A bill passed during the last legislative session is creating more work for counties updating their Comprehensive Growth Management plans before the state’s June 30, 2025, deadline. Clark County is no exception.
On Wednesday, the Clark County Council held a work session on how changes related to House Bill 1181 will be incorporated into the county’s 20-year growth plan.
Since 1990, Washington cities and counties have been required to formally plan for future growth under the state’s Growth Management Act. Under the act, local jurisdictions must limit sprawl, and focus population and development growth in existing urban areas.
With HB 1181 now law, the county will have to take action to reduce or eliminate present and future greenhouse gas emissions to reduce the rate and extent of climate change damage. Examples of climate actions include addressing air and water pollution in historically impacted communities, expanding housing capacity within urban growth areas, preserving green spaces and upgrading roads to accommodate multimodal lanes, according to the bill.
Additionally, counties with a population of at least 200,000 people, which includes Clark County, and cities with at least 6,000 people must create road maps to cut human-caused greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled per capita.
Jenna Kay from Community Planning said assistance will be available to help the county implement needed changes and that she would let the council know when programs and funding from the state become available.
Kay said the bill also requires the Department of Commerce to create guidance for counties and cities in updating their growth plans to include climate elements. She said intermediate guidance for updates due in 2025 will be available by the end of this year.
“As the county begins this work, we do have a lot of access to resources and information coming directly from the state but also other places as well,” Kay told the council.
Those other resources include local jurisdictions that have been working to address climate change prior to the bill’s passage.
“In 2022, the Vancouver City Council, for instance, adopted a climate action framework. They’re the only city in the county with an adopted climate plan that staff is aware of,” Kay added.
Councilor Gary Medvigy said he wants to ensure the updates to include climate action are done with transparency and public engagement.
“I’m hopeful that we’ll have planned open houses, a mechanism to tap into the public on all these issues,” Medvigy said.
Medvigy said the county needs to engage as many available resources as possible, whether they’re in the public, at the state or another jurisdiction. He also questioned whether the county had sufficient staff to work on the updates.
Community Planning Director Oliver Orjiako said he was creating an internal team comprised of staff from Public Health, Public Works and other departments to meet those needs.
“This will touch so many departments, so many programs,” Orjiako said.
Community Planning will also create a technical advisory team from outside organizations and individuals, Orjiako added. He said an announcement related to this would be coming soon.
To watch the full work session, go to https://clark.wa.gov/councilors/clark-county-council-meetings.
