, August
4th, 2026. And with that, we
will go ahead and close the
public hearing for this evening.
Thank you all for your
attendance and your
participation. Have a good
evening.