County to hold forum on rural event venues, rules

Clark County will hold a forum to get feedback and answer questions regarding proposed changes to county requirements for rural event venues.

The forum is scheduled from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 9 in the sixth-floor hearing room of the Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin St. The meeting is open to the public and seeks to build on a previous forum held in July.

The county is considering a proposal to allow private event venues in rural areas of unincorporated Clark County as a permitted property use, according to a county press release. Such rural event venues would be operated independently of those currently allowed as an accessory use to a winery and would be available for weddings, celebrations and other private events the press release states.

The next steps involve staff developing a recommendation that will be considered by the county council.

Community Development Director Mitch Nickolds will facilitate the roundtable discussion at the meeting that will include other county staff.

Written comments can be submitted by email to ruralvenues@clark.wa.gov or by mail to P.O, Box 9810, Vancouver, WA 98660. Comments can also be delivered to the third-floor reception area in the Public Service Center at 1300 Franklin St.

All comments received may be shared at the forum and will be available for public review. Following the forum, staff will collect additional written comments submitted through 5 p.m. Oct. 18.

To learn about current requirements for event-related activity on private property in Clark County, links to relevant code sections are available at: https://www.clark.wa.gov/community-development/rural-event-venues-forum