Vancouver Evergreen & Grand Mixed Use District Code Update

Vancouver, WA | 2023

The City of Vancouver, Washington is a rapidly urbanizing first-ring suburb in the Portland metropolitan area. The City had established a comprehensive vision to densify and diversify the land uses along several key commercial corridors. Evergreen & Grand are two of those corridors, which intersect to form the foundation for a vibrant, walkable, mixed use district just outside of downtown Vancouver.

Building on a community vision created in 2021, Cascadia Partners led an initiative to implement new development regulations for the area. The team integrated the framework and concepts adopted in the vision, yet proposed alternative approaches and refinements that would enhance development feasibility and urban design outcomes.

Cascadia modeled development feasibility under the recommended code standards using financial pro-formas and 3D visualizations. These models were instrumental in helping policy makers understand key tradeoffs associated with height, parking, and use regulations.

The team produced clear, compelling graphics and visualizations to help the community understand the intent of the proposed code changes. Cascadia facilitated a series of stakeholder focus groups and a virtual community meeting.

The proposed Evergreen-Grand Overlay Zone included a more granular treatment of maximum building height, balanced approach to requiring mixed use development, and reduced parking requirements. It also included a comprehensive set of objective design standards that will result in attractive, comfortable, and vibrant street frontages.

The firm then led City Council through the adoption process, responding to concerns raised about community character with additional refinements and clear explanations of policy tradeoffs. The City Council adopted the code changes in November of 2023. The City intends to use the overlay zone as a model for other commercial corridors.