Clark County councilors continued the slow process of updating the county’s 20-year growth management plan during a Wednesday work session. Planning staff are currently allocating the population growth forecast to the cities, which need the information to update their own growth management plans.
Program manager Jose Alvarez reviewed the allocation methodology and how housing, employment and population forecasts are part of the process. Last year, the council tackled the population and employment forecasts for 2025 to 2045.
The state Office of Financial Management provided a low, midrange and high population forecast for the county to consider, with each assuming a different rate of growth. In May, the council settled on a different forecast, one that puts the county’s population at 718,154 by the year 2045. The projected growth was within the range provided by the state.
In August, the council set the employment forecast at 269,000 jobs.
The state requires that 95 percent of the population be allocated to living within urban growth areas and 5 percent in rural areas. By 2045, that would mean 639,332 people would be living within urban boundaries and 78,822 in rural areas.
According to Alvarez’s forecast, the population for the city of Vancouver would be 251,462 by 2045. The population for the Vancouver urban growth area — the urban area outside the city limits — would be an additional 246,026 people.
Ridgefield’s population is estimated to grow to more than 28,000 by 2045. Battle Ground’s population forecast is 39,883.
To see the forecasts for all cities, go to https://clark.wa.gov/sites/default/files/media/document/2024-01/011724%20Population%20and%20Allocation.pdf.
Alvarez explained the different methods available to determine the population allocation. Since 1994, the county has used a method based on vacant buildable lands. Alvarez said whatever method or allocation the county decides to use must be in line with official state population and employment forecasts and allow for flexibility.
“We still have some outstanding issues to continue discussions with our cities before we can come to the council with the final allocation,” Oliver Orjiako, director of community planning, told the council.
Orjiako said a public hearing originally planned for Feb. 6 would likely be rescheduled once the cities and county reach agreement on the outstanding issues.
To watch the full meeting, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUpdtMuE75g.
