The Clark County Council District 3 seat currently held by Karen Bowerman will be filled next year by either Chuck Keplar, John Jay or Wil Fuentes.
Bowerman and fellow councilor Gary Medvigy — in their fourth and sixth years on the council, respectively, and most experienced council members — are not running for reelection.
Keplar, Jay and Fuentes all call Vancouver home. That’s where the similarities generally end.
Growth plan
Whoever is elected will be coming in at the final year of a multiyear process to update the county’s comprehensive growth plan. Already a complex and challenging process, updating the growth plan was made even more difficult by the addition of a climate element during last year’s legislative session. How will each candidate ensure they are up to speed and ready to get to work?
“One of the things I’m doing right now is educating myself on all the issues. I’ve actually been able to connect with the current council members and get information from them,” Keplar said.
He said he wants to be “on his forward foot” and ready to jump in from day one. Keplar ran for a school board seat in Evergreen Public Schools in 2023 and has lived in Clark County for 24 years.
Fuentes previously served on a comprehensive plan steering committee in Hillsboro, Ore. That experience was invaluable. He said he was able to “wrap his head around” the purpose and importance of the growth plan.
“I got a pretty clear understanding of what that process looks like. We were able to provide tons of feedback, talk to community members, engage in conversations and provide recommendations,” Fuentes said.
Fuentes, who has a professional background in banking operations and managing nonprofit programs, said he’s also been studying the previous county growth plan, as well as Vancouver’s plan, to get better insight to the current needs.
A marketing professional in the financial services sector, Jay said he knows being a county councilor will be demanding. He may not have prior experience working with the state-mandated comprehensive plan, but he said he’s ready to learn.
“I’ve never been afraid to dive into the numbers … and figure out complicated things,” he said. “I would work with staff, speak to current councilors and outgoing councilors; I will meet with anybody on the planning commission.”
Housing
All three candidates said they want to focus the growth plan on addressing the county’s continuing housing crisis. How they plan to resolve the crisis varies.
Keplar, who owns and operates a construction company, said the county needs to make more land available for development.
“Our housing prices are so high because we’ve limited the number of lots out there that our builders are just bidding with each other. There needs to be a strategic plan that opens up land and brings housing costs down,” he said.
Keplar said the costs associated with building some homes has made them essentially “unbuildable” in the eyes of developers.
For Fuentes, addressing housing needs will rely on rezoning major corridors, such as Highway 99, reducing parking requirements and increasing housing density. One example, he said, is multifamily apartment complexes that have access to public transportation.
“I think a lot of people would be open to building an (accessory dwelling unit) on their 6,000- or 7,000-square-foot lot. They would be open to a duplex, or triplex and even a fourplex. It’s already been proven that it works in other jurisdictions,” Fuentes said.
Jay said housing is the great challenge of our time.
“It’s becoming an increasingly difficult goal, especially for younger adults,” he said. “Incomes are not keeping up with to let you make a down payment on a home or the ability to buy a home.”
Jay said homeownership is important because it ties people to their community, gives them a foundation to build generational wealth and raise a family. To address the housing shortage, he said he wants to focus on sustainable development and bringing in higher-paying jobs.
Density
In areas where there’s less buildable land available, many cities, especially Vancouver, are already putting greater emphasis on increasing housing density. This includes apartment complexes with dozens or even hundreds of new apartments, smaller scale condominiums, duplexes and triplexes.
Increased density is less appealing to Keplar. He said many people come to Clark County because they want a home with a yard and a place for the kids to play. He said the desire for single-family homes remains strong.
“That’s something we definitely need to maintain if we’re going to keep Clark County the way it’s been,” he said.
Fuentes said meeting the demand for housing is a delicate balancing act. But maintaining that balance is difficult when everyone is moving in different directions.
He said housing density plays a key role in preserving the agricultural lands and green spaces that are disappearing from Clark County. But some communities, such as Camas and Ridgefield, are resistant to the idea of increasing density. Others, such as Vancouver, are more flexible.
“The county can’t force these folks into changing their zoning laws to increase density. But they themselves are not willing to initiate these conversations,” he said. “I want to go all in. I want to have these conversations with the community leaders in Ridgefield and Camas and Washougal.”
Fuentes said he wants to understand why some communities are resistant to increasing density and where the resistance comes from.
“Density has to be part of the equation,” Jay said. “It’s a tough balance.”
He said increasing density will give more residents the chance to buy a starter home, condominium or townhome. Jay said he’s not opposed to single-family homes, just the assumption that’s what all homebuyers want.
Rather than moving or expanding urban growth boundaries, Jay said we need to make the best use of the land we currently have.
