Our Vancouver - Comprehensive Plan 2045

Welcome to the Our Vancouver Be Heard page! The Our Vancouver Comprehensive Plan is the City's plan for managing our growth and development, investing in infrastructure, and protecting the natural environment over the next 20 years. This plan is one of our community's most important tools to help plan for our future. Since the plan was last updated in 2011, we’ve experienced significant growth, as well as demographic, economic and social changes. Now, community members and the City are working together to update the plan to address these changes and we need your help!

Participate in Developing the Our Vancouver Comprehensive Plan

Visit our upcoming events page to learn more and participate in Community Mapping Activities. Click here to RVSP today!

What is the Our Vancouver Comprehensive Plan Update?

The Comprehensive Plan will guide Vancouver’s growth and development over the next 20 years by providing the long-term vision and policy direction for our City. Click on the image below to see our storyboard:

About the Comprehensive Plan Update

Since the Comprehensive Plan was last updated in 2011, Vancouver has experienced significant growth, as well as demographic, economic and social changes. The Comprehensive Plan will shape how Vancouver accommodates our current and future growth rate and the development and infrastructure needed to support it over the next 20 years.

As part of this process, we will look at existing codes and policies, such as the land use and development code, to set policies that allow for changes that reflect housing requirements, preserve natural resources, provide needed services, and make our City more resilient to climate change. In other words, this update will include big changes; including the addition of 38+ thousand housing units, updates to roads, facilities, neighborhoods and more!

What does the Comprehensive Plan cover?

Why is the City updating the Comprehensive Plan?

The City of Vancouver is required by the Washington State Growth Management Act (GMA) to conduct a periodic review of the Comprehensive Plan. Updating the Comprehensive Plan now will bring the City up to date with recent changes to state law to address state-wide housing and climate needs, land use changes, population growth projections, and housing projections to meet the needs of a growing population. The plan update will also inform the City’s decisions about land use, housing, public facilities, parks and open space, economic development, historic preservation, community design, and environmental considerations.

Washington’s Growth Management Act requires the City to adopt an updated plan and changes to its zoning code by June 30, 2025. Requirements set by the Growth Management Act include:

Update the existing Comprehensive Plan with community members
Develop a strategy for implementing the updated Comprehensive Plan
Revise the City’s rules about how land and buildings look and are used (Title 20 of the Vancouver Municipal Code) so that they align with the goals and policies in the updated Comprehensive Plan
Assess how the updated comprehensive plan will impact the environment via the State-required Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process

How will the Comprehensive Plan Shape the Future of Housing in Vancouver?

Housing has been a big topic in our engagement with the community. New housing production in Vancouver is not meeting our current needs, especially for people experiencing lower incomes.

Clark County needs an additional 116K units of housing over the next 20 years. The City of Vancouver is planning for 38K housing units through 2045. Currently, there are 206,000 units in the county and 87,000 housing units citywide.

Clark County’s housing market is the most constrained area of the state, and housing production hasn’t kept pace with household formation.

The Housing Action Plan establishes housing action as a Citywide priority.

Learn more about the housing need in Vancouver by reviewing our Housing and Land Use fact sheet.

New state level changes, including House Bills 1110 and 1220, allow for more middle housing and require cities to plan for more housing.

Washington’s Growth Management Act requires the City to adopt an updated plan and changes to its zoning code by June 30, 2025.
House Bill 1110 (Middle Housing) requires cities like Vancouver to allow for a broader range of housing types.

Icons of Single Family Residential, Middle Housing, and Midrise / Mixed Use Housing

Cities must allow at least 4 dwelling units per lot on all lots, up to six dwelling units per lot if within ¼ mile of a major transit stop, and 6 dwelling units per lot if two are affordable.
House Bill 1337 (Accessory Dwelling Units) allows for the construction of at least two Accessory Dwelling Units per lot in districts that allow single family homes.

Learn more by watching the Housing Forum recording or reviewing the meeting presentation.

The Comprehensive Plan will update the ways that the City regulates certain types of buildings and structures and where they are allowed to be built in the land use and development code. This includes where housing can be located, how it’s designed, where new businesses can be located, how limited land resources are used, and how they are balanced with protection of the natural environment.

What We’ve Heard From the Community:

Need for affordable housing and how to make sure housing stays affordable over time
Importance of having multiple types of housing available
Questions about more density in single-family neighborhoods and need to be thoughtful in design when mixing densities
Need to make sure there is sufficient infrastructure (water, sewer, public services, parking) to support more housing
Desire for more homeownership opportunities and how middle housing and ADUs could advance this
Concerns about displacement with new developments, and how we will focus on using anti-displacement strategies to guide our decisions

Check back often to learn about upcoming events, surveys and opportunities for your voice to be heard!

Project Phases

The Comprehensive Plan update process began in early 2023 and will take over two years to complete. This time frame will allow for in-depth community input and ensure consistency with legislation.

Phase 1: Visioning (Early 2023-Early 2024)

This phase of the project focused on gathering input from the community to identify a collective vision for the future of Vancouver. A summary of engagement and community input from the Visioning phase of the project is coming soon.

We focused on meeting the community where they already are and learning about what makes you feel connected to Our Vancouver.
Our Community Partners met monthly to discuss the needs of the communities they serve and identify with. By hearing from folks outside the typical City planning process, we can deliver a comprehensive plan that is truly reflective of the community we serve.
In-language liaisons gathered community input to make sure we are hearing from folks in spaces where they can express their needs without language barriers.
We distributed a community survey to ask community members about their priorties and vison for future growth

Check out our Spotify Playlist to see how we're grooved through Phase 1.

Phase 2: Land Use Possibilities (January 2024-present)

This is where we get into the technical part of the update. We will be looking at how our land is used and how we can use it more efficiently to meet the needs of our growing City. We will begin by developing land use possibilitiesbased on input from the Visioning phase of the project and community mapping workshops in April. Then, we’ll be asking for your input on those options to further refine them. The refined possibilities will be included in the environmental review process. The review process will produce a draft Environmental Impact Statement that will be available for public review and comment.

Check out this video explaining how land use impacts housing affordability.

Phase 3: Adoption

This is where 2.5 years of engagement come together and the work, we have done for Our Vancouver is sent to the City Council for adoption. Prior to final adoption of the updated plan, the City is required to complete an Environmental Impact Statement to ensure that environmental values are considered and unintended consequences for the future are avoided in the Comprehensive Plan. This environmental process will also involve opportunities for public review and input.

While the Comprehensive Plan is a foundational policy document for the City, there are several related planning efforts. Some of these plans are adopted as part of the Comprehensive Plan by reference. All efforts play a significant role in how Vancouver will continue to grow and help identify the values that will guide us in the future.

Related Efforts

Adopted as part of the Comprehensive Plan by Reference

Transportation System Plan
Subarea and District Plans
Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Services Comprehensive Plan

Related Efforts

Strategic Plan
Climate Action Framework
Reside Vancouver – Anti Displacement Strategy
Homelessness response efforts, including Safe Stay Communities
Urban Forestry Management Plan

Related Efforts from Outside Entities

Interstate Bridge Replacement Program (IBRP)
Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council’s (RTC) Regional Transportation Plan (RTP)
C-Tran’s Transit Development Plan (TDP)

Your Input Matters + How it's Being Used in the Planning Process

Community input is essential in the planning process to create a vision that reflects our community’s priorities and aspirations, and to craft policies that will help make the vision a reality.

The City realizes our community is changing and new policies are needed to plan for future growth, provide housing options, increase access to local services, upgrade infrastructure to support growth, address climate considerations, and provide opportunities for an equitable future.

The Our Vancouver Public Involvement Plan describes how community input is integrated in our planning processes and will be incorporated in the final Comprehensive Plan.

Learn More Button

Learn more about how we’re incorporating community input by exploring the tabs below.

Image of speech bubbles - "Include the value of inclusion and access for our diverse community." "The well being of future generations is paramount for our vision." "There should be more emphasis on making the area more vibrant and happening."

Equity, Community Partnership, and Goals Frameworks

The Our Vancouver project has developed frameworks for Equity, Community Partnership, and project Goals to inform and shape the Comprehensive Plan update.

The Equity Framework establishes a structure for ensuring disproportionately impacted and historically marginalized communities drive the policy design process.
The Community Partnership Framework provides details on how we inform, consult, involve, collaborate, and empower co-creative partners and community members during the plan development process. This also outlines overall community engagement goals and objectives, and provides details on the who, what, where and why of engagement.
The Goals Framework provides an overall framework and structure for goals within the plan, including the outline of plan chapters and key themes for each chapter that reflect existing policy guidance and Council universal policy priorities.

The frameworks were developed with input from City Council; the Planning Commission; and the Community Partners, a committee made up of City residents who are tasked with co-creating policy with the City for the Comprehensive Plan update.

Our Vancouver Community Vision Statement

What is the Our Vancouver Community Vision Statement?

The community vision statement describes how community members want Vancouver to look and feel in the future and establishes the foundation for the goals and policies of the Comprehensive Plan:

“Vancouver is an equitable and prosperous community, which ensures that all residents, businesses and organizations benefit from the growth and advancement we make together. Vancouver will be recognized for our quality of life, as evidenced by affordable housing in vibrant, safe and walkable neighborhoods, access to jobs and economic opportunity for all, and leading-edge efforts to address climate change.”

How was the Community Vision Statement developed?

Community Input: The City conducted a robust visioning process, which engaged more than 1,000 community members between June 2022 and February 2023. Since then, staff have engaged more than 1,200 additional community members through one-on-one and small group conversations, Council Community Forums, online engagement and tabling at community events.

During this process, community members were asked about their hopes, needs and concerns, and their big ideas for the future of Vancouver. Some of the most frequently mentioned topics were:

public safety,
economic opportunity (jobs, business development and growth),
housing affordability, houselessness, and preventing displacement,
community and neighborhood connections (between places and between people), and
climate change and resiliency.

A Draft Vision Statement was created by City staff based on this input.

Public Comment Period: Additional Refinements were made after the draft was shared on this webpage for a four-week comment period and reviewed with Community Partners.

Final Vision Statement: The Vision Statement is part of the project’s Goals Framework, which was endorsed by City Council in the December 18, 2023 meeting.

What’s next?

The Goals Framework will be used to develop policies for each Comprehensive Plan chapter, which outline more specific actions and initiatives the City will take in the future.

An outline of the timeframe for advancing key policies over the next 20 years will be documented in an implementation matrix.