Downtown Stakeholders Forum

Meeting Purpose

The Downtown Stakeholders Forum is a place for anyone with a connection to downtown Vancouver to collaborate with residents, business owners and City and local agency staff on community-driven projects to enhance downtown Vancouver's atmosphere, community engagement, marketing and vitality. The forum was created through a partnership between Vancouver's Downtown Association and the City of Vancouver.

In 2024: The recurring forum will be in person from 1pm to 2pm on the third Tuesday - alternating months - starting in February 2024. See below for details.

Important Update:

Based on the 2024 Downtown Stakeholders Survey feedback, please note these important changes to meeting format and scheduling:

1. In-Person Meeting Location

• City Hall - 415 W. 6th Street, Vancouver WA 98660
• Aspen Community Room - Ground Floor
• 1pm to 2pm PST

2. Meeting Dates & Format

• Meeting dates: 2/20, 4/16, 6/18, 8/20, 10/15 and 12/17
  • Held on third Tuesday of alternating months, starting in February 2024
• In person meeting (virtual dial-in Teams link available if unable to attend)
  • See "Upcoming Meetings" for remote meeting access information
• Meetings are open to the public

Main Street Promise streetscape project

The City of Vancouver is investing in making our downtown Main Street safer, more convenient and accessible for businesses, residents, and visitors by reconstructing the Main Street streetscape from 5^th to 15^th. A community-led effort, nearly 30 years in the making, the Main Street Promise builds upon planning work that began in 1993 with the goal of improving and invigorating the heart of Vancouver, and is now coming to fruition.

Planning for this exciting project is now underway. The project team is onsite conducting field work and working through the design phase. The project team will engage the community throughout all phases of the project, with project updates at the recurring Downtown Stakeholders forum from 1pm to 2 pm, hosted by the City of Vancouver and Vancouver’s Downtown Association.

2023 Downtown Market Study, by VDA

The VDA recently completed a downtown market study, made possible by a grant from the WA Main Street Program. The purpose of the study was to identify market opportunities, trends, community perceptions, prospects interested in opening a business downtown, and demographic / sociographic information. This community-wide outreach collected 835 survey responses, with these results.

2023 Downtown Priorities

Each year, the Downtown Stakeholders Forum collaborates with City of Vancouver and Vancouver’s Downtown Association staff to identify priorities for Downtown and designate a focus for the year. Through the January 2023 forum and Stakeholders Survey, participants identified the following priorities for this year (shown in order of highest priority):

1. Downtown's long-range planning changes and growth during next 5-10 years
2. Main Street Promise project updates
3. Clean and safe initiatives for graffiti, litter and lighting
4. Development updates on Waterfront Gateway and other private development projects
5. Updates on downtown businesses, restaurants, retail, professional services
6. Impacts/issues of downtown residential population growth
7. Impacts/issues of transportation changes
8. Marketing efforts to publicize the benefits of downtown
9. Adding public art to downtown

View results of the 2023 Downtown Stakeholders Survey

Examples of Prior Projects

In 2019, VDA and the City worked with downtown stakeholders on improvements to the appearance of Downtown’s Main Street from 5th to 15 streets. The project is known as the “Main Street Appearance Project” (MSAP). This work builds on 2009 and 2015 studies that offered ideas to improve Main Street’s design and appearance within the public realm. Improvements include the 12^th & Main Artlet and 4-Way Stop, the Bike Art Park on Main and a Storefront Activation Team. Vancouver’s Downtown Association, the City, downtown stakeholders and numerous volunteers used time during the 2020 pandemic to safely implement the Artlet and bike art park projects along Downtown’s Main Street.

In 2018, the downtown stakeholders, the City and Vancouver’s Downtown Association implemented several improvements to make it easier for visitors to navigate the downtown area, easily find the new waterfront attractions, and highlight existing points of interest in the historic core and Uptown districts. Improvements included the 6th Street Gateway Sign, new downtown street banners, pedestrian and vehicular wayfinding signs, a downtown walking map and a downtown clean-up day.