The updated comprehensive plan sets environmental goals to achieve a 27% tree canopy, advance green infrastructure, and ensure equitable access to parks and trails. While some residents expressed concerns that increased residential infill development could restrict access to existing green spaces, city officials also outlined future planning efforts to address park funding, impact fees, and open space accessibility.
Forests_green_space
Vancouver City Council · Jun 01, 2026 · 1:48:14–1:48:24 · Watch on CVTV ↗
Keywords: trails urban forest forestry tree canopy open space Parks parks
What was said
1:47:14 many times on this dais but I do work for the Washington Department of Commerce, I work for the growth management services unit but I don't have any authority over the city of Vancouver's comprehensive plan proposals, there is actually in this case actually no approval authority by commerce, they simply review for consistency with the laws that have been explained tonight so I just want to put that out so that would be why I can fully stand here in my capacity as a city council member and I can also say why I love this comprehensive plan that's before us, one of the things that I find amazing and this is probably just being a planner in the world but every comprehensive plan has to be internally consistent so each one of these chapters has to work with the other chapters and so we're not just here talking about housing tonight or changes in a residential zone but we're also talking
1:48:10 about our transportation, planning, our roadways, we're talking about how our parks and our trails work with all of these places, we're talking about climate change and we're talking about economic development which we've heard folks talk about and each one of these all work together and it's amazing and it's a spectacular piece of work and I am very proud of our staff for putting all of this together and final note is just a raise up that this action tonight if we approve it would be replacing our entire title 20 which is our zoning code and again stressing that I am a complete planner nerd, it is exciting as heck to see this code be transformed into something a lot more understandable. For those of you not in this world, when you see a development table that has like 20 or 30 footnotes, you know there's a problem and so this update reduces
1:49:08 all of those footnotes, it just makes it a lot more readable, it turns it into what we call a form-based code system which has been explained many times but we've got these really cool things like build two lines and we have new codes around tree planting and landscaping and buffers
Evidence (1 match)
direct keyword 1:48:14–1:48:24 trails, urban forest, forestry, tree canopy, open space, Parks, parks
chapters has to work with the other chapters and so we're not just here talking about housing tonight or changes in a residential zone but we're also talking about our transportation, planning, our roadways, we're talking about how our parks and our trails work with all of these places, we're talking about climate change and we're talking about economic development which we've heard folks talk about and each one of these all work together and it's amazing and it's a spectacular piece of work and