Crews work at the Hills at Round Lake, a new 333-lot housing development in Camas. The subdivision is one of dozens of construction projects planned for this year.Photo Gallery
Take a quick drive eastward from the west end of Camas and you’ll notice ongoing construction projects at Fisher Investments’ second tower and a new 89-acre subdivision near Woodburn Elementary School.
That’s just the start of what officials say will be an exceptionally busy summer for developers throughout the city as dozens of new projects appear ready to break ground this year. The city issued about 120 building permits in 2013, but it’s on pace to hand out nearly twice as many this year, Phil Bourquin, the city’s community development director, said.
“We’re anticipating that somewhere in August or September, there’s going to be a big push to get foundations in the ground before winter starts,” Bourquin said. “And I expect we’ll be well over 200 permits this year — probably in the range of 225 or 230 for single-family dwellings.”
Camas hasn’t seen so much development activity in nearly a decade, since the year leading up to the Great Recession, he said. Most of the projects will come in the form of new single-family housing developments, many of which were mapped out years ago and put on hold when the economy took a steep decline around 2007.
“We had a lot of subdivisions that had preliminary approvals before the market crashed,” Bourquin said. “The state Legislature extended the timelines on those for expiration. A lot of those are running into those timelines, and then you put together a market that’s improving.”
One of the largest subdivisions, the Hills at Round Lake, is already under construction just north of Lacamas Park and right across the street from Woodburn Elementary. In all, the new east-end development has 333 lots, and this summer crews are working on building its first 69 homes.
The school, which opened in the fall, has been a magnet for development, City Administrator Pete Capell said.
“The school’s brand new and that whole area is growing really rapidly,” Capell said.
Most new residential development over the next couple decades will take root nearby on land annexed by the city several years ago north of Lacamas Lake. One such project with about 300 lots is still in the planning stages but could move forward enough to break ground this summer, according to the city’s map of active developments for 2014.
“That will start to stimulate other activity north of the lake,” Capell said.
The city is also working with a couple developers on plans for about 2,000 new lots in the Green Mountain area. Those projects in the northwest corner of the city may be several years out.
Meanwhile, the city has been busy priming vacant lots for new projects in years to come, Mayor Scott Higgins said.
“There’s in-fill stuff happening everywhere over the city,” Higgins said. “I mean, just drive down the road, and a vacant lot that’s been sitting for eight years is now getting construction.”
Add to the mix Fisher Investments’ expansion on its Camas campus, at 5525 N.W. Fisher Creek Drive, and a number of other commercial building projects, and the city of about 21,000 residents looks poised for years of growth, Bourquin said. County officials project Camas will add about 17,000 residents in the next 20 years.
Bourquin doesn’t expect to have to expand the city’s urban growth boundary to accommodate the growth. Instead, he plans to explore options for new high-density housing mixed with commercial and retail spaces on the west side of Camas.
