Clark County Council candidates share views

Camas-Washougal voters will help decide the makeup of the Clark County Council during the Nov. 5 General and Special Election.

The two candidates running for the Clark County Council’s District 4 position participated in a League of Women’s Voters of Clark County candidate forum on Oct. 1, and laid out some of their plans for everything from the county’s upcoming comprehensive plan update and homelessness in Clark County to fireworks bans and allowing industrial uses along the county-owned railroad.

Following are excerpts from the Oct. 1 League of Women Voters’ candidate forum featuring the two District 4 Clark County Council candidates: Matt Little, a Camas father of two who works as the director of public policy for Ducks Unlimited and as the director of the Salmon Wasatch Youth Education Program, serves as the co-chair of the Washington Fish and Wildlife Conservation Partnership, and is endorsed by the current mayors of Vancouver, Ridgefield and Battle Ground, as well as former Washougal Mayor Molly Coston and former Camas Mayor Nan Henriksen; and Joe Zimmerman, a fifth-generation Clark County farmer who served in the United States Marine Corps, works as the finance manager at Bi-Zi Farms, is the former site manager at the Heritage Farm, and has served as the chairperson of the Clark-Cowlitz Farm Bureau’s legislative committee as well as the vice president of the Washington Farm Bureau’s promotion and education committee and the vice president of the Clark County Solid Waste Advisory Committee.

Important goals for Clark County’s comprehensive plan

“The biggest things for the upcoming comprehensive plan are definitely going to be growth management or growth planning — planned density — (do we want a) more or less dense county?” Zimmerman said adding that he also is interested in “a lot of other issues” involving the county’s comprehensive plan, including those issues related to older residents’ needs and environmental concerns, but believes “building and development concerns will be the .1 priority.”

“Next year is a big year for the Growth Management Act,” Little said. “Where is the development going to be? There are 15 elements, with climate change, that need to be addressed (in the comprehensive plan). Right now, with people struggling with costs of everything, housing (is important). What types of housing? Are they going to be affordable? Will they be close to services (yet) still close to the beautiful rural areas with working farms that (people) can enjoy?”

Little said he believes decisions on housing, including where the majority of housing will wind up in Clark County, will be “critical to what our next 20 years and beyond look like as a community.”

On the possible ban on aerial fireworks in Clark County

“As a military veteran, I love things that go boom, and I’m a big patriot,” Zimmerman, who spent six years in the U.S. Marines, said. “I enjoy my fireworks. That said, we are moving into a new day and age. It’s one thing to go into a rural area and shoot fireworks into the sky. It’s another to (shoot them in a) densely packed urban area.”

Zimmerman said he believes “the day is coming where we’re going to have to ask the hard question, ‘Is it time to put a ban on air-burst fireworks?’ That said, I generally lean toward the side of freedom. At this time, I’m not prepared to institute a fireworks ban, but I am open to having the conversation. And I do understand the risk.”

Little said he and his family used to shoot off fireworks on the Fourth of July when they lived on a 5-acre site in rural Fern Prairie, but they were “very careful” with their fireworks.

“At the same time, we had a dog and a cat and a lot of wildlife on our five acres,” Little said. “And I do worry about veterans affected by loud noises … getting kids to sleep … That is all important.”

However, when it comes to banning fireworks in Clark County, Little said he would want to gather more data first to see what has happened in the past and to gauge residents’ concerns about fireworks.

“I don’t think it’s only ban or no ban,” Little added. “I think there are things you can do in between.”

On homelessness in Clark County

“What I find about the homelessness issue is that people fall into one or two camps – short-term solutions or … the long game,” Zimmerman said. “We need both answers, folks. We need that answer for how do we get (unhoused people) off of our downtown streets or in unincorporated Clark County, but then also care (how do we care) for them long-term?”

Zimmerman said he believes the county needs to work on “getting the tents off the sidewalks, but also get (unhoused people) true help. Get them back into the workforce, back earning money and back homed and paying their own way.”

Little said he believes how the county addresses homelessness will “really determine what kind of community we will become.”

“There are not enough services in unincorporated Clark County,” Little noted, adding that, in conversations with the mayor of Vancouver, he has realized many people who have lost their homes in other parts of the county are often making their way to Vancouver because the city has more resources for lower-income and unhoused individuals and families.

“This is a joint problem we need to address together as partners,” Little said of the county and the cities in Clark County. “We have to do it with dignity and respect and make sure our community is safe as well.”

On recruiting ‘land- and power-intensive industries’ that don’t add many jobs to the community

“As we’re growing and deciding which industries, which businesses we want to recruit into our communities, it is going to be an important (issue),” Little said. “There are a lot of opportunities to bring in new industries that bring in good jobs and a lot of income for the community. Specifically, I think there’s been a lot of tech centers, which is probably a positive way to grow, but we have to be careful about industries we allow in our community … and make sure they’re good for families and for our community.”

“As a county, should we be open to looking for those large industrial employers? Sure. However, I personally believe the salvation of Clark County is already here in the sense that we need to support our small businesses and watch them grow,” Zimmerman said. “Not that I would turn away large, multinational businesses that wanted to come to Clark County, but (let’s focus on) how do we support small businesses to turn them into large businesses?”

Should industrial uses be allowed on the full length of county-owned railroad?

“In full disclosure, my family has land in that industrial overlay,” Zimmerman said. “I don’t know what the future holds … but I’m curious as to who was asked what the future should be for the railroad before Senate Bill (5517) passed for freight-dependent use. … As I’m talking to people in the community, there are a handful of people that may want to sell land to an industrial company, or they (may) own an industrial company and want to locate near the railroad, but I’m finding the majority of people do not want industrial-heavy sites (near the railroad). That’s generally not a thing that people (in our) community want.”

Little said that, while he does not believe heavy industrial uses are not appropriate in certain areas near the railroad, he does believe there is a way to grow the county-owned rail line “in a way that melds well with the community and neighbors.”

He added that, when Senate Bill 5517 passed the Washington State Legislature in 2017, the bill did not require community leaders to put heavy industrial uses next to the rail lines but did allow for that particular use.

“The community can decide,” Little said, adding that he does believe the county should investigate terminating the lease for the railroad operator — Portland Vancouver Junction Railroad — which he said is currently under investigation by the Washington state Department of Ecology and the Environmental Protection Agency for environmental violations, and “then decide to grow this line (in a way that) has neighbors feeling safe.”

To learn more about the Clark County Council District 4 candidates, watch the entire League of Women Voters’ Oct. 1 candidate forum at cvtv.org.