Good afternoon. Welcome to
Vancouver City Council. Today
is Monday, March 16th, 2026.
This afternoon we'll discuss
community forums and comp plans.
Again. City manager, do you
want to kick it off for us?
>> Yeah. Just wanted to welcome
Joy Fowler and William Cooley
to the workshop this afternoon.
This is leading into the first
of what is how we kind of
reimagined the community forums
coming up for the following
year. This is something we
discussed last year and council
really wanted to see those
continue. Our first one will
actually be next week. So Joy
and William wanted to have a
chance to talk with you about
how we've re-envisioned how
they'll work. Okay.
>> Hello.
>> Hello. Well good afternoon.
We are very happy to be here.
Joy Fowler with Engagement and
access, and William Cooley,
also with engagement and access.
Our community engagement
manager. Okay. Just want to
share a little bit about what
we'll go over today. We'll talk
about the community forum
overview. Our rationale for
reimagining council community
forums, as well as what the
proposed plan is for 2026, as
well as what's to come for next
week's forum. And then we'll
have some discussion. If you
also choose. As you all are
aware, community Engagement
transitioned to the Engagement
and Access department as of
January 1st. And as a result of
that, we knew that we wanted to
look at all of the things that
William took care of and was
responsible for. Of which
community forums was one. So we
came together and had some
discussion with each of you
throughout the month of
February around what that
should look like, how we could
reimagine it, and the setup for
the forums. And then hearing
your feedback, we incorporated
the the requests into the
updated document. And then a
lot of it also was what we
gained from community feedback.
So we heard things, everything
relating to they wanted
opportunity to connect. They
wanted the ability to hold us
accountable for the things that
we talked about and that we did.
They wanted to make sure that
we were updated and aware of
things that were going on
regarding safety in the city
and all of that. And so we
wanted to also incorporate
their thoughts as we reimagine
the community forums. And then
William and I spent some time
talking about council
priorities. And so we focus
them on the things that were
really critical and important
to all of you around Vancouver
for all talking about equity,
safety for all, as well as
environmental, environmentally
sustainable city, which is
around climate action. And so
all of that went into all of
the things related to what you
have had regarding community
forums. So with that, I'm going
to turn it over to William, who
will then walk you through kind
of what the forums look like
and what you can expect as we
head into next week.
>> Oh, thank you Joy. And as
Joy said, really, as we're
thinking about sort of the next
phase of work we've been
building on multiple years now
of community forums. So I had a
chance to go back and look at
what we had heard, what we've
learned from community members.
As Joy said, trying to
understand what folks want to
get out of it. And also, of
course, it's been extremely
valuable hearing from all of
you about what you want to get
out of it. And so as we think
about forums during 2026, we
kind of pointed toward three
key goals that we're driving
toward. The first one is to
increase engagement. So
bringing in new voices,
welcoming in folks who haven't
maybe engaged with the council
in the past. We've had a pretty
kind of consistent group of
core folks who've come
regularly. And while we, of
course, always welcome them, we
want to bring new people in as
well to add to the conversation.
Next thing we want to think
about is sort of that
opportunity to build trust.
This is a time for community
members to engage with you as
council members directly. And
so as we think about
opportunities, often we're
looking for as we hear from
community members, they want
something beyond the standard
ability to come and join the
council and testify. Right? We
want it to be more of a dialog,
have that opportunity for back
and forth. And the other thing
we've recognized through
participant feedback is a lot
of folks wanted to also listen
and learn what other people in
the community are experiencing.
So as we kind of build our form
and meeting designs, we're
thinking about not only that
experience of helping folks to
interact with you and have an
opportunity for dialog, but to
listen and learn from each
other. And then lastly, the
thing we want to make sure
we're doing is also sort of
validating those community
contributions. We've had a lot
of different outcomes from past
forums where we've kind of been
able to point toward an action
that's been taken or where
council members have been able
to then refer back and say, oh,
I heard this during this forum.
How can we address that? In
this case, we also want to be
thinking about those kind of
core policy areas for the city.
So as Joyce said, if you think
about council priorities, we
have lots of different projects
that align with those. So we're
really keen to be able to
incorporate some of those
insights from the community.
Thank you Joy. So as I said,
we're imagining this to be
topic focused forums. So of
course, during the year we'll
be doing is bringing you
meeting designs that are based
on those topics. We'll have the
opportunity to work together to
kind of make sure we're making
as many kind of updates and
changes based on what the
council wants. So that's a
really great opportunity. One
of our challenges, I think, in
the past has been occasionally
we've gotten information coming
in kind of late that, you know,
oh, there's a group that wants
to talk about this topic or we
have to sort of integrate and
make a change the last minute.
What we'll have is we'll have
all those meeting designs for
you a week out of every council
meeting this year. And then if
something does come up, we have
that opportunity to then talk
to say, hey, we might need to
pivot a little bit. And then
the other thing that has come
up in our conversations, the
sub quorum level with council
was also just wanting to make
sure that folks are continuing
to be welcomed, no matter what
their starting point is. So
even though we have topics for
this year, we also want to make
sure people are welcome to talk
about anything they want to do.
And so the way we would do that
from a facilitation standpoint
is for facilitators to, of
course, invite everyone to be
part of the conversation to try
to make sure there's time to
get through sort of the core
questions that we're asking
everyone, because we want
people to know that they're
welcomed into that conversation
as well, and they're included,
but to create some space for
them to be able to talk about
their own topics if needed. So
the way we're proposing to do
that is to have a dedicated
table or space at every meeting.
For folks that really feel
strongly, I want to talk about
something else. And then what
we're going to ask those
facilitators to do at those
tables, or that table, is to
make sure that when we're kind
of coming toward the end of
that conversation or in the
groups had a chance to talk
initially about some other
topic that they're invited
again to, to rejoin the topic
for the rest of the room. The
other thing that we're trying
to do on trying to include new
voices is really to expand our
outreach. So not being as
passive, but being a little bit
more proactive in making sure
community groups know that
they're invited, their members
are invited, trying to take
advantage of some of those
partner channels in the
community and then making sure
that after each forum, we're
following up. So we're not only
sharing a summary with all of
you, we're sharing that with
staff who attend, but we're
trying to make sure that's a
little bit better understood in
the public. So for example, we
might share that, of course,
across social media, the city's
channels, but also sharing it
with the groups who attend. So
one way we're trying to do that
this year is to ask for folks
to share their email address
with us ahead of time. So we're
asking for an RSVP for each
forum, and that'll make it much
easier for us to follow up
afterwards. And you see on this
slide, I don't have to read the
entire thing, but I wanted to
highlight a couple things. When
we're thinking about the agenda
for next Monday's forum, we
will be here at City Hall. And
so as a result, what we'll be
doing is setting up earlier in
the day in Aspen room in here,
of course, for for the council
meeting and hearing as well as
in the lobby. Our primary space
for Monday will be in the lobby.
So we'll be having tables in
there also working with staff
right now to clear that space
out earlier in the day, and
then trying to make sure that
we're basically fully prepared
so that when folks arrive,
whether they arrive earlier for
the special session or they
arrive right before the
community forum that they're
seated and able to be in a
comfortable spot. And then in
terms of meeting expectations,
this is something we've used
throughout forums in the past,
but we're going to try to make
sure that our facilitators are
really mindful of this year. So
reminding folks about sort of
what we expect of them, how we
want them to interact with one
another. And when we think
about those, there's really
four core themes that have been
returned to over and over again.
One has to do with the way we
communicate with each other. So
making sure that we're
communicating respectfully,
allowing space for other people
to contribute. Part of that is
not talking over one another
and interrupting, but as
another part of that, which I
think we've all collectively
experienced, is making sure
we're not using language that's
abusive or it's making people
feel uncomfortable. So those
are things that facilitators
will be really focusing on.
We're also asking anyone who
participates to just be aware
of their time. There's some of
us in conversations who like to
speak a lot, others who might
want to be in that space of
listening. And for our
facilitators, one of their kind
of core jobs is going to be
making sure there's space for
everyone to contribute. So
we're asking all participants
to be part of that as well.
There have been some times in
the past where we've had folks,
of course, stray a little bit
from the topic, and while some
of that can be welcome, if the
group wants to go down kind of
a different pathway, we want to
make sure there's always that
opportunity to bring people
back as needed. So we're also
asking folks to try to stay on
the designated topic as much as
they can and to be an active
participant. As I said, that
looks different for each person.
But we want to do is make sure
everyone has that opportunity
to listen, to ask questions,
and to contribute in ways that
are meaningful to them. Oh, one
thing just wanted to note on
that we had gotten some
feedback from the community
that, you know, there are times
where people want to share
something, but they may not
want to speak. So verbal might
not be the way they want to
engage. And so we want to also
do is continue to have
opportunities for feedback
through writing. So we'll
continue to have feedback forms,
of course, let folks know if,
if we need to connect with us.
Also in a smaller group setting,
like a one on one conversation,
we're always welcome to do that
before we leave the forum. And
then I think we're coming to
our draft here. So you'll see
on the draft meeting design we
shared, we're thinking already
of sort of the questions that
we might ask in the room on
Monday. The first one is a
question we've used actually a
lot over the years, not
recently. So it won't be one
that folks have just talked
about, but it's really designed
to help get people in that
space of listening together and
thinking about how they relate
to the broader community. So
want to ask them about a time
that they helped someone in the
community or that someone
helped them and what happened
as a result. So that's going to
be sort of our icebreaker type
question. I hesitate to call it
an icebreaker necessarily,
because what we're trying to do
here is to really build a
foundation for the rest of the
conversation. So ideally, what
that does is it helps prep the
group and our facilitators will
spend some time, of course,
just as we've done in past
conversations, going around the
room asking folks to share. But
that'll be after they've had an
opportunity to talk with one
another. Then we want to spend
a bit of time talking about
what makes people feel
connected in the community.
Through past conversations,
we've heard a lot of things
about community events,
cultural activities and
cultural events, the ways in
which people feel connected to
their neighborhood. And what we
want to do is we want to build
on some of those earlier
conversations, ask folks anew,
right? We're now in 2026. What
do you Dettling? What are you
thinking about that next, we're
going to spend a little bit of
time talking about barriers.
This is one where a team or a
group could choose to go in a
very different direction. And
that's okay. If folks, for
example, point to barriers that
they've personally experienced
or that family members or
friends have experienced, if
they point to barriers that
they've experienced interacting
with certain programs or
projects, those are things we
want to hear about because a
big part of our work is really
building that accessibility,
making sure people feel fully
included. And lastly, what
we'll do is we'll talk a little
bit about belonging. This is a
topic that came up a lot in our
conversations around the comp
plan. And so this is an
opportunity for us to sort of,
again, build on that foundation.
Asking people again, what makes
you feel that sense of
belonging? How can we include
everyone in the community in
that way? And with that, I
think we would turn it over to
everyone for questions or any
discussion.
>> Great. Thank you so much,
Councilor Fox.
>> I appreciate this preview
for our meeting next week, and
I'm hoping members of our
community will have a chance to
watch this as well and be be
ready for our meeting. But I'm
wondering a couple things. One
is when attendees arrive, are
they going to be assigned a
table or are they going to be
able to choose which council
member they want to sit with?
>> Great question. We've done
in the past is allowed folks to
sit where they want. I will say,
though, if there's a group
that's larger that comes and
this is something that we've
encountered at past
conversations as well. So let's
say a group comes and there's
five folks from the same
organization. What we've often
done is ask them if they're
willing to, to sit at different
spots across the room just so
they have a chance to kind of
listen across conversations.
But we would otherwise let
folks sit where they want.
>> All right. And then the kind
of, I'll call it the
miscellaneous table for those
that show up and say, these are
not any of the topics that I
want to talk about tonight,
there's something much more
important. Will we have a
council member that will be
sitting at that table?
>> Great question. So I think
one thing we're monitoring
right now is Rsvp's. So trying
to make sure there's enough
space for everyone as it's
currently designed. We have six
tables planned for the lobby.
Each of those can accommodate
up to 10 or 11 chairs. And then
we'll have some space in this
room on the other side, the
south portion of the room
behind me. And we would do is
we would encourage councilors,
if we end up having a large
enough group to circulate. So
there's some time for you, for
example, to be at a table out
in the lobby and then spend
some time in here with folks.
The other thing, we want to
make sure that folks in this
room have an opportunity to do,
if they're talking about a
different topic, is know that
that feedback will be shared
with all of you and be shared
with the community. So what
we'll be doing is we're trying
to prepare our notes in a way
that doesn't just focus on only
the themes of the topic of the
night, but includes everything
that comes up in this
conversation as well.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Councilor Perez.
Go ahead.
>> Thank you, I love it. I
think it's going to be a great
plan. A couple of thoughts
thinking beyond or what the
outcome for these community
forums could be and linking
that to our strategic plans.
And I know that there's going
to be topic focused forums, and
I love the ability to ensure
that our public is able to come
and speak about whatever they
may be experiencing or whatever
they may be thinking about. So
part of that is the post forum
outcome with this and thinking
at the end of the year, what
possible community led
strategies, some of the
information that we hear from
the public, that it could lead
to what opportunities that
could provide to us, as well as
potential public private
partnerships. As we think about
all the topic themes that we
are thinking about. And I love
the discussion questions
because I think it's important
to set the tone. So I wouldn't
call it rules of engagement,
but more of a tone setting and
how important that is to be
able to ensure that members of
the public know that they could
speak with us one on one or in
small group, and that it's
really a place where you're
able to share your your
thoughts, whether it may be
different from others, which is
what we want. We want to show
an appreciation for the
differences of thought and
thinking from our public. And
so that tone setting is so
important. And will you do such
a great job of that? I think
just you exemplified that
sitting there and talking to us
and going through through the
plan here. Enjoy you as well.
So that tone setting I think is
going to be critical for us,
especially when we do approach
themes or topics that we do
have such a wide spectrum of
thought and perspective, and we
want to honor that. And placing
that tone is going to be
important so that us, as
decision makers and policy
makers, have that rough role of
taking all that information for
ourselves to be able to be good,
well-informed decision makers.
So I applaud this. This is
great. And I think I wanted to
find out a little bit more
about the youth and young adult
and how you see that fitting
into this plan, or if I missed
any of that before.
>> No, you didn't miss it.
Actually, the youth forum is
planned for the third quarter,
which is September 28th, and we
are actually in talks with what
that will look like. We're
hearing from, you know, people
in community that are
explaining to us what happens
within the school system and
how that can work with us. And
so we'll have a plan for that
probably the next time we come
and see you, we'll make sure we
incorporate that. Because just
as a reminder, we'll be coming
to you before a week before
every community forum. So we'll
make sure the next community
forum we come and talk to you
will include that as well with
more detail.
>> And I hope that we continue
to create that space in every
community forum, rather than
just say, wait till September,
but that we're also thinking of
creating that space in all of
our community forums. So this
is a, a way to just get the
momentum going of ensuring that
we are bringing those young
voices to the table. So I
wanted to make sure we shared
that thought.
>> No, thank you for that. And
I think that's something
William and I can definitely
look to incorporate as we move
forward through the year.
>> And two more things for our
special needs, our blind and
deaf and hearing, ensuring that
we are providing that ability
for folks to do that. And then
if there are folks who need
childcare, have we thought
about that?
>> I know that when we do the
RSVP, we will be asking anyone
if they need an accommodation.
We're also doing outreach to a
variety of organizations as
well, which will also ask about
accommodations as well. The one
thing we have not thought about
was childcare. So we can
definitely talk about that.
>> Okay. And there might be an
opportunity to partner with an
organization that does can
volunteer to help with that. So,
all right. I think that
concludes the majority of my
topics. Questions.
>> Thank you so very much.
We're looking forward to next
week.
>> Thank you.
>> You bet. All right. That
takes us into the comp plan.
Okay. Is Rebecca joining us? Oh,
there she is.
>> Yes.
>> You didn't. You didn't think
we'd be so fast, did you? No.
Don't be great.
>> Good afternoon. Council.
Good afternoon. Okay, see, I'm
on time. Sarah. I'll jump in. I
think the slide is coming up
soon. So we are here tonight to
talk to the council about the
last two draft chapters in the
comprehensive plan that we
haven't spoken to you about yet.
Those are the Community
Experience chapter. And then
the annexation chapter. And so
then after tonight, you'll have
reviewed all the draft chapters
that were published in the full
draft plan. Several weeks ago,
you'll have seen all the code
major code elements. And the
plan will walk through this at
the end. But the plan after
this is to take all of
council's feedback. Feedback
from Planning Commission, the
Urban Forestry Commission, the
Parks Commission,
Transportation Commission, CCRA,
the community, all of our
working groups and sort of
collate it into a change log,
refine that plan into a more
final draft and bring that back
to you at the end of April for
your review. And to the
Planning Commission in
mid-April, and then for a
workshop and then a public
hearing in April. And then
we'll be moving towards consent,
first reading in May and a
public hearing on June 1st with
the Council on the full plan
map and code. So tonight, we're
here to run you through the.
These two chapters and we'll
we'll. Dominique will cover
what she's done in the past,
including sort of how we've
organized these, why it's
organized that way. What are
the legal requirements? We'll
be seeking your input. And then
again, we'll go through next
steps. Turn it over to
Dominique.
>> Hello, everyone. So kind of
a quick reminder, we've talked
about this during the last
couple of sessions. But you
know this is all guided under
Washington's Growth Management
Act. It specifies what elements
were required to include within
a comprehensive plan and which
ones we don't. And the Growth
Management Act is implemented
through C, W 3670 A, and then
the Washington Administrative
Code provisions. So the biggest
things to look out for tonight
are internal consistency. We
need to have data that supports
the assumptions and the
arguments that we're making.
And we have to demonstrate
capacity to accommodate growth.
The biggest thing to know for
for both of these chapters are
neither are required by law,
but we find them to be chapters
that are very necessary. And
being able to, to articulate
the concepts. Community
experience is non-mandatory,
but it's one of the early asks
that we had from our community
partners in terms of framing
the comprehensive plan, and it
functions as a plan wide lens
to support internal consistency
and and reinforces a number of
goals around quality of public
of life, public facilities,
health equity, and
environmental protection. And
the requirements are that if we
do have this chapter, it has to
be consistent with the other
chapters and it can't have
conflicting information.
Annexation is also
non-mandatory to have as a
chapter, but there certainly
are statutes that apply to that,
not within the Growth
Management Act, but within our
C W 35 A 14. So annexation is
of course limited to
territories within the adopted
urban growth area. And it has
to occur in a contiguous,
orderly manner consistent with
the Gmain county wide planning
policies. So in addition to
those specifications, we have
to align with countywide
planning policies and the
language that we use within
this.
>> And I will just add that the
city has typically over the
last several comprehensive
plans, had an annexation
chapter because we have such a
large urban growth area. So
this is not like new we're
adding this. This is consistent
with past practice for quite
some time.
>> And on top of that, so the
way that these chapters are
organized are thinking about
context, strategy and
implementation. So we spend the
initial portions of the
chapters kind of setting the
stage and talking about what's
going on, what's the data, what
are we seeing today? What's our
strategy for addressing it? And
then what policies are we
proposing to implement to
address the issues? So we go
through sort of the historical
context and current conditions.
Each chapter has a vision
statement. And then there's a
number of key challenges and
trends that that supports too.
And it really kind of focuses
and ensures that policies are
grounded in data and lived
experiences. One thing that I'm
not seeing on this slide that
each of these chapters do have
is a summary of community
engagement that we receive that
relate to each of the chapters.
So we, we really link with what
we heard out in the community
when we've been engaging folks
and what's showing up in the
actual plan. So I'm going to
walk through the first chapter
here, which we put this chapter
first for a reason. And I think
the easiest way to describe
what community experience is,
is thinking about kind of end
user experience. So when we're
talking about when in kind of
the tech industry, when they
talk about UX or UI design or
user experience, we wanted to
have a chapter that really
focused on reminding us that
what your experience in the
community is, what we should be
focusing on as policymakers. So
thinking about, you know, when
you walk outside your front
door, what sort of amenities
and services do you have and
all that kind of stuff. And we,
we really go through and talk
about all these different
aspects of like, what it means
to be in Vancouver and what it
means to live in this community
and how we want to shape that
in a way that's positive. So
this chapter has the second
most number of goals associated
with it. So there are a lot of
goals that relate to this. And
the first one has to do a lot
with social infrastructure. So
we talk about sort of what are
the networks of physical places
and spaces in the community.
And for folks that have heard
of the term third spaces. So
these are spaces that exist
outside of your own private
residence and then your
workplace. So this is where the
local coffee shops, these are
all these types of things. And
we really kind of connect the
fact that there's a major
opportunity to develop a number
of community spaces with
developing 38,000 new units of
housing, the population growth
that we're going to have. So
it's really thinking about like,
what is the infrastructure that
is needed to support community
members in Vancouver? So it's
thinking about active and
engaged neighborhoods, social
ties. It's thinking about all
those types of things. And kind
of on a practical standpoint,
there's policies that relate to
it around like event programing,
inclusive engagement. A lot of
the work that the access and
engagement department, there's
a lot of directives that sort
of support the work they do.
There's also some connection to
community arts. So increasing
access to spaces for artists
and creatives, and then also
just thinking about
underutilized spaces that we
have in the community and how
we can maybe think about
repurposing them to be like
more interactive spaces. So I
think the example of what we
did on the Heights where we
took the parking lot and
converted it into that
demonstration project, it's
thinking about active ways to
engage folks in the community.
Inclusive environments is
another major one. So this is
thinking about an understanding
that, you know, depending on
your lived experience and, you
know, identity factors like
race, class, age, sex, gender
identity, ability, religion,
and national origin, you know,
your experience in the
community is going to differ.
And this, this goal really
helps us break down some of
those barriers and think
through that. So this is making
sure that, you know, there's
anti-discrimination things in
here as well, and making sure
that we're sort of being
responsive to what the needs of
certain communities are. So I
think one of the like a good
policy example of how this
relates is culturally
responsive design. So engaging,
you know, impacted communities
and saying like, what do we
need to address in the
development of certain types of
buildings and things like that?
Expanding representation in
public art. So making sure that
folks see themselves in their
community, literally through
the development of murals and
other community art pieces. And
then also things like language
access and culturally
responsive services falling
here to and then community
safety. This is an interesting
one. And there's a lot of
overlap between different
chapters here, but this is
thinking about like the lines
of like just the, the feeling
of having what this is actually
one of the biggest things that
we heard when we did community
engagement is, is, as you can
imagine, people talked a lot
about housing and they also
talked a lot about feeling safe
in their community. So we had a
goal on this that that really
aligns with sort of
transportation safety. So
Vision Zero, that type of stuff.
And thinking about, you know,
who's most likely to be, you
know, impacted or killed during,
you know, traffic fatalities in
our community. It's also
thinking about safety as a
resilience component. So
there's some overlap between
the climate chapter and making
sure that we're sort of a
prepared community in general
in the face of natural
disasters and events and things
like that. And how do we adapt
to certain things? So safety, I
would say, like Overlies and
relates to all those things and
the policies that relate to it
are, you know, coordination
with fire and police and
disaster recovery and emergency
response and things of that
nature, innovation. You know,
we talk a lot about innovation
in the context of like economic
developments, but we're really
applying this in this chapter
to a number of different
factors of just having this
innovative mindset as a
government and as a community,
and also allowing folks to take
risks. You know, and one of the
biggest things that we see is
when we create an environment
where people are supported to
be able to take on new
challenges and do new things,
that's where we see really
amazing innovations come in.
Some examples of the policy of
how policies relate to that for
the comp plan. So thinking
about the city, like we have a
policy in here about like pilot
projects. So, you know, trying
something new and taking a new
step and evaluating and seeing
how it goes. There's policies
in here that support that. And
then the fifth chapter or the
fifth goal is around community
pride and identity. And this is
thinking about, you know, if
somebody says, I'm from New
York or I'm from Philly, like
you have an idea of what it
means, like those places have
cultural connotations and they
have, you know, a sense of
identity in place. And, you
know, we're really thinking
about that. We've done a little
bit of that with the
development of the new flag.
And, you know, we're saying,
what does it mean to be a
vancouverite? And, you know,
that helps us as a community
for, you know, just folks
having an internal sense of
pride and understanding and who
we are. But also it connects to
economic development and people,
you know, wanting to invest
dollars in the community and
that type of stuff. So we think
a lot about this. And it was
kind of an interesting goal to
write and thinking about the
policies that relate to that.
But some of the big things
around that are just the types
of community events. We have
policies that, you know,
advance that advance that type
of stuff, event programing, the
art piece comes up as well in
terms of like expanding
representation and making sure
that the folks that, you know,
get to express their pride and
their feeling in the community
and all of that. And there's
also a connection here to place
based investments. So thinking
about like, you know, different
neighborhood corridors and
business corridors, when you
think of like the Alberta Arts
District in Portland, you know,
that's, that's a place that has
a sense of identity and pride
and thinking about those types
of spaces in Vancouver that
we're building and relaying it
with the work that we're doing
on the code of like investing
in these key centers in
Vancouver and having them
reflect the communities that
live there. So that's
essentially what this chapter
is. And we wanted to put that
right at the beginning, to kind
of frame up the rest of the
plan and say, like, we're
really thinking about people as
part of this.
>> Great. And I think important
to note that the community
Experience chapter is one and
the equity chapters two, and
those are really plan wide
lenses again, that we apply as
we think about investments and
priorities. And in the future,
that's one of the kind of
pieces of the plan. I have a
less fun chapter to cover, but
always interesting, which is
annexation. So we've got just
two goals in the annexation
chapter. Again, this is not
required, but it's an optional
element. We've consistently had
it in our comprehensive plans
over the years, and that makes
sense given that we have the
largest urban growth area in
the state. And so the first one
is to facilitate annexation of
the urban growth area. That is
what the Growth Management Act
anticipates that that areas
that are identified and then
developed urban standards will
come into incorporated areas
and have urban services
provided to them. And the
second goal is around fiscal
sustainable annexations. So
this is the idea that we're
going to need to think if we
proceed with annexations, we're
going to need to figure out how
to maintain level of service
quality services for our
existing residents, as well as
expanding those to future
residents. So this really is a
framework, I think, important
to note that unlike some of you
may be familiar with the 2008
annexation plan that had like a
really detailed phase schedule
of one different when different
geographic areas would come
into the city. The blueprint
plan is what we call it. This
is not that it doesn't say
anything about what and when.
It just says under what
conditions and what is the
information that we'll need to
know. So things like the, you
know, infrastructure
assessments, like knowing what
we're getting, what is the
state of that infrastructure
we'll need to think about
service areas, logical service
area, boundaries for the
provision of services, how
service transitions would
happen. Right. Service
transitions are sort of a
complicated thing. When you all
of a sudden an area is served
by the county. Everything from
fire, police permitting, land
use applications, code
compliance, garbage, you know,
all of that. And then the next
day it's served by the city. So
how do you do that? And we know
how to do it, but it is an
undertaking and requires quite
a bit of organization and
coordination. There are goals
and policies in here about
coordination with the county
and thinking about balanced
annexations. So annexations
that balance some of the
impacts to both jurisdictions
so that we can kind of
sustainably work together in
the future. And then I think
important is just one of the
key provisions in here is to
limit UGA expansions in the
future, so that we will conduct
robust assessments of any
county proposal to expand the
Vancouver urban growth area,
because that is just more area
we are supposed to serve
sometime in the future. And so
there is a policy kind of about
that, about managing future
obligations, liabilities
related to the size of
annexations, again, more very
unique in the state, and that
we have a very, very large
urban growth area. And it's
extremely urbanized. There's
not like a lot of land left to
be redeveloped. So that's a
pretty unique situation that
comes with its own challenges.
So this is this is what we got
for you. We've had a long six
series of workshops since
January. Thanks for sticking
with us. Walking through both
the plan and the code. Again,
we will be at the Planning
Commission on April 14th to go
through the revise the refined,
kind of updated draft of the
plan and and the close to final,
if not final draft of the plan
with them at workshop. We'll be
back to see you in late April
for another workshop. With that,
we'll then go back to the
Planning Commission for a
hearing, and then we'll
initiate the council adoption
process in May with a targeted
adoption date of June 1st. The
final environmental impact
statement, which meets the CPA
requirements for a non project
action, like a comprehensive
plan, will be released prior to
the Planning Commission public
hearing. As is our practice,
our CPA compliance documents
are published prior to them
voting, so the Council will
have them in the community will
have them for more than a month.
Before we ask you all to take a
vote on it. And I do just want
to note too, we thanks to folks
who came out for our community
presentations. We had two
in-person and two virtual and
probably about 125 folks
combined. So we appreciate it.
It was good discussion. We'll
be writing that up as part of
our full engagement summary.
That'll be in appendix to the
The Final Plan. And also just
wanted to note, we've submitted
all our drafts to Commerce. So
their 60 day clock is ticking
for them to get us comments. So
that's all we've got for you
appreciate again the time in
the last six workshops of
sticking with us. Happy to
answer any questions.
>> Thank you. Councilors
councilor Perez go ahead.
>> Thanks, Rebecca. I just
wanted to get a more emphasis
on the small business aspect.
As you mentioned, the as it
intersects with certain areas.
In particular, I was looking at
the you said the chapter one
and chapter two starts with
community engagement and then
equity. And looking at the list
of there's a social
infrastructure and such. And
then when we get to innovation,
I wanted to hear more about the
support or the framework to
have more small businesses as
they are. Half of us. Well, the
backbone of our local economic
engine here. And it wasn't
clear or it didn't stand out as
much. That intersection across
everything to really promote
and provide the support needed
for our small businesses to
really excel in place. So I
maybe it's in there and I just
didn't see it, but if there was
a better way to really
emphasize the, the small
business ecosystem support for
the long term.
>> Yeah. There is. Yes. Thank
you. There is a, oh, there's a
lot of in the economic
opportunity chapter about small
businesses, but 100% recognize
that representation in services
and culturally specific food
and all of that is like a huge
role that small businesses play
in the community experience.
And so we'll make sure to add
it there.
>> Yeah, well beyond that as
well. I mean, just their role
with the local economic engine
and, and being able to innovate
in fusion of all of that. So I
just want to make sure that we
acknowledge the role that small
businesses play up front and
center, as well as leaving the
door open to ensure that we are
removing barriers so that we
continue to promote that
economic engine, especially
when we're looking at certain
places of innovation throughout
the city. So I just want to
have that emphasized. And then
the the part of underutilized
locations I think is key and
how that intersects with this
promotion of small businesses,
because we have a lot of
underutilized spaces. And so
I'm not sure what we're
thinking about that long term
wise, but seeing how we can
start addressing some of that
under utilization going. And
for example, the height you
mentioned the Heights park. And
so that area where we have the
bicycle for the young children
to go in and learn how to I
mean, is that going to go away?
Are we replacing that and
having a new bicycle path? So
just thinking the precedents
that we're setting through
these opportunities and not
erasing them as we move forward.
Thank you.
>> Councilor. Councilor Fox.
>> Sure. Just focusing on the
community experience chapter
kind of when I, I guess, kind
of leaned out a little bit on
that, that section, I was
wondering why I didn't see more
associated policies with the
Parks and Rec chapter. It would
seem, especially for like
social infrastructure, you know,
calling out that connection as,
as being those third places,
you know, the different parks,
dog parks. Yeah, all of those
things. So I'm just wondering
what, yeah, why we shouldn't be
connecting those more. And then
the other policy that kind of
caught my eye was the community
pride and identity. One,
because I was thinking about
you used Dominique. You used
the example of, you know, when
someone says they're from New
York, what do they say? And
usually what they say is
they're they're bragging about
a sports team. You know, if
you're from LA, you're going to
I mean, most of them have
community pride around some
major team, right? Some
professional team. We don't
have that here in Vancouver.
But I do know that we've
received comments. You know, I
remember there was a a teenager
who wrote a letter early on in
this process to me and, and
told me that they loved soccer.
They were very involved in
soccer and wanted to know why
we didn't have more soccer
fields throughout the city of
Vancouver. And I think my
response to them was something
along the lines of, we don't
have a lot of open space left
in Vancouver to build more
soccer fields. But I don't
think that not having new
soccer fields would be
something that we would, would
be a reason not to include kind
of that importance of sports in
our community. Because when we
call it out in a chapter like
this, we're saying we are going
to make sure that the fields we
have are maintained well and
have those the infrastructure
there to support these teams in
the future, right? So that's
part of the thing that was
going through my mind was, and
maybe if we want to connect the
annexation piece as we're
annexing, we might actually be
adding areas where we could
have a major league team
playing in Vancouver someday. I
know that was that's been a
hope. Every once in a while it
kind of rears its head and
someone wants to bring
professional baseball here or
something else. But you know,
maybe that should be part of
our community engagement
experience. And that pride
piece.
>> I wanted to say thank you
and acknowledge that there is a
real connection between, I
think, sports and belonging.
And one thing that came to mind
specifically was the two keys
community who love volleyball.
And we don't have public
volleyball courts. And so how
could that be woven in here to
really think about that? So
yeah, we'll work on that. Thank
you.
>> Okay. And then my other on
this one piece to that
underutilized space has caught
my eye too. And I for some
reason today would not load, so
I couldn't pull the exact
wording up. But what I was a
little worried about with
underutilized spaces. So is
maybe too many resources going
to underutilized spaces and not
to our current spaces, if that
makes sense. I know we took the
opportunity in the Heights
district to make use of of that
space for many reasons. You
know, we were programing a
space where we want the
community to be excited about a
future park there someday. But
I wouldn't say that's the
reason why we would activate
other underutilized spaces.
They might not ever be a park,
right? Or they might not make
any sense from a resource and
financial standpoint for the
city to make it a park. One of
the lessons from being a
planner in a small town was
always kind of a negotiation.
When someone wanted to donate
park land to the city, because
the first thing staff would say
is, we don't have staff. We
don't have, you know, we don't
have many things. And so it was
almost as if they didn't want
the donation of the park land
for that reason. And so anyways,
I'm kind of bringing that
forward to say maybe that
particular underutilized space
needs to have a few caveats
there about resources.
>> Just to add to the
conversation, I can, you know,
the way that this is structured
now that policy reads more as
encourage the thoughtful reuse
and activation of underutilized
lands. And then it talks about
what those might be. So I think
the way that this policy was
envisioned is that when
opportunities arise, like,
rather than overlook them, take
that moment to, to sort of
think about whether or not
there is an opportunity. But I
think we can provide a little
bit more clarity that it
doesn't mean direct resources
away from our existing spaces.
>> Okay, I like that. Thank you.
And then under annexation, one
of the pieces that I'm
wondering if we can weave in
here somewhere, and I recognize
there's a couple problems with
what I'm about to say. We can't
control Clark County, but and I
say that because we see what
Clark County has built in our
urban growth areas, and it
isn't, on the most part,
consistent with the type of
development that the city would
be permitting in those spaces.
They've had a historic issue
with just plopping a lot of
residential development in the
middle of nowhere, with no
connection to services.
Nothing's within walking
distance they might not even
have put in sidewalks. So
there's no safety whatsoever
for children walking to school.
So we've inherited a lot of
really bad development choices
from the county. And I was
hoping that this chapter could
address more of a, a role that
we may have with the county to
say as they continue, because
they're continuing, you know,
you drive along out in the
middle of the county and all of
a sudden you see this whole
entire new, like, you know,
apartment complex in the middle
of nowhere, you know, next, you
know, in the middle of, you
know, cars and traffic going,
you know, 50 miles an hour next
to it. And, and I think there
it is. There's another
disconnected community in the
middle of nowhere. So could we
include in this chapter some
type of agreement with the
county that their developments
in our urban growth areas need
to be consistent with our city
development standards, because
we are going to inherit them
someday, and all they're doing
is adding to that future bill
that we will have to pay to
bring them up to those levels
of services.
>> Yes, we absolutely can. I'm
just looking because. Yeah,
under the Intergovernmental
Coordination of Annexation, it
says coordination should
include county adoption of
development regulations and
infrastructure standards for
the VGA that are consistent
with those of the city,
including agreements to
maintain existing
infrastructure prior to
annexation, community
engagement and annexation,
planning and implementation,
and generally advanced
Vancouver as a provider of
urban services in Clark County.
As a provider of social and
regional services.
>> You're talking. Oops, just
disappeared on me again. Gosh
darn it, you're talking about
the. Intergovernmental
intergovernmental coordination.
Yeah, but that says right there
that it's with facilitate
annexation. So when I'm
speaking about unless I'm
missing a nuance, here is us
discussing what's happening
right now.
>> Yeah, we can make that clear.
I do think it anticipates this
idea that they would adopt
standards in advance of
annexation that would implement
build new things to urban
standards. So we can clarify
that that's what the intent is
there.
>> Yeah, because I'm not
reading that there. That to me
says, you know, we've made
plans to annex and then we're
working with them versus right
now, we don't have any set time
frame for annexation. But
meanwhile, developments
continue. And like I said,
they're just adding to the debt
load on our part. Yep. Okay.
>> And that's actually
something the Planning
Commission chair wanted us to
clarify so we can figure out
how to do that. But but his
point, you know, was that as
time goes on, the unfunded
liability associated with sub
substandard or non urban
standards grows especially for
the city. So we can yep.
>> Very eloquent way to say
just what I said in less words.
All right. Those were
everything that I had. Thank
you.
>> Rebecca is there anything in
here that we should make sure
allows us to discuss? A
regional fire authority?
>> Let us take a look at that
and where that might fit. I
think, you know, regional
service provision, we should
probably have a policy around
it.
>> Because we are talking about
we have regional libraries.
We're talking about the
possibility of regional parks,
regional fire authorities. We
have a number of different
conversations that might be
happening. Let's see if we can
get the language in there that
encourages it or allows it, or
expects it. All right. Okay.
Yes, councilor. Go ahead.
>> Thank you for bringing that
up. I was also thinking about
the recent issue or
complication with the regional
libraries, and how that may
conflict with our language in
our plan here. And so just
thinking what that would mean
for us long term. So I, I don't
have an answer, but I wasn't
sure if you had given that any
thought. Or would it matter if
in the future some of these
regional. Entities or
organizations come out with
something completely opposite
of what we would we're putting
in our comprehensive plan, and
I'm using the example of the
issue with the equity language
in the regional libraries.
>> Yeah. I mean, the comp plan
isn't going to speak to future.
Okay. Disconnects with non, you
know, potential future regional
service providers. But I think
the thing that annexation does
facilitate is a consistent
policy direction across a wider
range of areas that has a lot
of interdependency. And so city
policy, city standards, you
know, would would apply to
those areas that come into come
into the city. And that just
provides a lot greater
consistency in policy approach
as well as kind of everything
else.
>> Okay.
>> All right. Thank you so very
much. Thank you. All right.
Take care.
>> Thank you.
>> Councilor Reule. Go ahead
and excuse ourselves. Grab a
quick bite to eat. Be back at
630 for our regular council
meeting.