DISCUSSION ITEMS

City of Woodland Boundaries and Impact of Growth on Woodland Schools

At the December Meeting of the Woodland Public Schools Board of Directors, Port of Woodland Commissioner Bob Wile requested that the Board of Directors adopt a position to request that the City of Woodland reconsider the expansion of the urban growth boundaries to include all of the Woodland Bottoms.  

The City Council considered six different options for expansion of the UGA.  Commissioner Wile suggested that the Commission was advocating for "Option 6."

When the expansion of the UGA was being considered by the city, the Board of Directors did not take a formal position on the expansion options because of potential conflicts of interest on the part of some school board members.  At the time, some individual board members did express a bias toward Option 5, which would incorporate the area of the Bottoms east of the railroad tracks and two small areas west of the tracks.

Expansion of the UGA into some or all of the Bottoms holds two key advantages to the school district,

1) Opportunity to collect Impact fees

• School impact fees are allowed under the Washington State Growth Management Act (GMA). The District currently collects impact fees for new residential construction in Clark County and the City of Woodland.  Cowlitz County is exempt from the GMA, and we collect no impact fees in Cowlitz. If the City of Woodland incorporates the Bottoms, any new residential construction will be assessed fees to support school expansion and offset some of the costs directly attributable to new growth.

2) Potential land for future school construction

• Buildable land is limited within the city. New schools require access to sewer and water. Expansion of the UGA and the city would necessitate the expansion of those services into the area and provide additional opportunity for suitable land to construct the fourth elementary school that is anticipated in the Woodland Public Schools Capital Facilities Plan.  The Bottoms is the most logical place for expansion to occur, as that is where the most significant residential growth is anticipated to occur.

There is no administrative recommendation on this topic.