Clark County Council held a public hearing on Tuesday, April 18 to take public testimony and select a 2045 population projection from the range provided by the Washington Office of Financial Management (OFM). The council continued the hearing to May 2 at 10 a.m. in order to provide an opportunity to have additional discussions about the projections provided by the state agency.

The special meeting with OFM is scheduled for Monday, May 1 at 9 a.m. The special meeting is an informational session for the council to have a discussion with OFM in preparation for the continued hearing.

The continued public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, May 2 at 10 a.m. The hearing will be live on CVTV channel 23/323 and available later that day for on-demand viewing on CVTV.org.

Both meetings will be held in a hybrid format. Attendees can join in person in the sixth-floor hearing room of the Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin St., or virtually via Webex.

The State of Washington authorizes OFM to prepare 20-year growth management population projections for all counties in Washington every five years. The projections are developed within the framework of expected state growth and include three distinct ranges – low, middle, and high for each county. Clark County’s population for 2045 is forecasted as follows:

• High     791,809
• Middle 698,416
• Low     576,151

(Source: http://ofm.wa.gov/pop/gma/)

According to state law (RCW 43.62.035), the middle range represents OFM’s most likely estimate of a county’s population. The RCW says in part: “the middle range shall represent the office’s estimate of the most likely population projection for the county.” Within each county, population planning targets for cities, towns, and unincorporated areas are worked out among the affected local jurisdictions as part of the regional, city and county planning process.

Meeting materials can be found at https://clark.wa.gov/community-planning/2025-update-meeting-and-event-information.

Information on how to attend the meetings and provide comments can be found on the council’s meeting page at https://clark.wa.gov/councilors/clark-county-council-meetings.

To learn more about the 2025 update and to sign up for project updates, please visit the project website at www.clark.wa.gov/2025update.

CONTACT:
Oliver Orjiako, Director, Community Planning
564.397.4112, oliver.orjiako@clark.wa.gov