Association Information Session�Thursday, July 16, 2026
Meeting Agenda
Time | Description | Presenter |
7:00 | Introductions | Everyone |
7:05 | Officer Liaison Reports | Officer Liaison |
7:10 | Neighborhood Roundup | Heidi Pozzo |
7:40 | Concurrency and 174th Street Subdivision Decision | Heidi Pozzo |
8:10 | Resident Open House (time permitting)�Share success, concerns, or anything that may interest your neighbors. | Everyone |
8:30 | Meeting Adjourned | � |
Officer Liaison Reports
Neighborhood Roundup
Heidi Pozzo
Neighborhood Roundup
Fairgrounds Park expansion — parcel acquisition at the corner of 11th & 164th to add to Fairgrounds Park, and long-term a connection point to Whipple Creek Park.
Mixed-use developments — can be 100% residential once conditions are met, and may use balconies to meet open-space requirements.
North County Transfer Station — likely to be sited around 10th, between 199th and 209th. A Council work session in August will address site selection.
I-5/179th Interchange Open House — WSDOT indicates the open house will likely be in December or January 2027
179th and Concurrency Work Session — Council will hold a work session on August 5
County Roundup
Heritage Farm Wetland Restoration — The project restores a wetland at the headwaters of Cougar Creek that was ditched and drained more than a century ago, when such practices were commonplace. The restored wetland features eight “cells” that provide wetland functions and a 35-foot wetland buffer with native plants.
Northeast Hazel Dell Avenue and Burnt Bridge Creek Trail Crossing project— This project will construct a 10-foot-wide multi-use sidewalk along the west side of Northeast Hazel Dell Avenue between the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail and the Discovery Trail. The project will also add an improved marked pedestrian crossing of Northeast Hazel Dell Avenue.
Clark County has a higher survival rate than the national average for Cardiac Emergencies due to airway passage improvements. Watch recent EMS 2 meeting around minute 35.
Revenue & Expense Gaps
Countywide funding shortfalls now under discussion
County budget — $10–$15 million projected shortfall in 2027; various taxes being evaluated.
Parks — funding below expense, with about 33% of daily tasks going undone; various taxes being evaluated.
Law & Justice — Jail, Sheriff, Public Defense, and Prosecutors funding needs; likely a bond and levy.
C-TRAN — projected funding needs; a combination of fee and sales-tax increases being evaluated.
Senior Exemption Expanding — based on income thresholds up to $94,579 starting in 2027 for various exemptions. Check with tax assessors office, explainer PDF link on home page.
Transportation — $585 million 20 year gap. Various solutions being evaluated as part of Comp Plan
NE 179th Street Corridor — Development Buildout
Approved and pre-application development, Clark County, Washington
APPROVED
PIPELINE (PRE-APP)
TOTAL
Housing units
single-family + apartments
3,304
924
4,228
PM peak-hour trips
vehicles in the evening peak
4,080
602
4,682
Daily trips (ADT)
average vehicle trips per day
42,889
6,348
49,237
Approved housing includes single-family homes and apartment units.
Pipeline trip figures are residential only — commercial/industrial pre-application trips are not documented, so pipeline and total trips are understated.
Source: 179th Development Pipeline workbook; Clark Regional Wastewater District corridor map, March 2026.
NE 179th Street Corridor — Approved & Pipeline Development
Every development drawn to its real acreage, on roads that are still two lanes.
Paste map screenshot here
(delete this box, then Insert → Picture, or paste over it)
Source: 179th Development Pipeline workbook; Clark Regional Wastewater District corridor map, March 2026.
Concurrency and 174th Street Subdivision Decision
Heidi Pozzo
Concurrency & the 174th Street Subdivision Decision
How the County decides whether the roads can handle new development — and what happened at the 174th Street Subdivision hearing.
Four Creeks Neighborhood Association
Presented by Heidi Pozzo
A plain-language overview — no traffic-engineering background needed.
2
Four Creeks Neighborhood Association
What we’ll cover
1
What “concurrency” is
The promise that roads keep pace with new growth.
2
How the County measures it
Volume, capacity, and intersections — step by step.
3
The 174th Street Subdivision
100 new homes — and the issues raised at the hearing.
4
How the examiner ruled
The decision, and what it means for us.
3
Four Creeks Neighborhood Association
What is “concurrency”?
New development must not outrun the public roads that serve it.
THE PURPOSE, IN STATE LAW
“The purpose of concurrency is to assure that those public facilities and services necessary to support development are adequate to serve that development at the time it is available for occupancy and use, without decreasing service levels below locally established minimum standards.”
— WAC 365-196-840(1)(a)
If the roads can’t keep up: the development is to be denied — or delayed until they can.
The timing rule: needed road improvements must be funded and scheduled for completion within six years of approval.
4
Four Creeks Neighborhood Association
Two ways the County measures it
1
How FULL is the road?
Looks at a stretch of road (a “corridor”): how much of its capacity is being used. The limit is 90% full.
2
How LONG do you wait?
Looks at the intersections at each end of the corridor: how long drivers sit in delay.
5
Four Creeks Neighborhood Association
Measuring stick #1: How full is the road?
The County measures how full a road is — from empty to completely full.
0% — empty
100% — completely full
LIMIT: 90% full
The limit is 90% full — past 90%, the segment is over the limit.
VOLUME
÷
CAPACITY
=
HOW FULL (%)
traffic on the road
what the road can carry
over 90% = over the limit
6
Four Creeks Neighborhood Association
The top of the fraction: VOLUME
Volume is everything that will use the road, added up:
Traffic the new homes add (from the developer’s traffic study)
+
Traffic from developments already approved but not yet built
+
2% per year growth (the County’s set rate)
+
Any other volume not already counted
= VOLUME
The County measures to a 3-year build-out (the year 2028 in this case).
!
Where the decision let volume be UNDERSTATED�
Several nearby developments already approved (or in process) were left out of the study — and together they are enough to tip the corridor from PASS to FAIL.
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Four Creeks Neighborhood Association
The bottom of the fraction: CAPACITY
Capacity numbers come from the code (by road type). Which one you may count depends on three cases:
BUILT
The improvement is already built — count the code capacity for that road.
ON THE COUNTY’S 6-YEAR TIP
Not built, but funded & scheduled within six years on the County’s TIP — its capacity may be counted.
NOT ON THE 6-YEAR TIP
Don’t count it — use the existing road’s code capacity.
Where the decision let capacity be OVERSTATED:
!
NE 179th St (29th–50th): counted at full four-lane capacity — but the widening isn’t planned until after 2030 and isn’t on the County’s 6-Year TIP.
!
I-5 / NE 179th interchange: counted as capacity — but it’s a State (WSDOT) project and is not on the County’s 6-Year TIP that the code and manual require.
8
Four Creeks Neighborhood Association
Measuring stick #2: How long do you wait?
Each intersection gets a grade from A to F, based on how long drivers wait:
A
under 10 sec
B
10–20 sec
C
20–35 sec
D
35–55 sec
E
55–80 sec
F
over 80 sec
less delay
more delay, growing lines of traffic
The letters describe how much delay drivers feel. That is the scale.
The concurrency measure is separate: a signalized intersection doesn’t “fail” until 4 minutes (240 seconds) — two full signal cycles — of delay.
9
Four Creeks Neighborhood Association
Unsignalized intersections: where the failure sits
No traffic signal — all-way stops and roundabouts. Judged by a different rule than signals.
The standard: LOS E or better — or LOS D or better if a signal is warranted.
NE 179th / NE 50th (all-way stop) — LOS F
NE 159th / NE 72nd — LOS F
!
The mitigation doesn’t reach the standard. The volunteered fix at NE 179th / NE 50th cuts delay from 78 to 61 seconds — still LOS F. Not E. Not D. It was allowed only because it doesn’t make things worse, not because it meets the standard.
Roundabouts here were judged on the whole-intersection average.
10
Four Creeks Neighborhood Association
So what should happen when a road is full?
Road is OVER the 90% limit
STOP
New development is denied — or delayed until the road is fixed.
This is the “stop-when-the-roads-are-full” mechanism many of us assumed was already in place.
11
Four Creeks Neighborhood Association
What should happen if an intersection fails?
F
Intersection falls below its grade (worse than LOS E — or LOS D if a signal is warranted)
It must be brought back UP to the standard — or the development can’t be approved.
The fix has to restore the level of service — not just keep the delay from getting worse.
12
Four Creeks Neighborhood Association
A real test: the 174th Street Subdivision
100 new homes: on about 25 acres near NE 174th Street & NE 40th Avenue
Hearing Examiner: Joe Turner
Key dates: Hearing April 23, 2026 • Decision July 9, 2026
The developer’s own traffic study is what raised the concurrency question.
13
Four Creeks Neighborhood Association
What the developer’s study showed
Several nearby corridors are projected OVER the 90%-full limit in the build-out year:
NE 179th Street, near I-5
NE 10th Avenue
NE 15th Avenue
≈133%
of capacity on the worst segment (NE 10th Avenue)
— about a third more traffic than the road can carry.
So: if the roads are already over the limit, how can 100 more homes be approved?
14
Four Creeks Neighborhood Association
The central question at the hearing
If a corridor is already over the 90% limit, how can more homes be approved? Two views:
Neighbors
90% is a hard limit. When the road measure is over the limit, the development should be denied.
County staff
Look at the intersections at each end of the corridor. If drivers are still moving through them, the corridor is working — so the over-limit measure alone shouldn’t block approval.
VS
The developer’s study reported the failing ratios; it was County staff that set them aside — the applicant took no position on the measures.
15
Four Creeks Neighborhood Association
What the County’s own manual says
Clark County’s Concurrency Administrative Manual (2011):
✓
Roads must be in place or funded before a development is approved.
✓
If capacity isn’t adequate: the development is denied — or the developer adds capacity. Only two options.
✓
The corridor test and the intersection test are separate — one does not cancel the other.
✓
Capacity credit for a future fix applies to a County project funded & scheduled within six years.
!
Nowhere does the manual allow intersection performance to excuse a failing corridor. No memo, letter, or adopted document establishes that practice — it rests only on Staff’s statement that they have done it under the Public Works Director’s direction.
16
Four Creeks Neighborhood Association
The ruling vs. the code
The examiner approved all 100 lots. How the ruling compares with the code:
| What the code requires | What the ruling allowed |
Corridor over 90% full | Deny the development, or add capacity. | Intersection performance (F(9)) can excuse the failing corridor. |
The F(9) provision | Adjusts the volume counted; can’t waive the 0.9 limit. | Used to override the 0.9 limit — the argument wasn’t addressed. |
A failing intersection | Must be restored to LOS E (or D if a signal is warranted). | May stay failing — only can’t be made worse. |
Road capacity | Set by the code, by road type. | Staff may set it on judgment — no calculations shown. |
Crediting a future road fix | Only if it’s on the County’s 6-year TIP. | WSDOT interchange counted — not on the County’s TIP. |
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Four Creeks Neighborhood Association
The net effect
Taken together, the ruling leaves no real limit on what can be approved.
Staff can say the road has more capacity.
A failing intersection doesn’t have to be restored — it just can’t be made worse.
Staff can set aside the corridor limit as long as a signalized intersection stays under 4 minutes (2 cycles).
18
Four Creeks Neighborhood Association
Why this matters for Four Creeks
!
More approvals on full roads
Homes can be approved on corridors already measured over the 90% limit.
!
The “stop” didn’t stop this one
As interpreted here, the mechanism many assumed would pause development did not.
!
It can repeat
The same reasoning can apply to other projects along NE 179th and nearby corridors.
Early Version Failing Corridors Map Created by PLS
With 72nd and 78th at I-5 Interchange Shown as above .9
Submitted Version Failing Corridors Map Created by PLS
72nd not shown as failing and 78th relocated to Hazel Dell Ave
Questions & Discussion
Presented by Heidi Pozzo
Resident Open House
Time Permitting
Meeting Adjourned!