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Comprehensive Plan

Vancouver Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Code

The Comprehensive Plan is one of our community’s most important tools to help plan for the future. Over the next two and a half years, community members and the City will work together to develop a plan that will guide Vancouver’s growth and development through 2045.

Since the plan was last updated in 2011, Vancouver has experienced significant growth, as well as demographic, economic and social changes. Planning for our shared future will require widespread engagement and conversations about how we realize a shared vision.

Updating the existing plan – Our Vancouver 2045

The City has recently started the process to update its comprehensive plan, to respond to shifting growth, demographic, economic and social trends that have emerged since 2011, the last time the plan was updated.

The comprehensive plan is a significant policy document that will help shape how the community looks and feels, and how it functions and operates over time. The plan will guide the City’s growth and development for the next 20 years, with a target year of 2045 for achieving the overall vision that is established. Washington’s Growth Management Act requires the City to adopt an updated plan and changes to its zoning code by June 30, 2025.

What exactly is being updated?

To meet the requirements of the Growth Management Act, the City will need to do the following:

Guiding questions

The planning process will be guided by several big questions, including:

Housing

Land Use, Development, and Infrastructure

Economic Development

Equity and Opportunity

Climate and Environment

How you can be a part of the process

The City intends for this work to be a co-creative and iterative process with community members, with an emphasis on elevating the perspectives of communities that have been historically underrepresented, excluded, or negatively impacted from public decision-making processes. The comprehensive plan will take around 2 ½ years to prepare and adopt, and there will be a wide variety of opportunities and formats to inform policy, provide input and feedback, and weigh in on alternatives.

Learn more

Site Specific Designation Change Requests

There will be opportunities throughout the Comprehensive Plan update process to provide input on individual property zoning and Comprehensive Plan designations.

In 2024, the City will accept applications for the Annual Review Process for Site Specific designation changes on a limited basis – only for proposed changes that:

Pre-applications for 2024 proposals must be submitted by April 30, and full applications by June 15, 2024. Decisions are anticipated in late fall 2024 following Planning Commission and City Council public hearings.

No applications for site specific designation changes will be accepted in 2025 while the City is updating its Comprehensive Plan. Property owners that are seeking designation changes are encouraged to weigh in during the update process. More information can be found on the Our Vancouver BeHeard page.

The normal Annual Review process where formal applications can be submitted for site specific map designation changes of any type is anticipated to resume in 2026.

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