Clark County Code Glitch Threatens to Derail 30+ Construction Projects — With a Season on the Line
A 12-year misapplication of Clark County’s own transportation concurrency code has been quietly approving development it shouldn’t have — and now that the error has come to light, more than 30 construction projects are in jeopardy of losing the entire 2026 building season.
The stakes couldn’t be higher for contractors working in Washington’s fastest-growing county. A delay that runs past midsummer isn’t just an inconvenience. For many projects, it means waiting until 2027. Vbjusa
What Is Concurrency — and What Went Wrong?
“Concurrency” is a state law requirement that the transportation infrastructure needed to support development is in place concurrently with the development itself. County transportation engineers evaluate both street corridors and intersections, paying close attention to intersections since intersections are the choke points that can cause traffic to back up along a corridor. Vbjusa
The standard Clark County applies is a volume-to-capacity ratio of 0.9 — meaning a road is considered at capacity when traffic volume reaches 90% of its theoretical engineering limit. Currently, portions of 99th Street, 119th Street, 139th Street, 179th Street, 94th Avenue, Padden Parkway, and SR 503 do not meet that standard, potentially affecting more than 30 projects that were in the pipeline for approval. Vbjusa
The problem? The language of the concurrency code appears to be inconsistent with how county transportation engineers have been applying it for the past 12 years. In other words, projects that should have been flagged under a proper reading of the code were approved anyway — and the discrepancy only surfaced recently through a legal challenge involving a 179th Street subdivision now before a Hearing Examiner. Vbjusa
The Fix Is Not Simple
Clark County has a few options, but none of them are easy. One option would be to amend the classification of the affected roads to add additional lanes, effectively turning them into six-lane highways to increase capacity. That would involve removing buildings and homes along those corridors at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, while also making those roads more difficult to navigate for pedestrians. Vbjusa
The more practical near-term path is an emergency code amendment. On June 3, 2026, Councilor Glen Yung added an interim concurrency ordinance to the County Council agenda, with a presentation scheduled for June 10 and a vote expected June 16. 179gridlock
But even that route has complications. The regular process for code amendments takes many months — far too long to save the 2026 construction season — and could have spillover effects into 2027 and 2028. An interim emergency ordinance, if approved, would sidestep that timeline, but it may also face legal challenge from the same parties who surfaced the original code conflict. Vbjusa
What Contractors Need to Know
Projects must obtain land use approval before they can be reviewed for construction approval and ultimately start moving dirt. A delay in land use approvals will impact construction for the next few years, which in turn could create a drag on the local economy. Vbjusa
For contractors with projects in the pipeline on any of the affected corridors — 99th Street, 119th Street, 139th Street, 179th Street, 94th Avenue, Padden Parkway, or SR 503 — the immediate priority is to confirm the status of land use approvals directly with Clark County Community Development. Projects that have already cleared land use approval are on firmer ground. Projects still awaiting that approval are the ones most at risk of being frozen.
The broader concern is what this means for Clark County’s growth trajectory. Washington’s Growth Management Act requires that if new development is approved, the roads to serve it must be funded and in place within six years — the whole purpose of concurrency being to prevent more development from being approved than the roads can handle. With several of the affected corridors already over capacity, an emergency ordinance that simply changes the code language — rather than fixing the roads — may resolve the immediate permitting crisis while leaving the underlying infrastructure problem unaddressed. 179gridlock
What’s Next
All eyes are now on the Clark County Council vote expected June 16. If the interim ordinance passes, affected projects may be able to move forward in time to salvage at least part of the 2026 season. If it fails, or faces a legal challenge that delays implementation, the ripple effects could extend well into 2027 and 2028.
NW Construction News will continue to follow this story. Contractors with projects on affected corridors can contact Clark County Community Development for status updates, and can monitor the Council agenda at clark.wa.gov.
