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Clark County and Vancouver outline regional parks task team to study sustainable funding and system gaps
Summary
Clark County staff and Vancouver Parks officials told the council they will form a countywide task team to evaluate regional parks needs, benchmark systems elsewhere, and recommend sustainable funding models. The process will include data collection, outreach and a six-month task-team phase followed by community engagement.
Clark County and City of Vancouver officials on June 2 outlined a new, countywide effort to evaluate regional parks needs and funding options and asked each city to participate in a task team that will assess gaps, study national models and propose sustainable approaches.
Speakers from Vancouver and Clark County described rapid population growth in the region, the countywide mix of large regional parks and local city parks, and the need to consider the park system in a regional context rather than strictly within jurisdictional lines.
“People don’t think about jurisdictional boundaries when they go to a park,” Vancouver Parks Director Dave Perlick said. “We have an opportunity to build something that works together and provides the greatest amount of benefit in an efficient way for our community.”
Clark County staff said the task team will first benchmark the existing system against national metrics, identify gaps in park acreage, trails and regional connections, and then examine funding and governance models used in other metro areas. The task-team phase is expected to last about six months, followed by broader community engagement and outreach.
Ross Hoover and Jenny Coker of Clark County said the county manages roughly 11,000 acres of parks, natural areas and open space and that population growth has outpaced previous forecasts. The county’s Parks, Recreation, Open Space and Trails (PROS) plan will be updated in 2026 and staff said regional trail connections and coordinated planning are priorities.
Councilors asked for clarity about how Vancouver would specifically benefit. Councilor Paulson said the questions should include lessons from past regional efforts and whether prior efforts failed and why. Councilor Perez requested economic and access-related specifics — such as how funding changes would affect trailheads, kiosks, parking, and maintenance — and asked staff to provide local cost/benefit detail.
Staff said the effort is not itself an annexation plan and stressed that it is an early-stage service-planning conversation intended to inform decision-makers. The county plans to form the task team, visit cities across the county for input and return recommendations to county council and city councils. Clark County Council had asked staff to begin conversations with cities about sustainable parks funding and service planning.
The city signaled support for the regional conversation and requested additional details on how any recommended funding model would deliver concrete benefits to Vancouver residents, including equity-focused access and maintenance commitments. Staff said they would engage Vancouver’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission and return with more detailed benchmarks, maps and fiscal analyses.
