Washougal launches neighborhood registry

Sherry Montgomery recently conducted an unofficial count of the neighborhoods in Washougal as part of her latest project in her role as the city of Washougal’s community aesthetics program coordinator. She said that she was surprised when her count added up to about 200.

“We can never really give a hard and fast number, because we’re always in the process of putting a new one out there,” she said, “but (200) seemed like more than I expected. Each neighborhood brings its own beauty, its own charm, and identity to the overarching community.”

The city of Washougal is now giving every one of those neighborhoods an opportunity to connect with the City and each other in an effort to improve aesthetics, foster community connections, and enhance civic pride.

The City’s recently-launched homeowners association (HOA) and neighborhood registry, located on the City’s website, creates a visual representation of individual HOAs and neighborhoods on an interactive map, and includes contact information, including the HOA or neighborhood’s website if they have one.

“Our vision is to provide a responsive and dynamic program, led by community need and initiative, and strengthen and empower our neighborhoods,” Montgomery said. “The registry is the framework (for that program). We’ve created this framework as a means of connection. The registry is a conduit through which we will develop and employ supportive programming for the neighborhoods. Our goal is to empower and support the different micro-communities within our boundaries, as every neighborhood has differing strengths, desires, and challenges.”

The goal of the registry is to “generally enhance the aesthetic quality of our neighborhoods and our community in general,” according to City Manager David Scott.

“I think for us to be successful with that, we need to engage with the community, and we need to find efficient ways for people to be connected to us and for us to be connected to them,” he said. “One of the ways that is commonly done is to leverage organizations that already exist.

“And then, as we are looking at issues that might crop up in a neighborhood, we can work with that group, we can rally volunteers, and we can work together on a collective goal to have a beautiful place to be. This program is about enhancing engagement and communication between the neighbors and between the team at the City that’s doing this good work so that they can connect well.”

The registry enables the City to partner directly with neighborhood and HOA leaders to inform them of upcoming projects that may affect their specific area; solicit and receive their input to help the City better define what programs and services are most important or desired in their communities; and enhance HOA and neighborhood opportunities to network and connect with each other, according to Montgomery.

“If you and I live in neighboring neighborhoods and we’re both on the map, we might be able to talk to each other and coordinate (various activities, such as) vegetation maintenance, which would reduce the cost,” she added. “I think there’s all sorts of opportunities for networking between neighborhoods, as well as all of the good that can come from open, two-way communication between neighborhoods and the City. I just think it’s a pretty important thing.”

The City hopes to augment the registry with a series of community building initiatives, including publicly recognizing outstanding or greatly improved neighborhoods, and informing residents about neighborhood cleanup opportunities.

“We’re just really hoping to improve our communication and springboard new programs built around this registry to help us do things that the community would want,” Montgomery said. “I think it’s better to take the cues from the community. I don’t live in every neighborhood, so I don’t know what everyone’s challenges are. … We want to move forward into the future stronger, with better means of communication and fulfill the wishes that we can fulfill for stronger and healthier neighborhoods.”

The City did not have an HOA registry.

“Multiple subdivisions were in the pipeline right when the Great Recession hit and a lot of those neighborhoods were piecemealed apart, foreclosed upon and then sold off in pieces, and so they don’t have those HOAs that would have benefited that neighborhood and would have been instituted when they got to a certain point of build-out,” Montgomery said. “We’re hoping that neighborhood associations will be able to kind of backfill some of these spaces because starting a HOA after the fact is a very difficult challenge.”

Montgomery also dispelled a rumor that the City is forcing people to join HOAs through its registry program.

“Participation is voluntary,” she said. “Participation in neighborhood groups is voluntary, and even if you live within one, your level of participation is a personal choice.”

For more information, visit cityofwashougal.us/789/HOA-Neighbor hood-Registry.