RIDGEFIELD — More than a dozen private and public officials, along with dozens of audience members, congregated at one of the Clark County Fairgrounds exhibition halls Sept. 27 for a roundtable discussion regarding the Discovery Corridor development, voicing their own visions and concerns for creating commerce along Interstate 5.
Two panels, one focused on schools and infrastructure and another focused on community and business, addressed the audience on where their organizations play into the Discovery Corridor, land along Interstate 5 roughly bounded by exits 16 and 7.
Stakeholders included officials from Citizens for Ridgefield Schools, WSDOT, WSU Vancouver, Clark College, the Port of Ridgefield, the cities of La Center, Ridgefield and Vancouver, the Clark Regional Wastewater District and CTRAN for the first panel, and Fort Vancouver Regional Library, the Neighborhood Association Council of Clark County, the Clark County Sheriff’s and Public Works departments, Clark County Fire and Rescue, Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center and the Battle Ground Chamber of Commerce.
The event was chiefly coordinated by Bridget Schwarz, leader of the Fairgrounds Neighborhood Association. She explained her own stake in the development, mentioning that she is a fourth-generation resident of the area, living on part of 160 acres near the fairgrounds.
In gathering people for the panels, she asked those she determined as relevant whether they thought of themselves as stakeholders in the Discovery Corridor, and also whether they were coordinating with other stakeholders and whether they would like to take part in the discussion. She said previous to the roundtable stakeholders weren’t really coordinating their vision for the area.
Schwarz explained that the neighborhood was “ground zero” for the corridor due to its location near the connection of I-5 and I-205 on the southern end of the area.
Schwarz sent out a survey to stakeholders asking what they thought were the priorities of the development. One of the questions had to do with land use designations along the corridor, which Schwarz said had the most responders picking mixed-use which she found surprising, which tied with light industrial for the choices with the most responses.
Responders overwhelmingly said that transportation infrastructure was the most important issue to focus on, specifically safety followed by increased capacity on I-5, Schwarz said.
Also helping in the organization was Chuck Green, chairman of the Middle Class Alliance, who Schwarz said he was ‘invaluable’ for helping with putting the roundtable together. After the stakeholders gave brief synopses of their own focuses, plans and concerns he facilitated discussion among the panelists.
The roundtable did not have a true question and answer period for the audience as time ran short, though some individuals spoke out about their own concerns, including stormwater impact from development as well as a lack of representation of rural landowners in the area. Green mentioned concerns he heard specifically on rural impacts as well as the request for a chance at a spot analysis from community members to detail strengths and weaknesses evident in the possible development.
There are plans for a future panel, as many in the audience showed a desire for opportunity with a chance at asking questions. Schwarz said any planning for that would start after the November election.
