Building_development + Wildlife_habitat

57:22 and we want to know that we are going to preserve the houses and the manufactured home parks that we have. That is what the Clark County Council is trying to do, but the concern that I have is that if you annex us, all of the parks, we've got about 35 or 36 in unincorporated Clark County, and then we have about, what is that, 2,000 units with many more people, we can easily lose our homes. And so I would, the Clark County Council is about to implement and start working on their 20-year plan. And as far as we know, we are still protected to be and maintain our manufactured home parks. Some of them, they're gonna make changes and they're gonna have some interesting things

58:20 to help the people that are in parks that are like super rundown, like the one on 99 that's the evergreen habitat for humanity is going to try to make homes. But we need, we're just, we're elderly people, we live in a 55 and older community and we need to preserve our homes. And so I'm not sure, I don't know a lot about the plan, but I think that these gentlemen are right. To change everything and you need to take more time and ask for more information and input from the community. God bless America. Thank you. - Josh, no thank you please. Josh. - Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name's Josh Harmon, I'm resident of Vancouver, also a lifelong resident of Clark County for context.

59:16 I urge you to pass the plan tonight as is, recognizing that most of the changes it makes fix significant problems that have existed in our community for a long time that have made it environmentally unsustainable and increasingly unaffordable to people living in the community. I know there's a mention of how when communities change it can make it unlivable for existing residents, but also communities can become unlivable also when they don't change at all, when they don't adapt to the needs of their community. Where I grew up in Salmon Creek there was no way I could grow up there today, because my parents never made enough money to live in that place, and that's something that's close to my heart. Now that's Clark County, but Vancouver has largely the same problems. For a long time overly abundant parking has caused us to build things

1:00:16 where three quarters of a site is parking and not some actual use, whether it be commercial, whether it be residential, and it's made it difficult to walk places, it's made it environmentally unsustainable, and it's created this housing crisis that we have now, which then feeds homelessness, which then feeds all kinds of other problems that are very expensive and detrimental to our community. I also wanted to make sure to thank Rebecca and the other community planning staff for their work throughout this process. I attended multiple of the workshops and appreciated learning about the plan and being able to give input, and I found them very professional and also very professional and patient even when they were fielding questions from people who are very passionately opposed

1:01:16 to the changes in this plan or for what they want their community to look like going forward. I also urge it to be approved tonight, recognizing that it's important, given Washington state law, that we adopt a new comprehensive plan now. We're already about six months overdue from the original deadline, as I understand, and the only reason, as I understand, we have not faced penalties for this is because the state department that oversees comprehensive planning recognizes that our staff are making a good faith effort to comply with state law, changes that have happened over several years, and that we're not playing games with actually working toward those goals. Thank you. - Thank you, Paul. - Good evening, mayor, council members, and staff. My name's Paul Burgess. I'm the executive director of Fourth Plain Forward, and I'm here to support the adoption of the draft comprehensive plan.

1:02:15 We see it as an equitable plan, one that's built to keep the city accountable to the whole community. The plan identifies several areas of highest need, Fourth Plain, Fruit Valley, and areas of East 205 amongst them, and commits to prioritizing investment to them first. For many years, nonprofit organizations have worked in these communities, and it's critical that the city prioritize this investment behind the work they've been doing. I want to highlight four specific areas that really stand out as both well-designed and are much needed. On displacement, the plan prioritizes anti-displacement strategies in the areas most vulnerable to market pressure ahead of market investment. It backs that with tenant protections, emergency rental assistance, relocation assistance, right of first refusal, and community ownership models that help residents stay in their homes. With 53% of Vancouver renters cost-burdened, those protections are needed. On housing, the plan allows middle housing, duplexes, triplexes, cottage clusters across all lower medium-scale residential neighborhoods.

1:03:14 That distributes growth across the whole city rather than concentrating it in the corridors that have always absorbed it in the past. That's an equitable approach, and it's the right one. On climate, the plan directly invests, directs early investment in tree canopy and green stormwater infrastructure into the areas identified as highest risk. Again, the Fourth Plain Corridor, Fruit Valley, and East Vancouver. These are the same areas with the lowest tree canopy, some at just 9% against a 28% citywide target. These neighborhoods also carried the greatest health disparities. Directing investment here first is the right call. And on economic opportunity, Goal E04 directs place-based investments to neighborhood business districts like the Fourth Plain Corridor, supporting the small businesses that anchor those communities and keeping wealth circulating locally. That work is needed, and it aligns with what we see on the ground every day. These are sound, equitable commitments. The plan is robust, well-considered, and has been created with a broad and effective community engagement process.

1:04:13 Fourth Plain Forward encourages the council to adopt this plan. Thank you. - Thank you. Let's have Chatham Olive, Ben McCarty, Shabana McEwen, Don Sankey, and Patrick Itagwami.