Unless the City of Woodland accommodates for more low-income housing in the next 20 years, it may lose state funding for projects.
Last week, a consultant from SCJ Alliance updated Woodland’s City Council on its estimated land needs for future housing developments according to state law.
Under Washington’s Growth Management Act (GMA), cities must plan to have housing capacity for the next 20 years of anticipated growth by 2025. This requires ensuring sufficient land availability for housing developments, either through rezoning for higher-density housing or expanding the urban growth boundary if the housing capacity is deemed insufficient. Additionally, housing needs are calculated by income level, meaning cities must plan to accommodate low-, moderate- and high-income housing expected to grow.
Woodland, in particular, must have a plan to accommodate an estimated 689 needed housing units, expected to be filled in 2045, by next year. According to SCJ Alliance Senior Project Manager Cristina Haworth, the Cowlitz County portion of the city meets the available land requirements for all income levels of housing. However, the portion of Woodland in Clark County, which has a smaller landmass and population, has a land deficit for 51 low-income housing units and 18 moderate-income housing units. In 2025, Woodland must develop a plan to accommodate low-density residential land to address this deficit.
Haworth specified the city has options to meet the requirement. The City Council could vote to rezone low-density residential land in Clark County to higher density, allowing for more homes per acre to be built. Additionally, the city can allow accessory dwelling units to be built in its low-density residential district.
Some members of the council, however, including Woodland Mayor Todd Dinehart, shared concerns that changes to high-density housing may change the town’s character.
“Let’s just call it like it is. None of them are available options that our community [wants],” Dinehart said. “I don’t want to speak for everybody… but I don’t know that our community wants to do some of the [suggestions].”
Under the GMA, Woodland would be penalized should it not adopt policies to meet the land needed for low-income, high-density housing. The city would be ineligible for state funding for various projects, which may include its Exit 21 interchange improvements, slated for construction in late 2028.
One solution is that the City of Woodland could annex parts of its Urban Growth Area (UGA) into city limits to accommodate future low-income housing. The city’s Clark County portion of land consists of a few hundred residents on Island Aire Drive, south of Horseshoe Lake Park and east of Interstate 5. Woodland’s Clark County UGA reaches from the road to the other end of Horseshoe Lake, which is mostly undeveloped. Haworth noted Woodland’s ability to expand is limited.
“I recognize this is difficult because Woodland is a very mature community in that it is substantially built out,” Haworth said. “There is very little urban growth area remaining, [and] what is available has a lot of constraints. It seems as though there isn’t the collaboration with Cowlitz County that would be necessary to expand … The Clark County portion, it doesn’t make sense to expand the [boundary] over there.”
Soon, SCJ Alliance consultants will communicate with Cowlitz County and the Washington Department of Commerce to determine whether or not Woodland can shift Woodland’s Clark County housing allocation to its Cowlitz County portion.
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