For Warren Neth, one of the great things about his Harney Heights home was being able to walk among the trees on the neighboring ridgetops. Although Neth now lives on a farm in Yelm, he still owns his house in Vancouver and comes back regularly to visit. Recently, he noticed that the trees are disappearing as developers build housing. Neth wants Vancouver, Clark County and other jurisdictions to do more and adopt restrictions similar to those in Portland, which he said has long prioritized preserving its ridgetops, recognizing their psychological and aesthetic importance for urban dwellers. Although Vancouver and Clark County don’t have ordinances that specifically protect ridgetops, officials point to other regulations that protect trees and critical environmental areas. Neth recently voiced his concerns about the future of the city’s ridgelines in a post on Facebook.

“For decades, the ridgeline walk along Sixth Street in Vancouver’s Harney Heights neighborhood stood as a rare undeveloped stretch of land — steep, tangled with blackberries, and hiding the remnants of a long-abandoned gravel mine from the early 1900s,” Neth wrote. “Though the terrain was challenging, the rewards for those who walked its paths were unmatched.” In an interview March 25, Neth said he thought prior development restrictions on the former mine site might limit any future development. “I just always hoped that if they did build on that ridge, that they made so it was below street grade so that pedestrians on the sidewalk would still have those views,” he said. Walking along the ridgelines is a great way to connect to neighboring areas of the city, Neth said.

“Being able to go from Fort Vancouver up to the ridge gives you a different perspective of that whole area,” he said. “It’s got really good territorial views of Portland and the Columbia River and Mount Hood.” With the cities and the county currently in the process of updating each jurisdiction’s 20-year growth plans, Neth said now is the time for city and county officials to take action. The only ridgelines specifically protected by Clark County ordinances are in the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Area, said Jose Alvarez from the county’s community planning department. According to Clark County’s rules for designated scenic areas, the silhouette of new buildings must remain below the skyline of a bluff cliff or ridge as visible from key viewing areas. Other regulations for scenic areas include restrictions on the removal of trees and plants on the property, limiting building exteriors to dark earth tones and nonreflective materials, and many others.

Ridgefield has given little consideration to preserving its rural ridgelines. “We haven’t discussed ridgeline development specifically in our comp plan, though we more generally address the topic in the environmental protection element of the comp plan,” City Manager Steve Stuart said. However, Stuart said the city does have some development requirements specific to critical areas, which includes areas with steep slopes and ridgelines. For example, every new subdivision must set aside 25 percent of its acreage for parks and open space, half of which can be designated as critical areas. “We have a tree protection ordinance that was adopted a couple of years ago that is helping reduce the clearing along ridgelines during development processes and requires replacement for tree canopy that is removed,” Stuart said, adding that the city requires both commercial and residential developments to use existing slopes and topography to the greatest extent practicable. “That requirement was extended to residential development last year, after the (city) council saw several subdivisions recreating slopes/ridges with mass grading efforts to create flat lots with tall retaining walls behind them,” he said.

Nicole Walters, from Vancouver Public Works, said the city’s existing restrictions “apply to critical areas including steep slopes, wetlands, river/stream corridors, and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s project tree groves (under the agency’s Priority Habitats and Species program).” She said Vancouver’s development codes specific to protecting and preserving trees and other vegetation also applies to ridgeline areas. According to the development codes, the city’s goal is to promote site planning, building and development practices that prevent indiscriminate removal or destruction of trees and vegetation. Developing steep slopes requires a critical areas permit, Walters said. Walters said there are no changes to these development codes currently being considered as part of the growth plan update. “A skyline framed by trees, not buildings, provides a sense of place, an anchor in the landscape that urban planning too often disregards,” Neth said. “Maybe they could incentivize developers not to build that second story above the sidewalk. … You can still make a lot of money below the sidewalk level.”

However, Walters said Vancouver’s topography is different from Portland’s and those restrictions won’t necessarily meet the city’s needs. “Vancouver has some vistas, but that is primarily along the river and some prominent viewpoints of the river and the Cascade volcanoes. Vancouver lacks significant ridgelines (other than critical areas as defined as steep slopes) that would warrant special regulation related to viewpoint protection,” she said.

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