Clark County reports scattered multifamily growth, plans code change to clarify school impact fees

Clark County planners presented representatives of local school districts with consolidated housing-permit and new-construction data for 2022–2024 and said the county will propose a code amendment to clarify how single‑family, multifamily, accessory dwelling units and manufactured homes are treated for school impact fees.

The data matters to school districts because housing unit type affects projected student yield and capital‑facilities planning, county planner Richard Davio told the Clark County Schools Advisory Council on April 10, 2025.

Davio summarized permit and construction figures by district and product type (single‑family new home construction, manufactured homes, accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and multifamily units). He said Ridgefield and Vancouver showed the largest single‑family and multifamily totals in recent years: Ridgefield reported 226 single‑family units in 2024 with 76 in construction and six under review; Vancouver reported roughly "200 and almost 250" multifamily units in 2024 with 147 in construction and 62 under review. Davio also said Evergreen has seen a recent spike in multifamily units under construction and that some smaller districts showed relatively low counts of ADUs and multifamily units.

Amy Wooten, who compiled supplemental permit data from city jurisdictions, briefed the council on city‑provided figures. She said Vancouver‑area permits showed a large volume of multifamily permitting in multiple school districts and that Camas, La Center, Battle Ground and Ridgefield each reported substantial single‑family permit activity in recent years. Wooten cautioned that some city datasets may overlap between filing, approval and completion dates and urged districts to contact city permitting offices for detailed validation.

Davio and Wooten described county definitions used in the slides: NHC (new home construction, including detached, townhomes and duplexes on separate lots), MBH (manufactured/mobile home units), ADU (accessory dwelling units attached to a primary residence) and MFM (multifamily, e.g., apartments, triplexes, quadplexes or cottages on a single lot). Davio said those definitions match building‑permit types and are used for the summary presented to the council.

Because county code language does not clearly separate the different housing product types for school impact fees, Davio said his section will propose a code amendment through the county's biannual process to give staff and school districts flexibility and clarity in how impact fees are calculated. He said the county expects to take that amendment through the biannual process in early summer, subject to scheduling with the board.

Davio also identified a county staff point of contact for school project reviews (Melissa Curtis, planner) and said the county offers pre‑project coordination for new public school projects.

Votes at a glance: The council adopted the December 2024 meeting notes by motion and voice vote at the start of the meeting; the chair called for "ayes" and the motion was adopted, according to the meeting record.

The county posted the slide decks and links to city permit summaries on the meeting web page and told district staff they can request the detailed slide deck or contact city permitting offices for clarification.