The 2025 Comprehensive Plan sets density, infrastructure, and transportation commitments for the next 20 years. Work sessions are happening now. Written comments are accepted at any time and become part of the permanent record.
The Comprehensive Plan is where the County decides how much development to allow and how much infrastructure to build. The concurrency code — the rule that’s supposed to keep those two things in balance — only works if the plan behind it is realistic.
Right now, the plan isn’t realistic. The County selected Preferred Alternative 2 in April, increasing density in corridors where developer-commissioned traffic studies already show the roads failing. The developer’s own traffic engineer identified 22 corridors exceeding the V/C 0.90 standard — almost all in Salmon Creek/Fairgrounds and SR-503/Brush Prairie. Infrastructure promised in 2019 is years behind schedule. The six-year GMA deadline passed in November 2025 with no major corridor projects complete.
The transportation chapters of the Comp Plan — coming up in July — are where these issues get decided. Your written comments go on the permanent record and must be considered before adoption.
Work sessions are open to the public but do not include verbal public comment. Written testimony is accepted at any time and goes on the permanent record. Transportation sessions are highlighted below.
Wednesdays, typically 9:00 AM, 6th floor Public Service Center (1300 Franklin St.) or via Webex
| Date | Topics |
|---|---|
| June 10 | Community Framework, Environment, Parks, Historic, Economic Development, Schools, Community Design, Annexation, Shoreline, Climate |
| July 1 | Transportation chapter, project list, and evaluation criteria (moved from June 24); Land Use, Housing, Rural, Mobile Home code |
| July 15 | Transportation appendix, Capital Facilities Plan chapter and appendix, Capital Facilities Financial Plan |
| July 22 | Housing and transportation development code changes, Introduction, Procedural chapters |
| July 29 | School and fire district capital facility plans, impact fees |
Thursdays, 5:30 PM, 6th floor training room or via Webex
| Date | Topics |
|---|---|
| June 18 | Introduction, Land Use, Rural, Procedural |
| July 2 | Schools, Housing, Transportation, project list, evaluation criteria |
| July 16 | Transportation appendix, Capital Facilities |
| July 30 | Additional appendices |
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| July 24 | Final EIS issued; documents submitted to Commerce for 60-day review |
| Aug 6 | Planning Commission work session |
| Aug 20 | Planning Commission hearing (Comp Plan text, Title 40, Capital Facilities) |
| Sep 3 | Planning Commission deliberation |
| Sep 16 | Council work session |
| Oct 6 | Council hearing and deliberation |
| Oct 13 | Council adoption (Final Ordinance) |
| Oct 23 | Notice of adoption — triggers 60-day GMA appeal period |
Full schedule: County project timeline (PDF) →
You don’t need to be an engineer. You live here, you drive these roads, and you can read a traffic study. Here are specific points you can raise in written comments. Use your own words — personal comments carry more weight than form letters.
The 179th corridor was supposed to develop with a balance of housing and employment. Instead, it’s become almost entirely residential. The County rezoned commercial land to housing in 2023. The City of Vancouver warned in 2024 that the corridor lacks the employment land needed to reduce vehicle trips. Without jobs nearby, every new home adds more commuter traffic to roads that are already failing. The Comp Plan needs to address the jobs-housing imbalance before adding more housing.
Washington’s HB 1181 requires the Comp Plan to reduce per capita vehicle miles traveled. The City of Vancouver formally stated the draft plan “appears to violate HB 1181 GMA climate mandates.” The 179th corridor has no transit service, no continuous sidewalk network, no protected bike facilities, and no mixed-use centers. Adding density without the multimodal infrastructure to support it locks in automobile-dependent patterns for the next 20 years and moves VMT in the wrong direction.
The GMA requires that the Comp Plan’s transportation investments be financially constrained — the County can only plan for projects it can actually pay for. Key corridor projects aren’t on the Reasonably Funded Project List. The I-5/179th interchange is a WSDOT project the County can’t build or guarantee. A 20-year plan that depends on unfunded projects isn’t a plan — it’s a wish list.
State law (RCW 36.70A.110) directs growth to areas with adequate existing infrastructure. Other parts of the urban growth area have roads, transit, sidewalks, and commercial services already in place. The Comp Plan should prioritize growth in areas that can support it today, not in corridors where the County is still years away from delivering what it promised in 2019.
Over 2,900 housing units have been approved in the 179th corridor, generating more than 33,000 daily vehicle trips. Most of those homes haven’t been built yet. When they are, the traffic will arrive on roads that still won’t be finished. That’s the whole reason concurrency exists — to prevent the problem before it becomes visible. The Comp Plan is a 20-year document. Ask the County what this corridor looks like in 2045 if density increases and the roads still aren’t built.
Tip: Use your own words — personal comments carry more weight than form letters. If you can name specific roads, intersections, or daily experiences, do it. You don’t need to cite code sections. You live here. That’s your expertise.
Written comments are accepted at any time throughout the process and become part of the permanent record. You do not need to attend a work session to comment.
Email: comp.plan@clark.wa.gov
Mail: Community Planning, PO Box 9810, Vancouver, WA 98666-9810
Online: Submit Public Comment →
Reference the 2025 Comprehensive Plan Update and the specific chapter (Transportation, Capital Facilities, Land Use) in your subject line.
Build the roads before you add the density
The County promised infrastructure when it lifted urban holding in 2019. Six years later, no major corridor project is complete. Over $227 million in road projects are years behind schedule. Adding more density to a corridor that can’t handle the development already approved is planning backwards. The Comp Plan should not increase density in areas where existing infrastructure commitments haven’t been met.