Newly appointed Clark County Chair focuses on sustainable growth

Council vote on land-use alternatives and comprehensive planning take center stage

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Sue Marshall has spent decades advocating for sustainability and responsible development, a commitment she now brings to her new role as Clark County Council chair.

On Jan. 7, the council appointed Marshall to serve a one-year term as chair. Her main goal is to push Clark County through the Comprehensive Plan to accommodate anticipated growth from 2025-45 as required by the state Growth Management Act.

“The role is to be a spokesperson for the council and the county on those issues and positions that the council has agreed to,” Marshall said.

With more than 40 years of experience in public service, Marshall has long been an advocate for environmental sustainability and responsible development. Before moving to Clark County in 2015, she held key leadership roles in Clackamas and Multnomah counties, including serving as executive director of Tualatin Riverkeepers, a nonprofit focused on water quality, and as program manager for Multnomah County’s Community Food and Nutrition program.

Marshall and her husband relocated to Clark County to take over the family farm, transitioning from Bartlett pears to hazelnuts — a move that resulted in an 18,000-pound harvest in its most recent season. Even while managing the farm, however, she stayed active in public service, joining Friends of Clark County (FOCC) to contribute to the county’s comprehensive land use planning efforts. Her involvement reinforced her dedication to protecting agricultural land and promoting balanced growth.

Concerned by the rapid loss of farmland, Marshall successfully ran for a seat on the Clark County Council in 2022, making conservation and sustainable development central to her platform.

“I wasn’t happy with some of the decisions that were being made by the council, and then, what with the comprehensive plan update on the horizon, I just thought I might have nothing to lose and everything to gain in being able to have a positive influence, and so that’s what set me in motion to run for office,” Marshall said.

Shortly after Marshall moved to Clark County and became involved in FOCC, the Clark County Council approved its latest comprehensive plan. Nearly a decade later, Marshall will now head the council meetings that will make the final decisions on the future of the plan. The Comprehensive Plan is the overarching framework guiding the county’s growth and development.

Planning Clark County’s growth

The Clark County Council’s adopted forecasts for 2045 include a population projection of 718,185 and an employment forecast of 269,000 jobs, based on data from the Office of Financial Management (OFM). As of the 2020 Census, Clark County’s population was 503,311, with total employment at 153,218 in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Affordable housing will be a key priority for Marshall and the other council members. She highlighted the importance of partnering with local organizations, such as the Council for the Homeless and regional shelters, to address the current shortage of shelter space. However, Marshall is focused on addressing the root cause of homelessness: the lack of affordable housing. A major focus will be strategically planning zoning for affordable housing developments in areas where it is most needed.

“Affordable housing certainly is one of those ... having enough housing and homelessness and shelter, and I think if we can position ourselves more to address some of the upstream causes of homelessness, like affordable housing being one of them,” Marshall said. “We have some of the highest rental prices and the highest level of addiction rates. Those are the things that ultimately fuel the homeless crisis.”

In addition to affordable housing, addressing climate change is a crucial aspect of the comprehensive plan update. A key goal is to reduce vehicle miles traveled by developing more compact urban centers, which can limit sprawl and reduce infrastructure costs. This will help the county become more resilient to environmental shifts while promoting sustainable growth. The transportation infrastructure component of the plan will explore how to balance expanding population growth with the need for alternative, eco-friendly travel options, such as increased access to public transit, bike lanes and pedestrian-friendly routes.



“One of the components that need to be addressed is infrastructure, transportation ... The general theory with reducing vehicle miles traveled is to develop in more of your urban areas in more of a compact way so that people are not having to travel a lot,” Marshall said.

Additionally, the Clark County Council is collaborating with the City of Ridgefield to seek federal or state funding for building a new Interstate-5 entry point south of Exit 14.

The Clark County Council will examine the Interstate Bridge Replacement project, as well. In April 2023, the council officially opposed the use of tolling to fund the project. With the addition of two new members, the council plans to further study the project as new details emerge.

“I’m sure we’ll come up with a specific position. That might be a little revised from the previous one, but there’s definitely some serious concerns related to the whole thing as these details keep emerging,” Marshall said.

In addition, Marshall has been exploring plans to expand and remodel the Clark County Jail, which has faced overcrowding since its construction in 1984. The facility is increasingly challenged by changing inmate demographics and a rising demand for mental health services. Marshall believes an expansion would help the jail address these needs, ensuring inmates struggling with addiction or mental health issues receive proper support. A key focus, Marshall emphasized, is expanding mental health and opioid addiction treatment services within the jail to provide immediate care. She anticipates the council may put a vote before the public to fund the jail’s expansion.

“I was just in a meeting with Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez who came to visit the jail and talk with some of the correctional officers. [It’s] a very difficult job and jail services are kind of seen as an afterthought. So that’s something we’ll be developing, a specific request that will expand and upgrade the capacity of the jail, and that will be coming before the voters sometime within this year,” Marshall said.

The Clark County Council continues to move forward with Comprehensive Plan updates amid tight deadlines.

At its meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 28, the Clark County Council addressed two key items related to the Comprehensive Plan, which must be submitted to the State Department of Commerce by December 2025.

The first resolution authorized the issuance of a request for proposal to hire a consultant tasked with evaluating three “land use alternatives.” This is a crucial part of the ongoing planning process, as cities across Clark County have requested expansions to their urban growth boundaries to accommodate future housing and job needs. The consultant will focus on assessing these boundary changes while balancing the need for growth with the preservation of vital resource lands such as agricultural, forestry and aggregate areas.

The second vote centered on an environmental review of available lands for the comprehensive planning process. County Planner Oliver Ojako pointed out that a similar review took two years for the last plan update. To meet the current deadline, the consultant must complete the task by June of this year.

“It is necessary in order to de-designate any of that land, which would be to convert it to some other use, for example, expanding a growth boundary onto that agricultural land for residential or commercial or whatever development a city might want to pursue,” Marshall explained.

The second resolution passed by a narrow 3-2 vote, with Marshall dissenting. She voiced concerns that the process might not meet the tight timeline. The council will revisit the matter when the RFP returns.

The council pre-approved the use of $300,000 from the county’s general budget for the reviews during the meeting.