Vancouver resident Peter Bracchi points out the glaring problem the 2025 Comprehensive Plan Update and its Draft Environmental Impact Statement

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and may not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com

Clark County is asking the public to participate in one of the most important planning processes it undertakes every decade: the 2025 Comprehensive Plan Update and its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). This long-range plan decides how we grow, how we protect natural resources, how we manage parks and open space, and how we safeguard our water and environment for the next 20 years.

But there is a glaring problem — while the County asks residents to comment and help shape the future, the Draft EIS completely overlooks one of the most damaging ongoing environmental issues affecting GMA-protected land today: long-term encampments in Critical Areas, riparian habitat, aquifer recharge zones, and public parks.

Eight years of environmental harm to Burnt Bridge Creek — and not a word about it in the plan on how to protect similar areas in the county.

Burnt Bridge Creek is a 303(d) polluted waterway, a stormwater channel, a Critical Aquifer Recharge Area, and public parkland. For eight years, it has suffered unchecked environmental damage:

• Trees cut down
• Riparian buffers stripped
• Fires in habitat zones
• Garbage and human waste entering stormwater flow
• PFAS-bearing materials in a drinking-water recharge area
• Slope erosion and streambank destabilization
• Repeated blockage of BPA and WSDOT access routes

This is not speculation — it is documented:
🔗 https://photos.app.goo.gl/Y6neVcop3j7mbzn69

Yet the Draft EIS never acknowledges that these impacts exist, have existed for nearly a decade, or pose a threat to water quality, public safety, salmon habitat, or aquifer recharge.

Why does this matter? Because the Comprehensive Plan sets the rules for land use, enforcement, and environmental protection.

Under the Growth Management Act (GMA), Clark County must:

• Protect Critical Areas
• Preserve open space and parks
• Safeguard drinking-water recharge zones
• Plan for long-term environmental health
• Ensure equal enforcement of land-use laws

The Comprehensive Plan is the tool that makes these protections real.

If the Plan ignores the biggest source of ongoing damage to these areas, then the next 20 years of land-use decisions will rest on an incomplete and inaccurate environmental record.

Why is the county doing this process now?

Because state law requires every county to:

• Update its Comprehensive Plan
• Evaluate environmental conditions under SEPA
• Incorporate population change, climate impacts, and land-use pressures
• Plan sustainably for the next 20 years

The County is doing this process because it must—and because it shapes the future of Clark County’s land, water, housing, transportation, habitat protection, and public infrastructure.

So why isn’t the County addressing the destruction we’ve already witnessed?

Public agencies like BPA and WSDOT follow strict environmental rules, protect their land, and act as responsible stewards.
Homeowners and developers must meet stringent standards.
Businesses, farmers, and landowners all face enforcement if they violate environmental law.

Yet eight years of encampment impacts on GMA-protected land have been allowed to continue without being acknowledged or evaluated in this planning process.

This is not only an environmental oversight — it is a planning failure.

The County is asking for public input. Let’s give it.

Residents deserve a Comprehensive Plan that:

• Recognizes the real environmental pressures on Critical Areas
• Protects CARAs and drinking water
• Ensures equal enforcement of environmental laws
• Preserves parks and open space for everyone
• Supports federal and state partners who are trying to protect the same lands
• Addresses long-term encampment impacts honestly and directly

The public can submit comments here:
🔗 https://clark.wa.gov/community-planning/2025-update-eis

The future of Clark County’s land and water depends on what we say—and what we insist the County must protect.

If we do not raise our voices now, this damage will only deepen over the next decade.

Peter Bracchi
Vancouver
peterbracchi@aol.com

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