Building_development + Cross_cutting

1:21:57 the city and the county that is absolutely crucial so that's that's what i'll say for now and i'll hope that people in positions to make decisions will read some of the things that i've previously written um the urban growth area i don't mean to belabor it but it's been a problem for many years i've been here for many years and i've seen the problems and i'd like to see some real progress in redressing those problems without having to wait another 20 years thank you please state your name for the record before beginning your comments my name is brian watson and thank you for this time and i appreciate the work you've done on the comprehensive plan i'm a member of clark county's bicycle pedestrian advisory committee though i bring

1:22:56 nothing in directly from them i'm simply here to represent myself as a citizen of the county uh out in salmon creek um i would like to see the comprehensive plan approved and move forward because it does help um the county plan itself i'm excited about the high density housing um the doing away with the uh looking at the minimums instead of the maximums focusing on that um for the nodes and the corridors because that greatly helps me as a non-driving resident in the county where the county wants to align with the infrastructure there on focusing um its its infrastructure built out along those corridors um that's all i have to say thank you thank you please call the next two people taber kelly and gabriella

1:23:55 ewing please state your name for the record before beginning your comments uh taber kelly uh good evening commission nurse um as some of you are already aware there are some things that made it into this comp plan that i wish weren't in there among them are open space minimums and impervious surface maximums which include residential structures and the buffering between zones there's also um far more overlay districts than than uh ab well than necessary i would say um all of this will increase housing prices during a housing emergency with that

1:24:46 said this comp plan is uh much better than the status quo and i encourage this uh this commission to to vote to um to advance it uh especially since it is essentially five years late at this point um uh with that said thank you for your time thank you please state your name for the record before beginning your comments and there's a little button that looks like a person if you just want to press that perfect thank you thank you good evening my name is gabriella ewing i am the executive director for hispanic disability support of south was washington pass it to see jantes i am one of those cbo members working along with dominic meredith and rebecca thank you so much for all your hard work to fulfill

1:25:42 our wishes and wants of what we wanted to do to be able to work in this comprehensive plan and i'm here obviously to give my full support to this comp plan and to ask you to make that recommendation to our city council representatives and um i just want to say that i'm so happy to see that the outreach was very inclusive i can speak for the families that i support in clark county this plant will help with the cost of living you know everybody knows that the growth that we are experiencing here in clark county is extremely high so this will allow for multi-generational families to have um better opportunities to

1:26:37 find housing and also to provide for their loved ones as you know people with intellectual developmental disabilities have a harder time finding a home for their loved ones and we don't have many options here in the county so um i just want to say please um do what is necessary to to pass this plan and hopefully it will be like yes after five five years well i have worked in this for almost three years so um thank you so much for the work that you do and also for the staff thank you thank you for everything you've done to bring us all together and to collaborate in this comp plan that's all i have to say thank you

1:27:24 thank you please call the next two people tom knappenberg and ben mccarty please state your name for the record before beginning your comments and there's a little button with a person on it right there thank you so much all right thank you tom knappenberger 1713 northwest 75th street vancouver thank you for this opportunity to address the planning zoning commission i have four overarching points i'd like to make and the address process the process is important because as you all know it determines outcomes first of all i'd ask you to please delay adoption of this update in order to give people more time to understand

1:28:20 and comment while the city's been engaged in this for three years most people excuse me have not had the opportunity to tune into this there are all important details of lot sizes building heights other increased density issues that have been public only since february 19th and have been tweaked since then as we heard tonight even up till uh april 7th the plan's complexity and scope require time to absorb and understand you could ask a thousand people on the streets around town and i'll wager that fewer than 50 of them are aware of this process and only a handful would know what it means for their neighborhood fears that the city will lose state grant funding appear overstated are not a good reason to rush through such momentous changes the county and some of the smaller cities are moving

1:29:15 slower and don't seem concerned about this so please give us all time excuse me please give all us the time that this far-reaching redesign of our city needs and deserves number two i'd like to ask why the city is requiring more density than is required by the population estimates given it by the state and county meeting the increased density of the county provided population forecast adding more people and cars while reducing parking along with infrastructure demands will be difficult enough thirdly the city should cooperate closely with the county and designing density for the city's urban growth area there are nearly as many people 171 000 in the uga as there are in the city of vancouver it makes no sense to me to require increased density in the city without concomitant density in the areas expected to be a part of our city and lastly the draft plan speaks at length to creating

1:30:14 a positive quote community experience for all residents please consider ways to mitigate the impact of increased population and density in our existing neighborhoods for longtime citizens as well as newcomers in my last 24 seconds i'd like to commend roberta she's been hard working very patient an example of just exemplary city employees so thank you rebecca wherever you are thank you please state your name for the record before beginning your comments uh good evening my name is ben mccarty i'm the vice president of northwest neighborhood association i live at 906 northwest 51st street in vancouver i'm here tonight on my own behalf to encourage you to recommend the placement of northwest neighborhood entirely within the low scale neighborhood designation the environmental impact statement for the proposed comprehensive update states that intense development is focused in specific areas like urban centers and corridors however when the misnamed medium scale is applied

1:31:11 to previously low density areas we're no longer looking at simple increased densification is intended by the new state requirements we're looking at the encouragement of intense development and maximum infill with intense impacts on the environment on infrastructure and in the ability of the public and wildlife to access critical green spaces that are now walled off behind wood concrete and glass the is hand waves these concerned away by saying that all changes will be quote incremental but the pace of change is something beyond the city's control and external forces don't just disappear because they want them to the preferred alternative the city projects that this designated zones will yield 44 000 housing units over the life of the plan city's target is 38 000 moving the northwest neighborhood entirely in the low scale would have minimal to no impact on the city's goals instead of embracing the use of potentially destructive medium scale zoning in neighborhoods such as northwest the can logistically handle growth at that level i would encourage you to embrace smart growth and the true middle housing intended by the legislature and return the northwest neighborhood to the low scale designation i received mixed messages from the city on

1:32:11 why the neighborhood has been placed mostly in the medium scale and the preferred alternative after being almost entirely low scale on alternative one and two on one hand compromises to medium scale zoning have been rejected because they would quote be too restrictive to what developers could do i've been told that the neighborhood had to be included in medium scale due to equity concerns and because quote developers do not take down new 1.5 million dollar homes to make multi-family housing they take down older homes end quote in areas where the residents don't have the wealth or resources to fight maximum infill projects on the other hand i'm told intense development probably won't happen in our neighborhood anyway that's true then moving the neighborhood to low scale will have no practical impact on equity or the city's projected yields or targets however if the hope is to encourage investment groups and large developers to bid for land and homes against first-time home buyers and senior citizens and to cut the middle out of middle housing then by all means leave the plan as is because that's what would happen i share the city's desire to see to increase density as it grows and also to increase density and growth in my own neighborhood but it should

1:33:10 be done in a way that is pro people pro housing accessibility and pro upward mobility i would encourage you to choose people over profits equitable solutions over private equity middle housing over the mega rich and smart development over wealthy developers and to recommend the placement of the northwest neighborhood entirely in the low scale neighborhood designation thank you for your time your consideration tonight for your efforts thank you please call the next two people that's all we have signed up for tonight okay i believe that takes us back into deliberation if we can welcome back our presenters to the table there commissioner cal any further comments for three and a half years i don't think i have

1:34:08 any more thank you okay vice chair pile further comments i just want to address a couple of the um the public's comments tonight because i i'm also intrigued and some of this is i think within the scope of the comprehensive plan some of it is out but rebecca could you briefly address the city and county cooperation comments because i think they're valid and i'm curious as well absolutely um i think um and i hope that's as clear in the annexation chapter um as well as some of the additions we made on the at the recommendation of you all about talking about the experience of living in a different jurisdiction when everything's all connected um but so i think there's should there's a recognition by the city um that it is connected right for us to achieve our climate goals housing goals um employment

1:35:08 jobs housing balance goals you know we we do need to work together um not just with the county but also with smaller cities and and our partners to the south the jobs market the housing market right these are regional things and no one can solve some of the issues we are going to encounter on their own without without collaboration um and that being said we are we are sort of we are constrained by jurisdictional authority and and so the county is planning for more intense development in the urban growth area than the current is currently allowed um they held a hearing last night and this morning on the adoption of their preferred alternative um the other jurisdictions in the county are also proposing um more intense development capacity to meet the requirements of 12 20 in particular but also for canvas

1:36:01 moshe 11 10 and we do coordinate regularly there's a monthly meeting between representatives