Clark County Council approved several contested urban growth expansions on Monday, Oct. 5, including expansions around Battle Ground, Ridgefield and La Center, despite repeated testimony from residents urging the county to preserve agricultural land and limit outward growth.
The decisions followed two days of public hearings and an additional meeting for deliberations on the county’s 2025 Comprehensive Plan update. Chair Sue Marshall said 80 people had initially signed up to testify in person, while another 45 participants were scheduled to speak online.
The council’s decisions approved most of the growth areas requested by the affected cities, while making several changes to individual properties and agricultural areas.
In Battle Ground, the council approved an expansion toward Dollar’s Corner and a 25-acre expansion to the north. It also approved removing Meadow Glade from the city’s urban growth area.
Those decisions came after residents repeatedly asked the council to avoid expanding urban growth boundaries and instead accommodate future housing within areas already designated for urban development.
Heidi Cody told the council that during the process she worked in coalition with as many as 12 community organizations and asked the council not to convert agricultural land or expand city urban growth areas.
“Please do not de-designate any farmlands and do not expand any urban growth boundaries for cities in Clark County,” Heidi Cody told the council.
Other residents focused specifically on the loss of agricultural land.
The council’s decision on Ridgefield was among the most significant departures from those concerns.
Councilors approved an urban growth area expansion north of Ridgefield and the de-designation of agricultural land in the area. The council also approved de-designating agricultural land for the Maul property, a parcel surrounded by existing urban development that has been described during the hearing as a “donut hole.”
Ridgefield City Manager Steve Stewart had urged the council to approve the city’s requested expansion areas, saying the city needed additional land for housing and employment.
“To do that, we need to look at targeted expansions, targeted meaning strategic,” Stewart said.
Stewart said Ridgefield had already taken steps to increase housing density within its existing urban area but would still need targeted expansion to meet housing and employment capacity requirements.
Property owner Jim Maul also supported bringing his property into the urban area, arguing that the parcel was surrounded by development and was not suitable for continued agricultural use.
The Ridgefield expansion drew opposition from Marshall during Monday’s deliberations. She warned that the county could face litigation under the state Growth Management Act, arguing that the expansion and agricultural de-designation were not justified.
Marshall also raised concerns about the geographic consequences of the decisions, saying the Ridgefield and La Center urban growth areas would become nearly joined as a result of the expansions.
Councilors Glen Yung, Matt Little and Michelle Belkot voted in favor of the Ridgefield changes. Marshall and Councilor Wil Fuentes opposed them.
La Center produced a more mixed outcome.
The council rejected agricultural de-designation to the north involving two of three parcels owned by the Cowlitz Indian Tribe. The council approved other portions of the city’s requested expansion, however.
A parcel east of Interstate 5 that is not agricultural land and is zoned R5, encompassing more than 6 acres, was separated from the larger proposal and approved for expansion. Belkot was the only councilor to vote against that action.
The council also approved agricultural de-designations elsewhere in La Center, including areas with water rights. Twenty acres associated with the Emerson equestrian facility were excluded from the approval. Marshall was the lone councilor to oppose that portion.
La Center city planner Angie Merrill told the council the city’s requested expansion areas near Interstate 5 were important for future commercial and industrial development because of existing transportation and infrastructure.
“For La Center, this is more than adding land. It's about creating family wage jobs, building a strong local economy so our residents have the opportunity to work in their own community,” Merrill said.
Merrill also said the city supported protecting productive agricultural land and a countywide transfer of development rights program.
The difference between the testimony and the council’s decisions was particularly apparent on agricultural land and urban growth boundaries. Many residents asked the council to preserve farmland and restrict expansion, while city officials and some property owners argued that targeted expansion was necessary to accommodate future housing, employment and development.
The council also approved an urban growth area expansion for Yacolt.
The Oct. 5 actions did not constitute final adoption of the entire comprehensive plan. The county has scheduled consideration of the adopting ordinance for Tuesday, Oct. 13, after press time.
