Ridgefield resident Maureen McKenna expresses her frustration about the planning of the 179th St. Access and Circulation Management Plan
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and do not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com
I live in the Fairgrounds neighborhood and from the lifting of urban holding in 2020 to the planning of the 179th St. Access and Circulation Management Plan in 2021/2022, the county has not collaborated with existing neighborhood residents. We have been pushed aside and left out of the conversation.
The county talks about our properties as though they are “lines on a map” and our lands as “underdeveloped plots” rather than communities of neighbors who know one another, value our rural lifestyle, and have staked our dreams and livelihoods to this community. Residents are already being told that the county is prioritizing the rights of developers over the rights of existing residents when it comes to adding roundabouts and widening roads.
To make matters worse, the county has lifted urban holding and proposed all this development during a time when they have forcibly told neighborhood associations not to meet due to COVID. The county website as of 4/25/2022 says ” In accordance with Gov. Inslee’s extension of the Stay Home Stay Healthy emergency order, Neighborhood Association and NACCC meetings have been canceled until further notice. ” Everything else is open, but there is still a moratorium on neighborhood association meetings. This lack of desire from Clark County to restart neighborhood association meetings does not seem like a coincidence, but rather a concerted effort to force through unpopular development and zoning changes during a time when neighborhood associations are not meeting.
Maureen McKenna
Ridgefield
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