This is the second article in a three-part series on Clark County’s 2025 comprehensive plan update. Part 1 covers urban growth area expansions and agricultural land; Part 2 covers rezoning, overlays, and code changes; and Part 3 covers impact fees, new policies, and next steps.
On October 13, 2026, the Clark County Council adopted Ordinance 2026-10-01, completing the county’s 2025 periodic update to its Comprehensive Growth Management Plan. Most of the ordinance takes effect October 23, 2026.
Vancouver UGA: residential zones consolidated
Over the Planning Commission’s recommendation, the Council consolidated the county’s five medium- and high-density residential zones into three:
• R-12 becomes R-24;
• R-18 and R-22 become R-36; and
• R-30 and R-43 become R-50.
The corresponding office residential zones are now OR-24, OR-36, and OR-50.
Under amended CCC 40.220.020, land designated urban medium density residential is to be zoned R-24 or R-36 (or OR-24 or OR-36). Land designated urban high density residential is appropriate for R-50 (or OR-50).
The ordinance’s parcel detail converts roughly 6,700 parcels in the unincorporated Vancouver UGA to the consolidated zones, most of them from R-12 to R-24 and from R-18 to R-36. For many owners, this is effectively an upzone, or a change allowing higher density or more intensive development. The ordinance also rezones roughly 690 low-density parcels next to existing medium and high-density areas to R-24, R-36, or R-50, rezones roughly 680 parcels from R1-10 to R1-6, and approves several site-specific requests, including changes from mixed use and commercial to residential zones.
These density increases are significant. The building industry is generally concerned about whether the market can support these densities so that they will not materialize and thwart the intent of the plan, and neighborhoods will likely challenge projects that they view are incompatible with surrounding housing developments or express their concerns politically.
Outside Vancouver, the parcel detail lists several hundred zoning changes in the Battle Ground, Camas, Ridgefield, and Washougal UGAs. Some increase density and others reduce it. Every owner in an unincorporated UGA should check the parcel lists in ordinance Exhibit 3a.
Mixed-use zones
The ordinance lowers the amount of space that a mixed-use development must devote to nonresidential uses, such as shops or offices. The minimum decreases from 20 percent to 10 percent, and certain qualifying vertical mixed-use projects may reduce it further to 5 percent. For example, in a 100,000-square-foot mixed-use development, the standard nonresidential requirement would fall from 20,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet; a qualifying vertical project could require as little as 5,000 square feet.
New manufactured home park overlay
New CCC 40.250.120 creates a Manufactured Home Park Overlay District, which the ordinance applies to 41 parcels containing manufactured home parks in the Vancouver UGA. The overlay’s stated purpose is to limit redevelopment of parks. Permitted uses are limited to manufactured home parks, transitional and permanent supportive housing, and a short list of accessory uses, and those limits override the underlying zone.
An owner can seek a plan and zone change out of the overlay only by showing that the overlay does not allow reasonable use of the property, that the permitted uses are not economically viable, or that the site will be redeveloped with housing affordable at no more than 60 percent of area median income, with displaced residents given a right of first opportunity to return. The amended park standards also allow park model homes with a Washington State Department of Labor and Industries tag.
The ordinance also removes the Freight Rail Dependent Use Overlay, which designates certain rural and resource lands near railroads for industrial activities that need freight rail access, from 20 rural parcels.
Lower parking minimums and other code changes
The amendments to Title 40 implement new state housing requirements. The changes most likely to affect project design include:
- Parking. Single-family detached and attached homes now need one space per unit instead of two, and multifamily buildings with five or more units need 0.5 spaces per unit instead of 1.5. No parking is required for co-living housing, dwellings under 1,200 square feet, affordable and supportive housing, senior housing, residential conversions of nonresidential buildings, commercial uses under 3,000 square feet, and ground-floor nonresidential space in mixed-use buildings. Retail, office, medical office, and restaurant ratios drop to one space per 500 square feet.
- Housing types. New code sections for co-living housing and for emergency shelters, transitional housing, emergency housing, and permanent supportive housing.
- Other standards. Revised density calculations and updates to compact lot, zero lot line, planned unit development, multifamily amenity area, landscaping, sign, street, mixed-use design, and Highway 99 Overlay standards.
- Look up your parcel in ordinance Exhibit 3a and on the adopted zoning map to confirm its new zone and any overlay.
- If you have a pending or planned application, evaluate vesting before the code changes take effect on October 23, 2026. In Washington, a fully complete building permit or subdivision application generally vests to the land use regulations in effect when it is filed.
- Revisit site plans in light of the new zones, the lower parking minimums, and the reduced nonresidential requirement in mixed-use zones.
What to do now
Miller Nash’s real estate and land use team is following the county’s implementation of the update. If you have questions about how the update affects your property or project, please contact us.
This article is provided for informational purposes only—it does not constitute legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship between the firm and the reader. Readers should consult legal counsel before taking action relating to the subject matter of this article.
