May 2024 Advocacy Update

Clark County Climate Action Planning – Clark County is seeking community input to help plan for climate change through a series of activities throughout the year to inform the county’s new climate chapter for its comprehensive plan.

With the passage of HB 1181 during the 2023 Washington State legislative session, Clark County is now required to add a climate change element into its Comprehensive Plan. To start, members of the Clark County community are invited to complete a survey to share how they and their families have been affected by severe weather events and weather patterns.

The survey is available in multiple languages.
Responses are requested by 5pm Sunday, May 12.
Surveys are available online at: https://clark.wa.gov/community-planning/climate-change-planning.
Print copies may be requested by contacting 564.397.4968.

Community members will have additional opportunities to provide feedback on this project later in the year. The entire climate event series includes:

Resilience

Spring 2024: Survey to collect community member experience and needs related to severe weather events and weather patterns. The survey will be available through May 12.
Early summer 2024: Community workshop to seek ideas about how to address climate resilience in the unincorporated county.

Pollution Reduction

Late summer 2024: Survey to collect community member priorities on reducing greenhouse gas pollution in Clark County.
Fall 2024: Community workshop seeking ideas about how to address greenhouse gas emissions reduction in the unincorporated county.

Adoption Process

2025: Residents will have the opportunity to submit comments or testify to the Planning Commission and County Council about the county’s proposed climate chapter for the Comprehensive Growth Management Plan.

To learn more about county climate planning, sign up for project updates, or submit a comment, please visit the project website at https://clark.wa.gov/community-planning/climate-change-planning.

City of Vancouver kicks off its Green Building Policy Development
The City of Vancouver will begin the process of drafting a green building policy and code, that will impact development within the city.

“The buildings that we live and work in create 28% of Vancouver’s total greenhouse gas emissions, second only to the transportation sector. To move toward carbon neutrality by 2040, the City has started work on a Green Buildings Policy that will set new standards for development to reduce emissions from buildings and promote resilience to climate change impacts such as extreme heat and wildfire smoke.

Tune in to the May 20 City Council Workshop to learn more.”

HOA Changes Coming in the State of Washington

A recent ruling by the Washington State Court of Appeals involving a local HOA will allow residents to display political signs before an election without time limitation. An HOA asserted a rule prohibiting political sign displays more than 60 days before an election prohibited residents from displaying signs within the community. A resident of the community sued, and the Court of appeals ruled in favor of said resident.
“We conclude that RCW 64.38.034(1) expressly addresses whether an HOA can restrict the time period during which a political yard sign may be displayed. We hold that RCW 64.38.034(1) unambiguously disallows an HOA from prohibiting the display of political yard signs before an election.” Read more: East Vancouver couple prevail over homeowners association on when political signs can go up before election – The Columbian
The use of HOAs will continue to grow in Washington State, nearly 1/3 of Washington residents or 2.4 million people already live in HOA communities. Communities built after 2018 are subject to the Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (WUCIOA) which blends Washington’s former condominium and HOA requirements.

Senate bill 5796 will require most communities interest communities built prior to 2018 to comply with WUCIOA starting January 1^st 2028. In a nutshell, SB 5796 would apply WUCIOA to all condominiums, cooperatives or HOA communities, except those previously exempt, regardless of when the community was formed.

“WUCIOA applies to all common interest communities beginning January 1, 2028. Communities not governed by WUCIOA may continue to be governed by other applicable acts until January 1, 2028.”

This will impact our members moving forward because properties subject to WUCIOA have additional transaction requirements. WUCIOA “…requires Public Offering Statements for new construction and Resale Certificates for everything else, which must be provided by the Association no later than the date of a purchase and sale agreement.” (Senate Bill Proposes to Repeal Condo and HOA Laws | Helsell Fetterman).