Planning commission recommendation would allow for 700 new homes near fairgrounds

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The Clark County Planning Commission has voted to recommend removing an urban holding overlay from more than 140 acres east of the Interstate 5/179th Street interchange.

The commission voted 4-0 to remove the overlay on land, the majority of which was north of Northeast 179th Street and directly west of Northeast 50th Avenue, during their Feb. 21 meeting. The planned development of the 140 acres would have more than 600 single family detached homes and nearly 100 townhomes.

Clark County Planner Matt Herman explained the urban holding designation is applied to lands within a city’s urban growth area boundary which don’t currently have the infrastructure needed for development. 

The designation was first applied in 2004, Herman said, and includes a total of about 2,200 acres to the north of Vancouver city limits. In September 2018 the commission voted to recommend removal of urban holding from 40 acres directly East of the interstate interchange.

The Clark County Council made the final approval of removal for that land in December. Those 40 acres have the potential for 200 single-family homes and more than 300 apartments, according to information provided at the council meeting.

As part of the urban holding removal, more than $116 million in investments are planned for local roads including more than $50 million for improving the I-5/179th Street interchange. Herman explained the interchange replacement funds came from Connecting Washington legislation.



Other road improvements included 179th Street from Delfel Road to Northeast 15th Avenue, an extension of 15th Avenue from 179th Street to 10th Avenue and work at 179th Street’s intersections at Northeast 29th and Northeast 50th avenues.

Regarding funding not covered in Connecting Washington legislation, Clark County Public Works Director Ahmad Qayoumi explained county council had directed the formation of a committee consisting of members from the development community, county staff and representatives of nearby cities. The group was in the process of meeting to look at funding avenues which eventually they will present to the county council for approval.

Randy Printz, representing the applicant, Holt Homes, explained that they and the county had been working on the urban holding removal for several years. He said that removal was the culmination of a comprehensive growth management plan adopted in 2007, adding the matter was a routine process.

Printz explained that the urban holding removal would be contingent on county council adopting a funding plan that “reasonably funds” the transportation improvements in six years. He noted that removal of the designation wasn’t an approval of the development proper, explaining that for any construction to begin the development would need to go through a process including a land use hearing examiner and preliminary plat application among other things.

With the commission’s vote the recommendation to remove the overlay now heads to Clark County Council for final approval before the removal is made.