There we go. Good evening.
Welcome to Vancouver City
Council. Today is Monday. Okay,
let's try again. Okay. Good
evening. Welcome to Vancouver
City Council. Today is Monday,
June 1st, 2026. This afternoon
we had three workshops. The
first one was our Inspire
Vancouver program. Then we went
on to talk about the Clark
County Sustainable Funding Team
update, which talks about parks
in the city and in the county,
and then our transportation
improvement program that we
have been working on for a
number of years. Would you
please stand and join me in the
Pledge of Allegiance?
>> I pledge allegiance to the
flag of the United States of
America and to the Republic for
which it stands one nation
under God, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all.
>> Thank you, Miss OLR. Please
call the roll.
>> Council member Harless.
Present. Perez. Present. Fox.
Here. Paulson. Here. Stober.
Here. Hansen. Mayor. McEnerny
Ogle present.
>> Thank you very much. We have
four proclamations this evening.
>> I'm sorry.
>> I was going to do that
afterwards.
>> Yours doesn't have it.
>> No it doesn't. Let me go
ahead and do the proclamations
and then I will. Thank you.
Okay. Let's do Pride month.
Whereas June 2026 marks 57
years since the Stonewall
Uprising between June 28th,
1969 and July 3rd, 1969, which
sparked the development of the
gay rights movement throughout
the United States. Whereas, the
month of June is celebrated
throughout our nation as Pride
Month commemorating the
Stonewall Uprising and the
progress achieved by lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender,
queer and two spirit
communities, the City of
Vancouver has a thriving queer
community, sustaining and
sustained by so many inclusive
organizations, places of
worship, businesses,
neighborhoods, schools, events,
and more. And while there have
been remarkable progress toward
acceptance, equity, equality
and members of the queer
community across the nation and
within the city of Vancouver
still face discrimination and
violence. And whereas, the City
of Vancouver is dedicated to
preventing discrimination and
working to eliminate prejudice
wherever it exists, it is
imperative that all of our
community members feel valued,
safe, and included. And the
city celebrates Pride Month by
raising the pride flag to honor
the history and to support the
rights of all community members
to experience equality and
freedom from discrimination.
Now, therefore, I and McEnerny
Ogle, Mayor of Vancouver,
Washington, do hereby proclaim
the month of June as Pride
Month in the City of Vancouver,
and I urge all community
members to join us in
celebrating the members of our
two spirit LGBTQ community and
working to make our city
vibrant, safe, equitable, and
inclusive for all. And I'm
calling upon the people of
Vancouver to turn back
discrimination and prejudice
everywhere it exists. Tara and
Liz.
>> Shann. Just saying.
>> Thank you, Mayor and Council
for your leadership and your
support. My name is Liz Tez and
I am honored to accept this
Pride Month proclamation on
behalf of Queer Community
Network and the queer and trans
communities of Southwest
Washington. Representation
matters. It matters because
visibility matters. It matters
because when elected leaders
publicly recognize our
communities, they are sending a
message that queer and trans
people belong here. That our
lives, our families, our
contributions and our humanity
matter for generations. Two
spirit LGBTQ plus people have
faced exclusion, discrimination
and harm. Our elders fought
hard for the rights and
protections many of us benefit
benefit from today, but that
work is far from over. Right
now, we are witnessing attacks
on historically marginalized
communities at every level of
government. Queer and trans
people are being targeted, but
we are not alone. Immigrants,
people of color, women, people
with disabilities, religious
minorities, and other
marginalized communities are
also facing efforts to roll
back rights, erase histories,
and undermine their place in
public life. This is why
representation matters. When
one community is singled out,
all of us have a responsibility
to pay attention. When one
community's rights are
threatened, every community's
rights are at risk. Our
struggles are connected, and so
is our liberation. Tonight,
many of our friends, neighbors,
and allies are gathered,
gathered in battleground, where
local leadership has chosen a
different path. While we gather
here to celebrate inclusion,
they've refused the Pride Month
proclamation similar to this
one and a new and are
considering a new proclamation
that will further marginalize
other communities. To our
friends in North County, we see
you. We stand with you, and we
will keep fighting alongside
you because our community is
bigger than one city. Any one
council chamber, any one vote.
We are connected by our shared
humanity, our resilience, and
our commitment to showing up
for one another. As an educator,
I see every day how important
representation and belonging
are. I'm a proud Puerto Rican
non-binary person. I show up as
my authentic self because I
know there are students who
need to see that people like
them exist, belong, and can
thrive. I see young people
trying to figure out where
their place in this world is,
and I see firsthand that when
people feel seen, valued and
connected, lives change.
Support saves lives,
connections saves lives.
Community saves lives. So
tonight, let us celebrate. Let
us honor those who came before
us. And let us recommit
ourselves to the work ahead.
Stand in solidarity, speak up
for one another. Create spaces
where everyone belongs, and
remember that our greatest
strength has always been each
other. Thank you and happy
pride.
>> Okay, Kyle, please join us
for National Pollinator Week.
Whereas pollinators, including
more than 4000 species of
native bees in the United
States, are essential partners
in producing much of our food
supply, contributing to
approximately one third of the
food and beverages consumed.
Whereas pollinators also help
our environment by keeping
ecosystems in cities healthy
and diverse, improving our
quality of life and boosting
the local economy. Pollinator
populations are declining due
to habitat loss, pesticide use,
invasive species, and climate
change. Recent findings from
the Washington State Bee Atlas
identified nearly 30 new or
rare native bee species
statewide, including four in
Clark County, highlighting both
the urgency and opportunity for
local conservation action. And
the City of Vancouver manages
more than 1600 acres of parks,
natural areas and green spaces
that provide important habitat
for pollinators. The City of
Vancouver offers
recommendations to builders and
community members regarding
landscaping and caring for the
land. They encourage the use of
native plants in the protection
of habitats to help pollinators
and strengthen the ecosystem.
Now therefore, I Anne McEnerny
Ogle, Mayor of Vancouver,
Washington, do hereby proclaim
the week of June 22nd through
28 as National Pollinator Week
in the City of Vancouver. As a
Bee City, USA affiliate, we
urge community members to
recognize Pollinator Week and
invite all to learn from
educators and community based
organizations. At the third
Annual Pollinator Festival on
June 20th, 2026. Kyle.
>> Yeah.
>> Good evening, mayor and
council members. My name is
Kyle Roseland, and I'm the
founder of the Vancouver Bee
Project. On behalf of our
volunteers, partners, and
community members, I'd like to
thank you for recognizing
Pollinator Week in Vancouver
through this proclamation.
Pollinators are essential to
healthy ecosystems, local food
production, urban forests, and
the quality of life we enjoy
here in Vancouver. Washington
is home to more than 600 native
bee species, and thanks to the
work of the Washington Bee
Atlas, we now know that there
are approximately 110 native
bee species documented right
here in Clark County and in
Vancouver. Vancouver continues
to demonstrate leadership
through its Bee City, USA
designation. Support for
pollinator habitat projects,
urban forestry initiatives, the
Nature Spaces program, and
community partnerships that
help residents take action for
pollinators. This proclamation
helps raise awareness that
everyone may make a difference
by planting native flowers,
reducing pesticide use,
protecting nesting habitat, and
supporting healthy urban
ecosystems. I'd also like to
invite folks to our Pollinator
Festival that's happening
Saturday, June 20th from 9 a.m.
to 3 p.m. the festival is a
free, family friendly, friendly
event taking place at Marchel
Park, Vida Elementary, Clark
Public Utilities and the Arts
Hub. This year's festival will
feature vendors, educational
exhibits, art garden tours, a
bee walk, activities for
children, and a nationally
recognized keynote speaker,
Doug Tallamy. The festival
celebrates the partnerships
that make pollinator
conservation possible,
including that with the City of
Vancouver and its many
community organizations. And I
hope you'll join us by
celebrating Pollinator Week and
learning how small actions can
make a big difference in a
community like Vancouver. Thank
you.
>> Thank you. Kyle. Hayley.
>> Good evening. Good.
>> One more time.
>> Okay.
>> Until it turns.
>> Got it. Okay. Welcome to the
new chambers. All right. Good
evening, mayor, Council staff
and community. My name is
Hayley Heath. I work in the
Parks and Rec department and
manage our Nature Spaces
program. Thank you very much
for the continued support of
Vancouver's pollinator work
since becoming a Bee City, USA
community in 2025, we've
strengthened partnerships,
especially with the Vancouver
Bee Project, and we've expanded
habitat across the city. Thank
you very much, Kyle and
partners for for that support
and work through Nature Spaces,
a city program that brings
people together to restore and
enhance public spaces with
native plant habitat. More than
1000 volunteers have planted
over 8200 pollinator friendly
plants. This is just one
example of the broader work
across Vancouver to build
healthier, more resilient and
pollinator friendly landscapes
and ecosystems. Those recent
discoveries of rare and bee
species in Vancouver, they
really provide clear evidence
that local habitat restoration
is creating the right
conditions for native
pollinators to thrive. You've
been invited to the Pollinator
Festival on June 20th. I'd like
to also extend an invitation to
you to come out on June 13th.
Excuse me, the week, the
weekend before to watch a
documentary, The Little Things
That Run the World. It's a
documentary on the importance
of pollinators and how we can
support them. So that's another
way to learn more, to get
involved and continue the
momentum that we're creating
here. Thank you.
>> Hayley, where is the 13th?
>> Oh, at the Wasch Water
Center Water Resources
Education Center.
>> Thank you. Thank you so very
much. Thank you. Okay, let's
talk about the Great Outdoors
month with Josie and Misha.
Southwest Washington includes
nationally significant
landscapes such as the Gifford
Pinchot National Forest,
Columbia River Gorge, National
Scenic Area and Mount Saint
Helens National Volcanic
Monument. The City of Vancouver.
Stewart's more than 1600 acres
of parkland across 90 parks and
20 natural areas. The National
Get Outdoors Day is on the
second Saturday in June during
Great Outdoors Month. It
encourages everyone, especially
youth, to enjoy nature and the
health benefits of being active
outside and local. State and
federal partners will offer
free access and special invites
to everyone, especially
newcomers, to visit the public
lands and outdoor recreation is
a key economic driver in
Vancouver and southwest
Washington, supporting local
jobs and small businesses
across tourism, hospitality,
retail and recreation services,
strengthening the regional
economy and long term economic
vitality. And in June 2026,
during Great Outdoors Month,
community members are
encouraged to enjoy local
activities like hiking at
beacon Rock State Park, fishing
in the Lewis River, paddling on
Vancouver Lake Regional Park
and exploring City of
Vancouver's 20 mile trail
network. Now, therefore, I Anne
McEnerny Ogle, Mayor of
Vancouver, Washington, do
hereby proclaim the month of
June as Great Outdoors Month in
the City of Vancouver. Josie
and Misha.
>> Have Chipres.
>> Thank you. We are happy to
be here. On behalf of the Lower
Columbia Nature Network, a
coalition of partners ranging
from local governments to
community born non-profits, all
working together to make
getting outdoors accessible for
everyone. We are incredibly
fortunate to have a wealth of
natural spaces here in
southwest Washington. Of course,
there are the most famous and
iconic spaces national and
state parks, refuges, and other
public lands that we're so
proud to have close by, yet
equally breathtaking and
important and perhaps most
impactful to our day to day
lives, are the green spaces,
large and small, spread
throughout and stewarded by our
community and local, city,
county and port staff. Time in
nature isn't just a
recreational luxury, it's a
necessity that builds community,
supports physical and mental
health, and should be a daily
part of everyone's lives. So
for the entire month of June
and beyond, we invite you to
support your neighbors to find
accessible ways to get outside,
unplug and explore, whether
that be an hour's drive or a
few minutes journey from your
front door. There are many
spaces and events waiting to
connect us, and communities are
working hard to make nature
accessible to all. Whether the
barrier is transportation, an
entrance fee, finding a space
that works for your body, or
connecting with a group that
makes you feel safe. I promise
there is such a group and a
place, and if you can't find it,
reach out and we will help. And
lastly, please remember not
only to care for the land when
you visit, but also to care for
each other. We all connect to
nature in different ways and
have so much to learn from each
other. As we work together to
make our communities healthier.
So thank you to the entire
Vancouver City Council for your
continued support of policies
and green spaces that keep our
communities active and
connected, and for letting us
address you today.
>> Thank you Josie. Great job
again. Hello, mayor, Council
staff, community. Haley Heath.
I work in the Vancouver Parks
Recreation and Cultural
Services Department and
representing them today. I also
manage our community garden
program in addition to nature
spaces and volunteers who
support public public space
stewardship. So during the
Great Outdoors Month, we
celebrate how parks, recreation
and cultural services, together
with public, other public
agencies and community based
organizations, bring
Vancouver's values to life by
connecting people with nature
close to home through parks,
trails, natural areas, outdoor
recreation, and community
events, we create opportunities
for residents to enjoy the
outdoors every day. Access to
nature, we know improves
people's health. It strengthens
communities, and it supports a
more resilient city by making
the outdoors welcoming and
accessible, we advance
Vancouver's values of
livability, equity,
sustainability and community
connection. Thank you to the
Lower Columbia Nature Network,
to their partners, and to all
of you for being stewards to
our outdoor areas and making
them accessible for all in our
community. Go out and visit
some parks, please.
>> Thank you. Our last
proclamation this evening is
Moms Demand Action for National
Gun Violence Awareness Day. And
Alice and Duncan, are you with
us this evening? Thank you.
Allison, let me read a little
here. Whereas every day, nearly
130 people in the United States
are killed by gun violence, and
more than 200 are shot and
wounded, with an average of
more than 19,000 gun homicides
every year. Whereas cities
across the nation, including
Vancouver, are working to end
the senseless violence with
evidence based solutions and
mayors, council members and law
enforcement officers, in
partnership with local violence
intervention activists and
resources, know their
communities best. They're the
most familiar with local
criminal activity and how to
address it, and our best
position to understand how to
keep their communities safe.
Whereas, gun violence
prevention is more important
than ever as we see gun
violence continue to impact
communities across the country.
Whereas, by wearing orange on
June 5th, 2026, people across
the United States will raise
awareness about gun violence
and honor the lives of gun
violence victims and survivors.
Now, therefore, I Anne McEnerny
Ogle, Mayor of Vancouver,
Washington, do hereby proclaim
the first Friday in June, June
5th, 2026 as National Gun
Violence Awareness Day in the
City of Vancouver, and
encourage all community members
to support their local
community's efforts to prevent
the tragic impacts of gun
violence and to save lives.
Allison.
>> Hello. My name is Allison
Duncan and I'm a member of Moms
Demand Action. And on behalf of
Moms Demand Action, I would
like to thank mayor and the
Vancouver City Council members
to help for helping us
recognize National Gun Violence
Awareness Day. Friday, June 5th,
2026. National Gun Violence
Awareness Day is annually the
first Friday in June and marks
the beginning of Wear Orange
Weekend. Wear orange originated
in 2015 to mark what would have
been Hadiya Pendleton's 18th
birthday if she hadn't died
from gun violence in 2013, she
was shot and killed on a
playground in Chicago. Her
friends commemorated her life
by wearing orange, the color
hunters wear to protect
themselves and others. Every
day, around 130 Americans die
from gun violence. We do not
have to accept this tragically
high number, unique in many
ways to our nation through
education and evidence based
solutions. Public safety
policies can and have shown to
reduce gun violence and save
lives. I would encourage
everyone listening to Wear
Orange this coming weekend, and
think about what actions you
can take to help protect you,
your friends, and your family
from the scourge of gun
violence. Thank you again for
allowing us to be here today.
>> Thank you.
>> That concludes our
proclamations for this evening
brings us into community
communication. The cards that I
have are all for the public
hearing, so I will save those
for item number nine. Having no
other testimony, I'll close the
community communication on the
consent agenda. Bring it back
to the counselors. Counselors,
you have eight items. Are there
any items that you would like
pulled? Item number six. Any
others? I'll entertain a motion
to approve items one through
five, seven and eight.
>> Move to approve. Paulsen.
>> Paulsen. Seconded by.
>> Second by Perez.
>> Perez. Miss duller, do you
want number seven? Read. Do you
want number six? Read. Okay, we
have a motion and a second. All
those in favor, say aye.
>> Aye.
>> Opposed? Motion passes.
Councilor Fox, item number six.
>> All right. Item number six
is there's a few things
happening. One of them in
reading the staff report was
really to align the funding
schedules so that the the grant
contracts end in the same
period instead of being
staggered, which I totally
understand and support that
idea. What I was wondering
about, and maybe this is
definitely not a question to be
answered today, but maybe
something to think about is the
way that the description of
these two programs are
described just by numbers of
beds. And so it looks as if
when you're spending $300,000
to support an 18 bed program
and $300,000 to support a 44
bed program, you know, there
there seems to be a, you know,
I'd say an imbalance and
perhaps the outcomes without
more information as to why one
program is, you know, providing
us with 44 shelter beds and the
other one is only providing us.
18 and so I'm wondering if a
metric of beds doesn't
accurately reflect the services
that we're receiving as well.
So that's a question too, if
that makes sense. What is, I
guess, what is the difference
in the services perhaps that
are being provided?
>> Hi. Samantha Whitley,
housing programs Manager and
I'm here with Kimberly Curly,
who manages these contracts. So
both agencies requested way
more funding than we were able
to award them. And so this is
just a fraction of the cost
that go into each program. And
we'd be happy to provide the
numbers that they serve each
year.
>> So the staff report said
they were serving one women's
shelter, 18 beds. And YWCA was
serving 44 beds.
>> Correct. I thought you were
asking about the number of
people that they serve, but we
can provide that as well.
>> Oh, well, what I was asking
is the staff report only said
that that they were serving
that many beds. And it doesn't
say what other services might
be part of that contract,
because the cost per bed would
be quite a bit more for the
women's shelter than for the
YWCA. If we were only factoring
bed count. So I'm wondering if
there are other services that
the women's shelters providing
that maybe YWCA is not.
>> What I'm saying is that YWCA
receives a lot of other funding
to support the 44 beds, and the
$300,000 for each program
doesn't serve the full cost of
those programs. So I can report
back to you on what the actual
costs are for both of those
programs. But the 300,000 isn't
covering the costs for either
one.
>> Oh, okay. I'd appreciate
that. More information. Thank
you.
>> Thank you.
>> Any other questions or
comments on item six? Hearing
none, I'll entertain a motion.
>> I move to approve item six.
>> Seconded by Hanson. All
those in favor say aye.
>> Aye.
>> Opposed. Motion passes.
Thank you very much. That
concludes the consent agenda.
Brings us into the public
hearing. Item number nine.
>> Do you want to announce,
mayor?
>> I'm gonna go ahead and
recuse.
>> Thank you. Councilor Henson
recuses himself, and we'll step
out. This is an ordinance
adopting the our Vancouver 2026
2024 Comprehensive Plan, City
of Vancouver Zoning Map and
Vancouver Municipal Code title
20 land use and development
code. Updating and amending the
City of Vancouver 2026 2045
comp plan called our Vancouver.
Repealing and replacing the
City of Vancouver zoning map
and repealing and replacing
title 20 Land Use and
Development Code of Vancouver
Municipal Code, providing for
severability and an effective
date. Staff, please.
>> Good evening, Mayor and
Council. My name is Rebecca
Kennedy. I'm the deputy
community development director
for the city, and I'm joined by
Mark Pearson, who's a senior
planner in our department as
well in the development review
division. And we are part of
the team that led the
comprehensive plan map and code
update on behalf of the city.
And we're here to give you a
brief presentation tonight and
answer any questions you may
have. So comprehensive plans,
guide growth and development
within the city and other
cities who do them for 20 year
time horizons. This one goes
from 2026 through 2045. Our
last plan, as you know, was
updated in 2011. Much has
changed since then.
Demographically, economically,
in terms of the situation
related to housing. And so has
state law has changed
significantly. So we have
worked to address all that in
the comprehensive plan before
you tonight. It has ten
chapters plus an introduction
appendix and has targets for
what we think is most likely to
happen in terms of population
growth by 2045, which is 81,000
more people. That necessitates
38,000 new housing units to
address our existing deficit,
as well as future need, and
then 43,200 jobs to continue to
provide robust employment
opportunities for our community.
Here is the updated land use
map and zoning map that council
endorsed via resolution in
December of last year. This
maps our new zoning districts
across the city and our new
code that you're reviewing
tonight as well applies a fully
new development code to the
entirety of the city. It has
ten zoning districts. Those
districts have a minimum
density and a maximum height.
They also regulate form through
the allowance of different
building types. And there's
still a use table that says
what uses are allowed or not.
It has many detailed elements,
obviously, but some things that
are key regulations that people
have been very focused on
include buffers between zoning
districts, tree conservation,
and adding to and supporting
our tree canopy goals, making
sure that pedestrian
environment is good and that
building support a robust and
comfortable pedestrian
environment, providing some
allowances for density
exemptions in the low scale and
medium scale neighborhood. If
an existing single family house
is there today, removing all
parking minimums outside of a
very few specialized uses. And
then we've got a subset of
updated overlays that we've
applied across the city. So we
have been before you nearly 30
times throughout the last three
and a half years. We are
recommending that council
approve the ordinance, adopting
the our Vancouver 2026 through
2045 Comprehensive Plan, the
updated City of Vancouver
zoning map and updated
Vancouver Municipal Code title
20 Land Use and Development
code setting an effective date
of 60 days from today, which is
July 31st, 2026. I just want to
note that our work doesn't stop.
Comprehensive plans are
designed to adapt and be
flexible, as is the Growth
Management Act. We will
continue, as we always have, to
have an annual review program
where we can look at
comprehensive plan and zoning
changes annually. We anticipate
that we will not have gotten
everything right, and that the
next year or two will be busy
as we get feedback, as we
review that and update it and,
and refine and fix and learn
and adjust and adapt to new
things, we do anticipate. And
what we've experienced in the
past is that when you update
your plans and maps, change
occurs incrementally over time
as individual property owners
make decisions about what they
want to do with their property.
And again, we we can make
changes every year. So I also
just want to quickly thank
there was a many, many people
across the city worked on this
plan, but I do want to just
call out the project management
team internally, in addition to
Mark and myself. That included
our assistant city attorney,
Becky Rood. Sorry, Deputy City
Attorney Becky Rood, Kim
Chumakov, who's a real estate
project manager and economic
prosperity and housing
department Brian Snodgrass,
Dominique Martinelli and
Meredith Herbst from Community
Development. These are the
folks who met weekly for four
years working on all aspects of
this, and I just want to
express my appreciation for the
team and the can do attitude of
doing a big lift and taking it
one step at a time. So with
that, I'm happy to take
questions and discussion, and
that's the extent of our
presentation.
>> Thank you. Councilors, do
you have any questions of Miss
Kennedy right now? Okay. I'll
go ahead and open up the public
hearing. And we have five
different microphones there.
When you approach the
microphone, you'll notice that
there's a little rectangular
box in the center that you can
tap, and your green lights will
come on. Let's go ahead and
have Jason Cromer, Sharon
Peavey, I believe it's Kevin
Callison and Mary Kelts and
Nelson Holmberg. Come on up.
There's another microphone up
here. Thank you Jason. Go ahead.
>> Okay. Hi. My name is Jason
Cromer. I'm a homeowner here in
Vancouver. Yeah, it's been a
long time coming. And I just
wanted to say, well, first off,
I hope you accept the
comprehensive plan as is and
how it's presented to you and
has been. And just a huge thank
you to Rebecca Kennedy and her
team. It's an enormous project,
you know, that spanned, like
she's mentioned over four years
and probably longer than that.
And it's not just a project
that sounds or feels good. It's
a project that looks at in
detail and objectively what
problems we have today with
with city planning and how to
address those, and not just
looking at a micro level, but
also a macro level, taking in
real world examples from our
state, country and abroad as
well to figure out what we need
to do to address the issues we
see today. When I look at the
plan, it solves so many issues.
I would say the overwhelming
majority of the things that
people talk about or discuss,
and some maybe even
counterintuitively. So things
like homelessness through
building housing, solving
traffic issues by increasing
density, increasing pedestrian
bicycling and transit access,
reducing our debt, reducing
taxes in the long term by
building fewer and wider roads.
These are things that have
incremental and negative
feedback loops in the long run,
the list goes on. This is a
plan that's comprehensive, like
the name states. In addressing
many of the issues we see today.
I just got back from a trip
from Belgium, the Netherlands,
which I guess you could regard
as the peak implementation of
urban planning. And I was in a
town called Leuven in Belgium,
population about 100,000 people.
But they have implemented what
I see in the comprehensive plan.
So a good density infill.
They've gotten rid of car
access throughout the city. And
what you get is more small
businesses. So more economic
value per square foot or per
acre. You have a community
that's safe, that's quiet,
that's active. I've never seen
so many small businesses and so
much liveliness in an area
before. And if you come back
here, it's sort of like a ghost
town and you wonder why. It's
because we have parking lots
everywhere, wide roads and
everybody's far apart. This
this solves this in the long
term, not something we see in a
few years. But in the long term,
by increasing density, taking
advantage of infill and giving
people more of a community
access, things to walk to,
things to bike, to also things
to drive to, but just a
plethora of choices. And
ultimately that's what I see in
the comprehensive plan. So
choices for everybody, solving
real issues and, and really
making community for everybody
here. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Sharon.
>> Yes, my name is Sharon
Peavey. And I just found out
about the details of this
coming here today. So this is
the testimony I prepared. I'm
director with a statewide
association of Lemafa
Manufactured Home Communities.
Our purpose is to promote,
represent, preserve and enhance
the rights and interests of
manufactured home owners in the
state of Washington through
communication, education,
negotiation, and preservation
of our communities, we aim to
educate legislators about
affordable housing and promote
sensible property policies for
manufactured home owners.
Recently, I was a part of a
coalition of homeowners and
others who fought for the
passage of HB 1217, one of the
strongest rent stabilization
statutes in the country. We
desperately needed to pass this
bill a roundtable meeting in
Olympia with interested
policymakers, representatives
from manufactured home
communities discussed rent
increases from around our state.
When a 85 year old lady
tearfully described her $1,000
month monthly rent increases
and how she was preparing for
the streets. We were all in
tears. My space rent alone has
gone from 525 to $1417 monthly
in about seven years, with no
amenities. Now we are most
interested in overlay zoning,
knowing that if we were
repurposed, we would lose our
homes. Our homes cannot be
moved, so we would lose our
investment. Most of our
communities house older people
who need stability, not the
fear of being replaced. Our
city has the power to grant
overlay zoning and preserve
options for home ownership.
These special owners have faced
so many obstacles for peaceful
living, which I do not have
time to address. Tenants asked
if they had the chance to live
in a manufactured home
community again, all answered,
no, not the way things are now
with monopoly takeover of our
housing. My experience, I hate
to say this with the city was
being ignored when our petition
wanted safe and easy access
into our community at Cascade
Park on First Street. We know
how now have one way in and one
way out for 200 people or more.
More details to follow on that.
Hopefully I. I do hope in
future planning that more
consideration for our
communities is planned. As
funding opens up, we hope to
utilize the bill we fought so
hard to pass the opportunity to
purchase and run as a type of
co-op and own our own land.
That was the dream we had hoped
for. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you. Kevin. Mayor.
Councilor.
>> Just before she leaves, I'm
not sure if you're aware that
part of this comp plan update
includes a manufactured housing
zone. And so I encourage you to
take a look at those provisions.
Yeah.
>> Skimmed over real quick all
the way down here. Oh, okay.
>> I didn't want you to leave
not knowing that that was a new
zone that we're putting in
place. All right.
>> Kevin.
>> Thank you. My name is Kevin
Callahan. I have the pleasure
of serving on the Advisory
council for the Area
Association on Aging. And of
course, looking at taking care
of the needs of senior citizens.
Housing is a very important
component of that. The council
may not be aware, but you have
16 manufactured home parks in
your community with over 1000
housing units even under your
new manufactured housing zone,
a property owner can come in
and request a change of use on
that zone. And we'll have to be
justifying the change. But I
want you to understand how
critical it is to preserve the
existing affordable housing
that those housing units
provide. We refer to them as
manufactured housing units, not
mobile homes. Because these
structures are not mobile,
they're not going to be moved.
And if a park is going to be
closed, the property owner only
has to offer the tenant half of
the assessed value of the
structure. So if your home is
worth $200,000 on the market
and it's worth, say, $100,000
as the structure itself, they
can offer you $50,000 and
you're out the door. It's
critical that these housing
units be preserved. They are
irreplaceable. And it's very
important that the city treats
them as you would, as if it
were publicly funded affordable
housing, because that's what it
is. It's it's affordable, but
it's being made affordable by
the fact that the homeowners
themselves purchased the homes.
So they are the partners. They
need the help of the city in
order to maintain their, their
safety and their viability. We
think that the current
provisions in the ordinance,
which require the property
owner to justify why it is that
it's no longer viable, may be
appropriate or not. It will
depend on how it's interpreted
and how the arguments are made.
And we will certainly be
present to to try to defend the
rights of property or the
tenants when those questions
come up. But I think it's
important to recognize the fact
that that those housing units
have been provided by the the
property owners themselves, and
they are being threatened by
the likelihood that they could
be reused for another purpose.
So we would urge you in
adopting the ordinance, which
we support, to be very vigilant
in making sure that when a
property owner comes in and
wants to change the designation,
that they can fully justify
that, and that perhaps they can
be negotiated additional
benefits to the tenants so that
they are not left high and dry.
If that's the case. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Mary.
>> Good evening, Madam Mayor,
city councilors, staff and
citizens. My name is Mary Keltz.
I'm a longtime resident of the
City of Vancouver, and I thank
you for the opportunity to
comment on the proposed
Comprehensive Plan update. In
an effort to be concise, I put
this on paper as follows. If
implemented as drafted, the
plan would allow many more
homes than are needed to meet
the city's goals. The city's
own established goals. That
fact is reflected in the final
environmental impact statement.
As a result, Clark County is
taking less responsibility for
new homes and planning for less
density in neighborhoods next
to the city. To be specific,
the county is preparing to
delete 8000 housing units from
the plan update covering
Vancouver's urban growth area.
The city plan is filled with
words about equity and positive
community experience. However,
it calls for greater inequities
in who will bear the impacts
and expenses from increasing
population. It puts too much
pressure on existing city
neighborhoods, demand and
prices for homes are likely to
increase as people search for
more relaxed environments. In
places where Vancouver is
expected to grow, important
opportunities for planning may
slip away quickly. We are
seeing examples of that today
with Oregonians moving to Clark
County to escape some aspects
of Portland. If we are serious
about planning for the next 20
years, we must have an
equitable and effective plan
for increasing the supply and
variety of housing throughout
our urban area while containing
the cost when possible. It now
appears we are failing to give
adequate attention to the urban
growth area and thereby prevent
undue strain on the city. I've
spent many hours and
considerable effort to
understand the plan and its
implications on the ground, so
I hope you will take my
comments very seriously and
find an appropriate way to
modify the situation when
possible.
>> Thank you. Nelson.
>> Good evening, mayor, Council
members and staff. My name is
Nelson Holmberg, a native and
lifelong resident of Vancouver.
I'm here tonight representing
the nearly 800 members of the
Building Industry Association
of Clark County. I'd like to
quickly acknowledge our
Government Affairs Committee
chair, Eric Gallimore, for his
assistance in preparing this
testimony. We want to express
our sincere appreciation for
the tremendous, tremendous
amount of collaborative work
that has occurred over the past
several years to bring us to
this point, staff, council
stakeholders from across the
community have invested
countless hours into developing
the comprehensive plan and the
associated code updates before
you tonight. While we have not
agreed on everything along the
way, we greatly appreciate the
outreach, communication, and
willingness to engage in
meaningful dialog throughout
this process. The BIA supports
the proposed Vancouver
Municipal Code Title 20 updates
and recognizes the importance
of increasing housing
opportunities and addressing
affordability challenges in our
community. We also commend
staff for their innovative
approach in responding to
council's direction and
advancing policies intended to
encourage greater housing
density. With any innovative
effort, there will likely be
unintended consequences and we
accept and expect that. Our
hope is that council and staff
will continue to see us as a
partner through issues, through
issues proactively as they
become known, rather than
waiting until challenges become
difficult and stressful to work
through on tight deadlines that
can be expensive. As council
moves forward, we ask for a
continued commitment to the to
the collaborative approach that
has brought us this far in our
common interest of producing
housing that's affordable,
available and accessible for
our community. We would like
the assurance that staff and
council will continue
monitoring how these
regulations perform in the real
world, and remain willing to
adjust, if needed. If
unintended consequences emerge.
Several provisions warrant
close attention, including the
minimum density requirements
for the RM and RA zones, which
may be difficult to achieve on
many sites. We also believe
additional flexibility is
needed in lot and dimensional
standards, particularly for
smaller parcels where geometric
and economic constraints can
make development challenging.
Equally important, supporting
infrastructure, road and
utility standards must be
aligned with the new code to
ensure that projects can move
forward. Ultimately, success
should not be measured by the
density allowed on paper, but
by the number of homes that are
actually built and occupied by
Vancouver residents. We remain
supportive of the proposed code,
and we look forward to
continuing our partnership with
the City of Vancouver in the
months ahead to ensure these
policies achieve their intended
goals of increasing housing
supply, affordability and
choice. Thank you for your time.
>> Thank you very much. All
right. Let's have Tom
Knappenberger, Jim Williamson,
Claudette Derricotte, Josh
Harmon and Paul Burgess, please.
Tom. Go ahead.
>> Thank you. My name is Tom
Knappenberger. I'm a Northwest
Vancouver resident of 26 years,
former president of the
Northwest Neighborhood
Association. There are many
things I could say about this
proposed update to the city's
comprehensive plan. I've been
following it intensely for six
months, attended meetings,
given testimony to the City
Planning Commission, written
letters to the editor, and
spearheaded a special briefing
for the Northwest Neighborhood
Association. Like peeling an
onion, I've learned of the many
complex layers of this plan
throughout. My guiding light
has been this. People need to
know what this is, what this is
about, and weigh in. It's too
important. This comprehensive
plan update is nothing less
than a complete and total
redesign of the City of
Vancouver. It will change
everything forever, period.
Stop. Every home in our city
will be affected sooner or
later. But do people understand?
Yes, I know 2000 contacts made
hundreds of inputs, dozens of
briefings. But how many of
those came after the plan's
details were revealed on
February 19th? Most of those
touted comments were
aspirational. Would you like to
live in a safe city? Would you
like to have a park nearby?
Would you like to walk to
coffee shops while Rebecca and
her crew, excuse me, have done
their best? This seminal fact
remains very few in our city of
200,000 are aware of this city
redesign. If you went down to
the farmers market and asked
100 people, only a handful
would know of the plan. If you
asked that handful what it
means for their neighborhood,
you'd be lucky to get six. So
I'm pleading with you, as I did
with the Planning Commission,
as the Northwest Neighborhood
Association is asking, take
more time so more people have a
chance to learn and comment. To
help with that, consider a
summit of neighborhood leaders.
Very few of the city's
neighborhood associations have
weighed in. That should alarm
you. Hold a public meeting and
bill it plainly as a chance to
learn and comment on the
rezoning of every home in
Vancouver. This is way too
important not to engage our
city further in the interest of
all of us, our
>> Our children and
grandchildren take the time to
do this right.
>> Jim.
>> I second that wholeheartedly.
I can't believe that Rebecca
said there had been. I've been
to quite a few city council
meetings, and I didn't know
they'd been up in front 30
times. Uhl the awareness of the
comprehensive plan is nil in my
neighborhood. I pedaled around
for 20 minutes and asked seven
people if they'd heard about it.
None of them had. They all said
they'd look it up. Looking it
up is not an easy is not an
easy thing to do. You look at
the brochure that's downstairs
with the receptionist. It's
that thick and a lot of it is
puff and. It's kind of window
dressing. It's very nicely done.
And I respect the efforts of
the city planners to try and
make a better, more livable
city. But the citizens, the
homeowners, the residents, the
renters have absolutely no idea
of what's coming down the road.
And as a guy who lives across
the street from a new private
equity rental house that used
to be a family home, the four
new cars on the street and the
plug driveway, it's it's not
the same neighborhood. I
recognize that I'm just a Nimby,
but why don't you wait for us
to die and then change the
social fabric of the. That's
all I got.
>> Claudette.
>> Thank you for letting me
speak. I this is going to be
much off the cuff, but I agree
with these two gentlemen, and
this is my first time at a
Vancouver City Council meeting.
I am my name is Claudette
Darracott. I and my husband,
who is a Vietnam veteran, Bobby
Darracott live at Cascade Park
Estates, which is a
manufactured home park in
unincorporated Clark County. So
we have my colleague who just
came up, Sharon Peavey, and
also a resident of our park. We
have been working with the
Clark County Council to save
our manufactured home parks.
And the reason that I'm here to
try to say something is because
they have informed us that at
some point we will be annexed
into the city of Vancouver. So
what my concern is, is when,
like Sharon said, we came
together tonight and we were
trying to figure out what this
ordinance was. And I agree, I
think you need to take more
time. And we want to know that
we are going to preserve the
houses and the manufactured
home parks that we have. That
is what the Clark County
Council is trying to do. But
the concern that I have is that
if you annex us, all of the
parks, we've got about 35 or 36
in unincorporated Clark County.
And then we have about what is
that, 2000 units with many more
people. We can easily lose our
homes. And so I would the Clark
County Council is about to
implement and start working on
their 20 year plan. And as far
as we know, we are still
protected to be and maintain
our manufactured home parks.
Some of them, you know, they're
they're going to make changes
and they're going to have some
interesting things to help the
people that are in parks that
are like super rundown, like
the one on 99, that's the
evergreen habitat for humanity
is going to try to make homes.
But we, we need we're just
we're elderly people. We live
in a 55 and older community.
And we need to preserve our
homes. And so I'm not sure. I
don't know a lot about the plan,
but I think that these
gentlemen are right. It could
change everything. And you need
to take more, plan more time,
and ask for more information
and input from the community.
God bless America. Thank you.
>> Josh. Well, thank you.
Please. Josh.
>> Good evening, Mayor and
Council. My name is Josh Harmon.
I'm resident of Vancouver, also
a lifelong resident of Clark
County. For context, I urge you
to pass the plan tonight as is
recognizing that most of the
changes it makes fix
significant problems that have
existed in our community for a
long time that have made it
environmentally unsustainable
and increasingly unaffordable
to people living in the
community. I know there's
there's a mention of how when
communities change, it can make
it unlivable for existing
residents, but also communities
can become unlivable also. And
they don't change at all when
they don't adapt to the needs
of their community. Where I
grew up in Salmon Creek, there
was no way I could grow up
there today because my parents
never made enough money to live
in that place, and that's
something that's close to my
heart now. That's Clark County.
But Vancouver has largely the
same problems for a long time.
Overly abundant parking has
caused us to build things where
three quarters of a site is
parking and not some actual use,
whether it be commercial,
whether it be residential, and
it's made him it's made it
difficult to walk places, it's
made environmentally
unsustainable, and it's created
this housing crisis that we
have now, which then feeds
homelessness, which then feeds
all kinds of other problems
that are very expensive and
detrimental to our community. I
also wanted to make sure to
thank Rebecca and the other
community planning staff for
their work. Throughout this
process, I've attended multiple
of the workshops and
appreciated learning about the
plan and being able to give
input, and I found them very
professional and also very.
Very professional and patient.
Even when they were fielding
questions from people who were
very passionately opposed to
the changes in this plan, or
for what they wanted their
community to look like going
forward. I also urge it to be
approved tonight, recognizing
that it's important, given
Washington state law, that we
adopt a new comprehensive plan.
Now, we're already about six
months overdue from the
original deadline, as I
understand. And the only reason,
as I understand, we have not
faced penalties for this, is
because the State Department
that oversees comprehensive
planning recognizes that our
staff are making a good faith
effort to comply with state law
changes that have happened over
several years, and that we're
not playing games with actually
working toward those goals.
Thank you.
>> Thank you Paul.
>> Good evening, mayor, Council
members and staff. My name is
Paul Burgess. I'm the executive
director of Fourth Plane
Forward, and I'm here to
support the adoption of the
Draft Comprehensive Plan. And
we see it as an equitable plan,
one that's one that's built to
keep the city accountable to
the whole community. The plan
identifies several areas of
highest need fourth plane,
Fruit Valley and areas of East
205 amongst them and commits to
prioritizing investment to them
first. For many years,
nonprofit organizations have
worked in these communities,
and it's critical that the city
prioritizes investment behind
the work they've been doing. I
want to highlight four specific
areas that really stand out as
both well designed and much
needed. On displacement. The
plan prioritizes
anti-displacement strategies in
the areas most vulnerable to
market pressure ahead of market
investment. It backs that with
tenants, tenant protections,
emergency rental assistance,
relocation assistance, right of
first refusal, and community
ownership models that help
residents stay in their homes.
With 53% of Vancouver renters
cost burdened, those
protections are needed on
housing. The plan allows middle
housing, duplexes, triplexes
cottage clusters across all low
and medium scale residential
neighborhoods that distributes
growth across the whole city,
rather than concentrating it in
the corridors that have always
absorbed it in the past. That's
an equitable approach, and it's
the right one on climate. The
plan directly invests, directs
early investment in tree canopy
and green stormwater
infrastructure into the areas
identified as highest risk.
Again, the fourth plane
corridor, Fruit Valley and East
Vancouver. These are the same
areas with the lowest tree
canopy so much as 9% against a
28% citywide target. These
neighborhoods also carried the
greatest health disparities
direct investment here,
directing investment here.
First is the right call. And on
economic opportunity. Goal four
directs place based investments
to neighborhood business
districts like the fourth plane
corridor, supporting the small
businesses that anchor those
communities and keeping wealth
circulating locally. That work
is needed, and it aligns with
what we see on the ground every
day. These are sound, equitable
commitments. The plan is robust,
well considered and has been
created with a broad and
effective community engagement
process. Fourth Plane Forward
encourages the council to adopt
this plan. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Let's have a
Chatham Olive. Ben McCarty,
Shabana McEwen, Don Sankey and
Patrick. And while they're
coming up, Miss Duller, do you
have our two remote individuals?
Okay, let's go ahead and have
Deb Swoop Swope. Okay.
>> Okay. I've just given Deb.
There we go.
>> Good evening. Debs here. Hi.
My name is Deb Swope. Rhymes
with hope, but we get a lot of
swoop. I am chair of the Vista
Del Rio Community Club, which
is the resident organization of
the Vista del Rio manufactured
home Park south of 34th and
north of 14, right off of 162nd
or near 162nd. We have 213
houses and about 315 people. So,
per Kevin Callahan's comment,
if there's roughly 1000 units
in the city of Vancouver, where
we're at about 20 plus percent
of of those houses at 213 homes,
we are a 55 plus. I cannot
impress upon Rebecca everyone
who helped how how very excited
and how much we support. I
support this zoning change. We
will, for the first time have a
manufactured home district that
is zoned. Yes, as Kevin pointed
out, would it be possible for
someone to petition you to
change our use? Yes, but my
sense is, with this plan in
place, that is going to be much
more difficult than it was.
Than it is right this minute.
At least. That's my prayer.
Many, many of our residents
here, of our 350 are not only
over 55. The many, many of them
are over 80. This is almost a
40 year old park, and it is
pristine. It is well maintained.
I encourage any of you to come
and drive through here. We
would love for you to see this
beautiful place we live. And if
you have any other questions
for me, I am always available.
But just have. Just know that
you have my absolute from my
toes. Appreciation for the
manufactured home zone and in
fact, the entire approach of
this new zoning plan. And I
just thank you for your time,
your diligence, your listening
ear that is not found in all
political bodies from, as we
all know, sadly, and I, I get I
continue to get the sense that
Vancouver and the and the
subcommittees and all the
different departments genuinely
care about their residents and
this city. And I cannot thank
all of you enough. And with
that, I will sign off.
>> Thank you. Catherine.
Catherine. Kitdee.
>> Okay. Catherine now has
permission to unmute and show
our video. Catherine, are you
there and able to unmute? It
shows her online, but she's not
able or she's not unmuting. So
I'm not sure if she's having
issues on her end. If you want
to.
>> We'll move on and come back
to her. Please, please.
>> Good evening, mayor and
members of Council. I'm Chatham
Olive Cochairman of the South
Cliff Neighborhood Association
here tonight to express our
neighborhoods profound
disappointment that council is
now on the cusp of considering
the adoption of zoning zoning
changes designed to eliminate
single family lots in the city
of Vancouver and specifically
the South Cliff neighborhood.
Should these changes be adopted,
we intend to communicate to the
members of both the Clark
County Association of Realtors
and the Building Industry
Association of Clark County.
The following quote. This
notice is to inform your
members that all. Lots in
historic Vancouver neighborhood
of South Cliff. Established in
1954, are and shall remain
single family lots as intended
and mandated by the CC and Rs.
Originally written by the
developer, the Housing
Authority of Vancouver and
recorded in the Clark County
Auditor records. The South
Cliff Neighborhood Association
has been advised by legal
counsel that in spite of the
fact that the City of Vancouver
is now adopting a rezoning map,
newly designated some 50 lots
in South Cliff as, quote,
medium scale, unquote. That new
designation does not override
any portion of the original CC
and S which state that, quote,
no building shall be erected,
altered, placed, or permitted
to remain on any lot other than
one detached, single family
dwelling not to exceed two
stories in height from the
street level unquote. Legal
counsel has also advised that
Washington's Growth Management
Act does not apply to
subdivisions whose covenants
containing such limitations
were in place prior to July 1st,
2023. This has been upheld by
the Washington Supreme Court.
That case involved resolution
of an inconsistency between a
neighborhood covenant providing
for single family lots only
versus a requested rezone for
more density. In this
Washington Supreme Court case,
the Single family covenant was
upheld. Please be advised that
the South Cliff Neighborhood
Association stands by and will
defend its CC and ours, which
limit development on any lot to
one single family structure,
according to the Washington
Supreme Court, this covenant is
a contract enforceable under
Washington law. Sincerely. The
South Cliff Neighborhood
Association. Thank you very
much.
>> Ben McCarty.
>> Good evening.
>> Good evening. My name is Ben
McCarty. I'm the president of
the Northwest Neighborhood
Association. I live at 906
North West 51st Street in
Vancouver. I'm here once again
to advocate on behalf of my
neighbors. We recognize that
every neighborhood in Vancouver
has a role to play in helping
the city to meet its current
housing challenges. More
housing is needed, more housing
types are needed, more density
is needed, and many areas of
the city, including my
neighborhood, welcome many of
these changes. However, those
changes do not need to come
with the downsized downsides
caused by the overuse of medium
scale zoning. The city has many
paths to meeting its housing
targets, including several that
have been presented to council
as part of this comprehensive
plan update process. If you
choose to approve this plan as
currently presented, you'll be
choosing a path that puts the
interests of wealthy developers
and private investment firms
over those of minorities,
wildlife, middle class
homeowners, potential first
time home buyers, and senior
citizens. It is a path which
places significant strain on
infrastructure, economic
pressure on existing homeowners
and will force potential first
time home buyers to compete
against mega developers and
investment firms for the right
to purchase homes. I'm thankful
that many of you on this
council and members of staff
appear receptive to these
concerns and acknowledge that
this plan is far from perfect
and want to see its impact
monitored and changes made if
needed. The city believes that
infill will be incremental and
that there will be limited
negative impacts. However,
there's no plan here to ensure
that outcome. Only a hope and
hope is not a strategy. There
are no avenues for appeal for
maximum infill development
authorized by this plan.
Landowners can buy right simply
begin construction on maximum
infill following a meeting or
two with the planning
department. Meanwhile, my
neighborhood and many others
must simply hope that 75 foot
tall walls of metal, wood and
glass will not overwhelm
transportation infrastructure,
limit access to critical green
spaces, or have unforeseen
adverse environmental impacts.
We should always hope for the
best case scenario, but plan
for the worst. But there is no
plan here for a worst case
scenario of large swaths of
land being locked away by by
the wealthy from potential home
buyers, or for maximum infill
development, overwhelming local
infrastructure and causing
significant negative impacts on
transportation or critical
services. There is simply hope
that any changes to the plan
can be made in time to avoid
negative impacts that they
would otherwise be unable to
stop. The city believes that
hopes and wishes for
incremental impact and infill
will be enough to avoid the
negative consequences of this
plan, with no other options
left. I can only hope that
you're right. Thank you for
your time and your
consideration.
>> Thank you. Siobhan McEwen.
No.
>> Good evening, Mayor and City
Council members. My name is
Siobhan McEwen, and I'm the
executive director of the
Southwest Washington Equity
Coalition. Thank you for the
opportunity to address you
tonight. Sek has been proud to
work alongside city staff for
the last two and a half years
to help shape this
comprehensive plan. City staff
did a phenomenal job gathering
community input, and community
members showed up, shared their
experiences, and demanded that
this plan reflect the full
Vancouver. I'm especially proud
of the collaborative work that
city staff and several other
organizations led by and for
communities of color, did to
ensure that inputs from
residents of color was
intentionally adopted into this
plan. As you all know, our city
has grown 39% since the year
2000, and by 2045, we'll need
38,000 more homes and over
43,000 new jobs. This plan sets
our city up to meet that growth
in an equitable, intentional,
and sustainable way, ensuring
that Vancouver remains a safe
and welcoming place for
everyone. This plan is
transparent about the housing
crisis we face. Rents have
risen over 9,090% since 2012.
Vancouver's rents now exceed
Portland's, and more than half
of renters are cost burdened.
The plan responds with policies
for more middle housing
anti-displacement strategies in
the most vulnerable communities,
and expanded pathways to home
ownership, including community
land trusts and shared equity
models, which can begin to
repair the legacy of racial
covenants that locked
generations of families of
color out of wealth building. I
believe this may be one of the
most progressive plans in the
state for facilitating
affordable housing for all.
From 2010 to 2020, the number
of people of color in Vancouver
grew by 64%, and today, Black
and Hispanic households face
housing cost burden rates at 52
and 45%, respectively. This
plan names those numbers and
commits to targeting targeted
investment in workforce
development, small business
support and neighborhood
business districts like the
fourth plan corridor, all in
alignment with decisions you
all have already made, like
recently, investing funds to
support small businesses
impacted by Ice presence in the
corridor. Finally, as climate
change, climate mitigation and
disaster gentrification become
ever more pressing realities in
the Pacific Northwest, this
plan directs climate investment
into the neighborhoods with the
greatest health disparities and
lowest incomes, which also face
the highest combined climate
risk. That is what equity looks
like in practice. As some of
you look forward to your look
toward your last few months on
City Council, I hope you take
some time to reflect on just
how much you've pushed the
issue of equity and racial
justice in our city. This plan
is yet another step in the long
path you've walked over the
last several years. I urge you
to adopt the Vancouver
Comprehensive Plan. It is a
project, a product of real
community engagement,
particularly from those who
have too often been left out of
these decisions. This plan is a
promise, and as some of you
move on to, other elected seats,
will be here to help make sure
that it is kept. Thank you Don.
>> Good evening, mayor, Council
and staff and members of the
public. My name is Don Steinke.
I live near the Vancouver City
boundary in East Clark County.
I'm speaking mainly about
chapter six, the climate
chapter of the Growth
Management Comp Plan in 2019.
Catherine Chudi, Elena Steinke
and I met with five City
Council members to advocate for
climate, climate action, and
I'm here just to support to
continually support your work
in that direction. And kudos to
your staff. I support the plan
they produced. I'd like to
comment on three parts of the
plan. State law requires us to
add 38,000 new homes within the
existing city limits in the
next 20 years. How are we going
to do that? The law also
requires that we avoid sprawl
as much as possible, and to
provide housing for all income
levels. That means build up not
out everywhere possible, or
tiny homes. State law also
requires us to reduce vehicle
miles traveled per capita.
Increased density will enable
people to live closer to where
they work and shop. In chapter
six, you encourage renewable
energy and batteries. I support
that. In particular, I support
mid-sized grid enhancing
batteries the size of shipping
containers. Their cost has
plummeted in the last three
years. They can be distributed
in neighborhoods on top of
commercial buildings and in
church parking lots. Wherever
the grid is constrained. Last
year, 99% of the new energy
added to the grid globally came
from wind and solar. Combined
with batteries. This is not
because people were concerned
about climate change, it's
because it was the most cost
effective way to provide what
they needed. That works
everywhere except west of the
Cascades. It takes a little
longer here, so thank you.
That's all for now.
>> Thank you Patrick.
>> Good evening, Mayor and
council members. Thank you for
the opportunity to speak to you
today. My name is Patrick
Elolaimi. I am the chair of the
Planning Commission for the
City of Vancouver. The Planning
Commission voted to send both
the Vice Chair and myself to
speak with you regarding the
comprehensive plan and our
recommendation. The Vice Chair
spoke with you on May 11th, and
I'm here today. I want to speak
to what the Comprehensive Plan
process represents. This plan
did not arrive before you
quickly or quietly. It has been
years in the making with
Planning Commission and City
council sessions, workshops,
community forums, open houses.
Throughout. More than 2000
individuals provided feedback
along the way. In the city of
our size, the level of
participation is significant,
and I know because I've seen a
lot of the participation we get
at the Planning Commission,
which does not reach that level.
It reflects a genuine effort by
staff, the Planning Commission
and the council to hear from
the people who live and work
here. I raised that because I
know that some feel the process
moved too fast, or that their
concerns weren't fully heard,
and we should take that
seriously. But we should also
be honest about what went into
this work. This was not a plan
written in a back room. It was
shaped by thousands of voices
over multiple years. The plan
was revised at multiple points
in response to feedback from
the Commission, from this
council and from the public. On
April 28th, the Planning
Commission voted unanimously to
recommend adoption. I also want
to make sure everyone in this
room understands something
about how comprehensive plans
work in practice. This is not a
final product. This is not a
final vision for how the city
will look. The Planning
Commission reviews amendments
to the Comprehensive Plan
Development Code every year.
The plan that you adopt tonight,
we hope you adopt tonight sets
the direction, but it will
continue to evolve as our
community changes, as market
conditions shift and as we
learn what is working and what
needs adjustment, that is not a
weakness of the plan. That is
how good planning works. You
set a strong foundation and you
stay engaged. The Planning
Commission makes that
commitment to stay engaged with
the many sections of its
purview, as I'm sure the
council does as well. I want to
thank city staff, particularly
in the Community Development
Department, for their
dedication throughout this
process. I want to thank my
fellow planning commissioners
for their time, their rigor and
their willingness to disagree
constructively when the work
called for it, the Vancouver
Planning Commission unanimously
recommends adoption of the
Comprehensive Plan. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Do we have
Catherine Shadley online?
>> I've given her the
permission. Oh, I think she is.
>> Good evening. Can you hear
me?
>> Yes we can. Thank you.
>> Okay. Good evening, dear
mayor, Council member, staff
and members of the public. My
name is Catherine Chudi. I'm a
longtime resident of Vancouver,
Washington, and I'm here
representing the Alliance for
Community Engagement of
Southwest Washington. Thank you
for your diligent work on the
City of Vancouver's
Comprehensive Plan and for your
community outreach during this
extensive, complicated process.
Our Alliance for Community
Engagement, Southwest
Washington appreciates this
opportunity to offer our
support. Ace supports the
city's comprehensive plan.
Vancouver's population has
boomed, growing by 39% since
2000 and adding 56,000 new
residents. Vancouver's
projected to need 38,000 more
homes and 42,200 new jobs by
2045. As our city continues to
grow, we need thoughtful urban
planning that absorbs future
growth and density equitably
throughout the city. We
appreciate that the Climate and
Environment chapter of this
comprehensive plan continues to
strive towards Vancouver's
ambitious climate goals of city
wide greenhouse gas emissions
reductions of 80% by 2030 and
carbon neutrality by 2040. We
applaud specific actions that
will contribute to this vision,
like the city's green building
policies, the city's Safe
Streets initiative and the goal
of 27% tree Canopy. We
understand that this plan will
prepare the city for more
extreme heat days. Wildfire,
smoke, flooding, drought and
severe winter storms prioritize
climate investments in
neighborhoods with the greatest
exposure and lowest adaptive
capacity. Advanced tree canopy,
green infrastructure, habitat
restoration and protection of
natural systems support compact,
transit oriented growth to
reduce vehicle miles traveled
and greenhouse gas emissions
more than move Vancouver toward
carbon neutrality through
cleaner buildings, low carbon
transportation, renewable
energy, waste reduction, and
sustainable development. And
finally, address environmental
health disparities tied to air,
water, heat, noise and
pollution exposure, allowing
duplexes, triplexes and other
forms of middle housing
throughout the city is also
important. Vancouver needs a
wider variety of housing
options so that all residents
can afford to live here.
Everyone should have equitable
access to green spaces, climate
resilient infrastructure, green
building practices and cleaner,
more accessible forms of
transportation. These are not
improvements that should be
made in just a few
neighborhoods, and we really
appreciate that this plan does
pave the way for that. So thank
you all for your consideration.
>> Thank you. And that
concludes our public hearing. I
do not have any additional
cards or individuals that have
registered to vote to testify
this evening. Thank you.
Rebecca, you've heard several
questions come up tonight.
Could you talk a little bit
about the manufactured homes
and that the parking zone,
manufactured park zoning? Now,
what it is and what we are
going to look at in this
particular comp plan?
>> Yeah. Thank you mayor. So
currently existing manufactured
home parks, there's 16 in the
city, and they have our
existing zoning districts
applied to them. So there is no
currently there is no
manufactured home park district.
They may be zoned R 17. They
may be zoned R 35. They may be
zoned R nine. And the only
protections that we offer to
them are those that are enable
or required under state law,
which is, as I understand it,
and I'm not an expert on this,
a right of first refusal. And
notice and moving expenses. I
believe, in contrast, the new
manufactured home Park zoning
district in the new code would
allow only that use only
manufactured home park
developments in that code or in
that zone. Unless a property
owner could demonstrate that it
is financially infeasible to
approve to to continue that use.
If that is the case, then they
could apply for a zone change
to a different zoning district
that allowed more uses, and
that would go through our
typical zone change process,
which includes review by the
county Planning Commission and
final approval by the council
and staff would review that
against the eligible or the the
applicable criteria. So from
our view, this is. Much more
significant protection for
manufactured home park
developments as a use in
recognition of the fact that
they provide some of the most
affordable, non rent restricted
or publicly subsidized
subsidized affordable housing
in the city and in many
communities across the country.
>> And does our code define
manufactured homes?
>> It does. Mayor Mark Furgeson
community Development Plan
Development review planner. Our
current code defines
manufactured homes very
extensively, but we worked on
the update and we are saying
anything modular or
manufactured. And again, for
for land use planning, we're
not looking at how the building
is built. We're just in these
areas. We are saying only
manufactured or modular housing
is permitted in these 16 zones
unless something is permanently
affordable and then will allow
more housing types.
>> Thank you so very much.
Councilors. Do you have
questions of Mark and Rebecca?
Councilor Paulson?
>> Thank you, mayor. Thank you,
Mark and Rebecca, I really just
want to underscore and give you
an opportunity to respond to
some of the issues that were
raised in the testimony that we
just heard. So there was
testimony, given that because
we have over allocated housing
within our UGA, the county has
taken housing out of our UGA,
the v UGA in the county as an
accommodation for that. Can you
speak to that? And then as a
follow up to that, can you
speak to what control, if any,
we have over what the county
does in our UGA?
>> Yeah. Thanks for the
opportunity to address this. So
it is not straightforward. So I
kind of apologize in advance,
but so folks can understand the
county and the city use
different methodologies and
models for estimating our
capacity. Our housing capacity
models are closer. Our
employment capacity models are
very, very, very different. The
city estimated that we needed
at a minimum 38,000 housing
units. That was a minimum
target. Our preferred
alternative, we estimate,
allows for somewhere around
44,000 or a little over 44,000
units. The counties the county
estimates the city needs, that
the city has capacity for
40,000 units. So they are
estimating we have capacity for
2000 more units than they say
we need. So yes, that has a
very small potential impact on
the distribution of units
around the county, not just in
the Vancouver Urban growth area,
but in all of Clark County and
what's assigned to the various
jurisdictions and urban growth
areas, but not immeasurable
impact on the VGA and I will
say the county is subject to HB
1220, which is the requirement
that you not only show that you
can hit certain capacities for
certain numbers, but that you
can realistically demonstrate
your zoning would allow for
housing in different income
bands. I cannot speak to. The
sort of methodology behind
their zoning code and how
they've crafted it, but I can I
can say what they are required
to do under state law and.
Again, our we, we had a minimum
we were aiming for. That's the
minimum we need. We have hit
that and exceeded it a little
bit. We have accounted for
various things like, you know,
critical areas, places you
can't build, but also the
presence of Keesee. And that
would effectively not allow
building of much more housing.
And so we think, you know, we
believe in our model. So I
guess in conclusion, I would
say that this is not
significantly affected the
numbers assigned to the VGA the
Vancouver Urban Growth Area by
the county in their latest
capacity yields that we've said.
>> Thank you. And other than
providing testimony to the
county, we don't have any
control over what they choose
to do or not do within our
urban growth area. Do we.
>> Correct? The only thing that
we can do is collaborate and
coordinate. We sit on the you
know, there's a group of it's a
technical coordinating
committee. We provide feedback,
but we do not have control over
the overall population estimate
the county selected, which was
higher than the median that we
believe is the most accurate
from the Office of Financial
Management or how they
implement the Hap tool from the
Department of Commerce or how
they they calibrate their
capacity model. Those are
decisions under the Growth
Management Act that are made by
counties.
>> Thank you. One thing I think
is important to underscore here,
as we're on the cusp of making
a decision about this plan,
we've cited a lot of numbers,
38,000 people moving here, or
80,000 people, 38,000 housing
units, 46,000 jobs. Can you
just talk a little bit about a
high level, about what the
Growth Management Act requires
of the city? Do we have a plan
to actually build 38,000
housing units and where they're
going to be built?
>> No, the city doesn't build
housing. So what the Growth
Management Act requires us is
to have local land use
regulations that allow for the
private market to realistically
build those units and feasibly
to build those units. But it
doesn't. But we don't build
those units. That's not the way
we provide housing in this
country. It's privately
provided. So we do our best to
be realistic and ensure that
development feasibility is a
big part of how we think about
land use regulation, because
again, the city isn't going to
build it. We don't know where
it's going to get built. Much
of the land that could be built
will not be because individual
property owners will just
decide they don't want to,
which is private property
rights. And so again, it is
demonstrating capacity with
given all those constraints, to
theoretically allow the private
market to build that housing.
>> I think the key word there
is capacity. You start with a
population forecast. We have a
few assumptions that follow on
how many jobs we want. If those
many people move here, how many
housing units will need, if
those many people move here,
and then the burden that we
have is to show that we have
the capacity to accommodate
that growth should it arrive,
and that it's feasible to do
that.
>> Correct. And I will say that
the that's 100% correct. In the
past, we just had to show
capacity for the specific
numbers, regardless of the type
and expense of that housing.
We're now allocated to show
capacity for smaller, different
types of housing that could
could result in housing that is
affordable at different income
bands, which is new and harder.
>> New, new. And I'm going to
get to a question in a moment
that speaks to some of those
new state laws. But you
mentioned Keesee, and we had
testimony about Keesee and the
protections that they provide.
You just mentioned that we do
our best to recognize where the
corners exist and to make
assumptions about what will or
won't happen in those areas.
Why would we, knowing that
there's a Keesee in a
historically significant
neighborhood, why would we
choose to zone anyway?
>> Well, a few reasons. In some
of our neighborhoods that have
corners, there were also racial
covenants that existed. And
under HB 1110, we cannot
decline to upzone those areas
regardless of their preexisting
Keesee if there are racial
covenants, we must not exempt
them from potential adding
units and potential increases
in capacity. The other reason
which this council has
consistently articulated, is
that we want to apply and
spread growth around the city
somewhat evenly, and so we
don't know in the future where
areas with Keesee and ours will
choose to change them, or there
will be action to remove them
from some property. And so we
simply apply it based on our
standards, honestly, and our
our framework honestly and
consistently around the city
without taking into account
Keesee, because we want to
achieve that even distribution
and not preclude more even
distribution in the future. And
we deduct from our land
capacity analysis, we make a
deduction specifically based on
Keesee and their prevalence and
our assumption that they will
limit housing production at
some level because most will
stay in place, though some may
change and we don't want to
preclude that.
>> Thank you. There were there
were comments made about the
degree of engagement with
neighborhood associations and
neighborhoods. Could you speak
a little bit about what that
communication strategy looked
like over the course of these
last four years, and in
particular, was, was it focused
in one particular time frame,
or was it spread fairly evenly
throughout the entire planning
process?
>> It was spread evenly
throughout the planning process.
So you'll recall that there
were like several key
milestones. The first phase was
educating people about the
process, talking to them about
their aspirations for the
future. The second one was
really focused on the land use
possibilities and mapping and
getting to that preferred
alternative. And then the third
one was on the plan and the
code and the substance of those
things. And each phase where we
were making big pushes with
many other constituents and
groups, we were also making big
pushes with neighborhood
associations. So that included
emails directly to every
neighborhood leader whose
contact information the Office
of Neighborhoods has. In
recognized neighborhood
associations presented at many.
We included information 1015
times in the Office of
Neighborhoods Monthly
newsletter and in a lot of
other. Platforms that
neighborhoods typically engage
in. We presented several times
at the Vancouver Neighborhood
Alliance, which is a non city
affiliated umbrella group for
neighborhood associations that
specifically engages their
leadership. And so we went
anywhere we were asked and we
basically communicated multiple
times at every key phase that
we were available to come. But
we, we didn't just do that with
neighborhood associations,
right? We did it with community
based organizations and youth
and schools and transportation
advocates and climate advocates
and many other people as well.
>> Thank you. My final question,
and you alluded to this a
little bit earlier. Can you
just talk a little bit about
what the deadline is and what
it has been? And has it been
extended, and why has it been
extended? And where we stand
today vis a vis any kind of
deadlines or state requirements?
>> The initial so the periodic
review process timelines are
different around the state. So
the sort of first batch of
jurisdictions in this periodic
review process were the 2024
jurisdictions, and that
included Seattle and King
County and other jurisdictions.
They received a six month
extension from. So from their
plan to be done in July 1st,
2024 to December 31st, 2024, we
are part of the 2025 cities,
and we asked for a similar
extension and received it from
the legislature. And the
rationale for both those
requests, that was that the
legislature made a bunch of new
laws. We started our periodic
review processes, which take a
long time, and then every
session, they made more and
more laws that required us to
do more in different work. And
so we needed more time. We are
now approximately six months
behind our initial, our, our,
our final deadline that
included the six months
extension, which was December
31st, 2025. I think it is
accurate to say. And we've had
ongoing coordination and
collaboration with commerce and
communication that they have
seen that we are making
progress, as has the community.
So you have not seen efforts,
for example, like you've seen
with Clark County Council, to
take them to the Growth
Management Hearing Board on
their delays and force them
into a specific timeline,
because I think we've been
showing progress. But yes, that
is correct. We are overdue.
>> And just so that folks have
an appreciation for how we're
doing with our the rest of our
cohort. So other cities and
jurisdictions that are in that
2025 cohort that you mentioned,
how many of them have delivered
a comp plan and how many are
still working on their comp
plan? Do you know.
>> I do not know. For every
other county that is applied, I
don't think it's very many, if
any. There are still several
2024 jurisdictions who have not
adopted, but in Clark County,
no one else has.
>> So we are not unique and not
yet meeting the deadline. And
we may we may in fact, when all
has been said and done, be
among the first to complete our
plan. Even though we are.
>> Correct, we are definitely
among the first of the 2025
cities, and likely less late
than almost any other city or
jurisdiction in the state so
far.
>> Less late.
>> Less late.
>> Less late.
>> Thank you. Those are my
questions.
>> Councilor Stober.
>> Thank you, mayor. Rebecca,
what is the primary form of
transportation in Vancouver
today? And does that
significantly change under this
plan?
>> So most people today, their
primary mode of transportation
is driving a single occupancy
vehicle. This plan does not
have targets for motor split.
Our transportation system plan
does and it's adopted by
reference. You can imply those.
But our targets are. I wouldn't
they're not large. That doesn't
mean they're not ambitious,
because it is hard to get
people to change behavior. And
it is also expensive to build
the infrastructure that allows
them to change their travel
mode and feel comfortable and
safe doing that to build out
the the frequent transit that
allows people to really rely on
it. So this plan does not
anticipate that that somehow
driving will not be the
dominant primary mode in the
future. It simply envisions a
world where people could make
the choice to drive shorter
distances or take some trips,
not driving in the future
because the stuff they need is
closer to where they live.
>> Great. We you started
Council passed a preferred
alternative some months back.
>> Endorsed.
>> Endorsed. Excuse me endorsed.
Was there something concrete to
look at before then?
>> Yes. So if you're speaking
directly to the comment about
when the code concepts were
known, we were looking back at
it and we were sharing the code
concepts during the land use
possibilities work, which
started in early 2020 for the
first Code Concepts workshop,
was in October of 2024. And
these big provisions around
minimum densities, heights, no
parking were were included then.
Okay.
>> That's it for me right now.
Thank you, thank you.
>> Councilor Fox. Go ahead.
>> All right. Sounds like we've
covered a lot of the questions
that were raised during the
testimony, but also say, you
know, reading through all of
the letters that were submitted
to council over these, you know,
many years we've been looking
at this and then particularly
the last few weeks, you know,
we've had quite a lot of
testimony that's been submitted
entirely. Appreciate those that
both sent us letters saying how
much they love this new
proposal and those that also
told us why they didn't. And I
would say, just as a general
rule, for those of you that
maybe haven't read every
comment. You know, as a council
member, I appreciate when you
when you are very descriptive
of your reasons why. And I'd
say there's hardly a single
letter that said just something
like, I hate it, don't adopt it,
or I love it and adopt it. So I
just want to raise up the fact
that we had some very well
written comment letters that
were sent to us on this
proposal. I'd also want to
mention another kind of
observation I made as I was
looking through the letters and
listening to comments tonight,
knowing that everyone here on
council brings a different lens.
We. We haven't all grown up in
one singular neighborhood in
Vancouver for our entire lives,
and so we bring a lot of
perspectives to our work. And
one of the perspectives that I
bring to this Council is that I
really have been raised in a
mostly urban environment, was
raised in a downtown. I've
chosen places to live
throughout my life that have
been in very urban areas as
well. And so my perspective
would be that I tend to really
enjoy being in some of those
vibrant, mixed use
neighborhoods, walking through
those parts of town when I go
to other places. And that is a
perspective that I bring, not
that I'm not listening to folks
that that value more of that
singular use neighborhoods that
we've heard tonight. And I
understand to that change isn't
especially change that you
don't choose is a very hard
thing to swallow, perhaps. But
just hopefully, one of the
takeaways that folks have heard
tonight, for those that might
have a, maybe a fear or just
don't want any change, period,
no fear, just that's their
choice would be the takeaway
that these really are private
property decisions that happen.
There's a lot of market factors
in play. If a, if a particular
lot next to your home is going
to transition to something that
has more intense development.
So just really understanding
that these things don't happen
overnight. And there's a lot of
other factors that go into
those decisions of each
individual property owner
before they might, you know,
decide that they want to add
Adu to their property or
something more intense, like a
triplex or fourplex or
something. So just kind of
taking that away tonight would
be change is actually fairly
slow, even though it might seem
fast. If we make the decision
tonight to pass this
comprehensive plan. The other
piece I wanted to just raise is
I wanted to share again, I've
said it many times on this dais,
but I do work for the
Washington Department of
Commerce. I work for the Growth
Management Services unit, but I
don't have any authority over
the City of Vancouver's
Comprehensive Plan proposals.
There is actually, in this case,
actually no approval authority
by commerce. They simply review
for consistency with the the
laws that have been explained
tonight. So I just want to put
that out. So that would be why
I can fully stand here in my
capacity as a city council
member. And I can also say why
I love this comprehensive plan
that's before us. One of the
things that I find amazing, and
this is probably just being a
planner in the world, but every
comprehensive plan has to be
internally consistent. So each
one of these chapters has to
work with the other chapters.
And so we're not just here
talking about housing tonight
or changes in a residential
zone, but we're also talking
about our transportation
planning, our roadways. We're
talking about how our parks and
our trails work with all of
these places. We're talking
about climate change, and we're
talking about economic
development, which we've heard
folks talk about in each one of
these all work together. And
it's, it's amazing. And it's a
spectacular piece of work. And
I am very proud of our staff
for putting all of this
together. And final note is
just to raise up that this
action tonight, if we approve
it, would be replacing our
title, title, entire title 20,
which is our zoning code. And
again, stressing that I am a
complete planner nerd, it is
exciting as heck to see this
code be transformed into
something a lot more
understandable. For those of
you not in this world, when you
see a development table that
has like 20 or 30 footnotes,
you know there's a problem. So
this update reduces all of
those footnotes. It just makes
it a lot more readable. It
turns it into what we call a
form based code system, which
has been explained many times.
But we've got these really cool
things like build two lines,
and we have new codes around
tree planting and landscaping
and buffers. And it's just,
it's going to be very
interesting to see how
everything is applied and will
really serve our city for the
next 20 years. So thank you. I
wish I had like hats or
something. I was going to bring
cupcakes and that fell through.
So thank you so much, staff.
>> Councilor Perez.
>> Thank you. This
comprehensive plan is a
defining moment for our city,
one that positions us to
thoughtfully manage growth,
expand opportunity, strengthen
our neighborhoods, and build a
more sustainable and connected
community for generations to
come. I love that our city is
like a learning organization,
and as we move from planning to
implementation, I believe it's
important that that we continue
to hold community conversations
and be in dialog. We heard a
suggestion of a neighborhood
summit, and I think that's a
great idea to to continue to
learn about the comprehensive
management plan. And also it
provides the opportunity to
raise the awareness of what's
inside the plan, the intent of
that. It keeps our residents
engaged and it creates an
opportunity or the safe space
to continue the dialog,
especially if we are to track
unintended consequences and to
learn as we implement it. I
believe that just because we
finish a comprehensive plan,
that we should not also stop
continuing to work with our
neighborhoods. So if there is
an opportunity to to take that
idea of a neighborhood summit,
and as we move into
implementation, invite our
neighborhood leaders to
continue to learn about our
comprehensive management plan
and do some real time tracking
of its implementation.
>> Councilor Harless.
>> I was taking Councilmember
Harless. I was taking notes as
well as people were speaking
and my notes were identical.
And so we definitely have
addressed all of those. So
thank you. And yeah, just
really proud of the moment that
we're in right now. The
communication and engagement
work that's been done as
different individuals and
organizations have come to me
and asked, oh, is this in there?
I'm like, yep, we already got
it. Like we're on it. Or, oh,
let's have a conversation. And
then we add it. It's been a
really engaging and meaningful
process for everyone that has
participated, and I've really
valued the work of our planning
commission in particular to and
the amount of work that they've
done. And I just want to
express gratitude. So thank you.
And it's been great running
into staff when I'm just out
and about in community at all
these wonderful community
events that we have had over
the years. So it's been great
chatting with them out in
community spaces too. Thank you.
>> Any other comments,
Councilor Stover?
>> Thank you. Mayor, I want to
give everybody a chance for
questions before I came back.
So. I am thank you to staff.
I'm excited for this moment
we've come to. You know, I've
I've shared before. Spending my
20s in Vancouver, Clark County.
I did not find this a welcoming
place. I found this a place
very difficult to connect, to
find mentorship, to find social
connection. I don't think
tomorrow that that will occur,
but I
>> I think this sets us on a
pathway towards some place
where somebody in their 20s,
and I would say somebody in
their 80s can better feel that
social connection. That being
said, that doesn't mean I am
not myself without anxiety. I
live in a 1912 home in the only
neighborhood in the city on the
state. Designation of historic
places. There are things about
my neighborhood style,
stylistically, things about my
neighborhood that I love. That
being said, my neighborhood is
the original version of this
plan. This is what Vancouver
was from my. I can walk out my
front door and I have multiple
duplexes on my street. I go to
the second story, I can look
out and I see an eight story
apartment building. There are
cottage cluster apartments, all
that exists in my neighborhood,
and my entire neighborhood gets
zoned medium density, which is
much higher than what I was
advocating for at when we were
doing our mapping exercises. So
I say that in that I too feel
anxiety. I feel anxiety with
the change that this plan
presents. But the city doesn't
belong to me. Doesn't city
doesn't belong to any of us in
this room. This city belongs to
generations that are yet to
come. And we owe it to those
future generations to being
uncomfortable in order to make
sure that they have a place to
live, a place to call home, a
place to find community with
one another. So I'm again, very,
very excited that we are here
tonight. Thank you.
>> Thank you. That reminded me
that my neighborhood is over
100 years old. Also, we have
numerous duplexes. We have at
least three quads in just six
blocks from my house. We have a
five plex. Very cute, almost
like a cottage cluster. If you
would. Apartment complex. And
people would refer to my area
as single family homes. So as I
look at it, with the number of
ADUs and everything else that
are there, we have
neighborhoods and neighborhoods
change, they evolve. But we've
read the letters, we've read
the emails. We have attended
neighborhood meetings and
business meetings, community
meetings with you. Thank you so
very much. For four years of
land use. We all take those
comments very seriously. But at
this point, I think we're ready
to move on from your four years
of work. Let's meet at least
one deadline for us, and I'll
entertain a motion.
>> Mayor, move to Fox.
>> Seconded by. Stuebe Stauber.
Roll call. Vote, please.
>> Councilmember Harless I
Perez I Fox I Paulsen. I
Stauber I mayor McEnerny Ogle.
>> I motion passes. Thank you
staff. That is the end of four
years. That concludes our
business portion of the meeting.
We now go into communications
from the council councilor
Harless. Councilor Perez.
>> Yes, the Heights area where
we were to celebrate the
shoveling of the dirt and
breaking ground was pretty cool
to be at. And I especially love
learning how I'll wait.
>> Individuals. I'll ask you to
take your conversations to the
hallway, please.
>> Thank you.
>> I enjoyed the opportunity to
speak with some of the
developers for that area, but
most importantly, that that is
the highest point in the city
that you can actually overlook
the areas in the mountains. So
I'm excited to see what that's
going to look like. And good
job and excited for, for us in
the future there.
>> I really wanted that backhoe
to do the first shovel. That
would have been fun. Councilor
Fox, Councilor Paulson,
Councilor Stauber.
>> I'll pass tonight.
>> Councilor Hansen, mayor.
>> I was greeted on Saturday by
Vancouver Fire Department
volunteers going house to house,
working in teams of three,
dropping off.
>> For hot pad.
>> Yeah, my hot pad. I got my
hot pad. I've got a nice cup
and I got a measurement. There
you go. Utensil and some great
information. But what I really
got was, and what I really want
to point out is the good work
of these volunteers because
they're going around and
they're not just dropping off
bags and leaving. They're
asking questions and they're
waiting for answers and they're
engaging. So really want to
just give them props for going
around doing what they're doing
and a great job at it. That's
all I have. Mayor.
>> This is fire core. They've
been doing this for over ten
years, federal money, and it
reduces the hot spots in our
community. And it's been very
successful.
>> And was really do you have a
working smoke detector? And if
you don't, we want to help you
to get one. So I thought that
was fantastic. I just wanted to
point that.
>> Out and don't use candles
that are actual flames. And
don't put your cigarettes out
in the soil, on the pot, in the
pot, on your front porch.
>> In the park. Just who would
have thought?
>> Yeah, that's a no no. Wow.
Good job. Yep. There you go.
Okay, councilors, this Friday
we have a bell tower that will
be working at 11:00. If you
want to come and see the
glockenspiel, open up. Esther
Short Park on Saturday has
lemonade and Saturday was also
Mothers Against Drunk drivers.
We have a blood alcohol content
law of 0.08. The push is for
0.05. And Utah is the only
state in our nation that has
0.05. But 150 nations on the
globe have 0.05 for a reason.
And when you start looking at
that three hundredths of a
percent difference, and the
mental and physical abilities
that you lose with that, it's
tremendous. So let's have a
further conversation about that
possibility in the future.
Blood alcohol content. See you
at the bell tower. Yes.
>> Just one correction. The
bell tower is 1130, not 11.
>> Oh, I was supposed to be
there at 11.
>> Okay.
>> Join me. Join me at 11. City
manager.
>> Yeah.
>> Mayor, I've got a couple of
items that I just wanted to
reflect back with the council
that I noted for follow up
tonight. So going back to the
workshops on Inspire Vancouver,
the council had asked for an
opportunity to see the names of
the folks that were being
nominated for the grant review
Committee prior, prior to the
Cultural Arts and Heritage
Commission approval asked for,
and this came out of that
discussion, but not
specifically related to it,
what I'm calling a grant
program report, which is just
identifying the city's grants,
what the timelines might look
like, what those processes are
on the park funding. One, I
noted down some items that you
needed for more detail to help
make decisions, one of which
was more detail on how the
benchmarking is worked for both
expenditures and FTEs. Detail,
and then additional details
that would factor into any
future Inter-local agreements
for the revenue sharing
breakdowns, making sure that we
factored in things like park
impact fees, access to open
space and lack of backyards and
employment factors. And then
how do we address the needs of
the current system? While we're
planning for growth in
shorthand, making sure that we
can fund what we already have
while then taking a look
forward, and then on the
transportation improvement plan,
these weren't necessarily
related to the to the plan
itself. But as we gather data
on 164th and 14th as identified
by Councilor Perez, and then
once we have information
available on the potential
realignment of the Fruit Valley
freight corridor, then the last
one I had was just information
on the total budget for the
projects that were funded by
the Affordable Housing fund. So
did I miss anything.
>> Councilor Fox?
>> Yes, I'd say the distinction
on the. When we're talking
about the grants portion of the
discussion, we were talking
more about having a comparison
of all of the committees that
we form to review grants. So it
wasn't at least that's what I
was hearing and agreeing to,
was that we wanted to see what
their authorities are and what
grant programs that they are
making decisions or providing
us recommendations for kind of
a side by side comparison. And
then also under the tip, I
asked staff to get back to me
on some of the Saint John's
Saint James Corridor
improvement projects.
>> Okay. Anything else? I think
you got it. Good. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> Nina. Anything?
>> Nothing from legal tonight,
mayor. Thank you.
>> Okay, then we are. It is 833.
We are officially done with the
city council business. We will
turn off the video tapes. We
audiotape our community forum
that we will have right now. So
let's go ahead and give CVTV a
few moments to turn that off
and then we'll