Surging Vancouver pushes the button marked 'grow'
Annexation - A currently stalled move would make Vancouver the second-biggest city in Washington state
Thursday, March 16, 2006
ALLAN BRETTMAN The Oregonian

VANCOUVER -- Annexation made Vancouver what it is today.
In 1997, the city added 55,000 new residents and 11,258 acres, becoming the fourth-biggest city in Washington state and the second-largest in the Portland metropolitan area.
Before, "Vancouver was the backwater of Portland," says Mayor Royce E. Pollard, a poster screaming, "think BIG!" looming over his shoulder. "We're not anymore."
Vancouver is looking to grow again through annexation, with an eye on becoming the second-biggest city in Washington. Although officials emphasize advantages to potential annexees and the city's state-mandated role in delivering urban services, there is a simpler motivation: status.
"It's a fact of life," says Pollard, a retired Army lieutenant colonel. "Bigger brings attention; it brings power, money and prestige."
If it's the attention of Portland decision-makers that Vancouver wants, that already has been achieved, says Portland Mayor Tom Potter.
"I applaud Vancouver," Potter says, "They're positioning themselves well. Obviously it's a growing city."
The latest annexation has been put on hold for now, effectively blocked by Clark County officials. But the episode has been instructive about Vancouver's place in its parallel worlds in Washington state and the Portland area.
That dual purpose will be on display today at Portland State University as Pollard, Gov. Chris Gregoire and others from Washington state participate with their Oregon counterparts, including Potter and Gov. Ted Kulongoski, in conference on bistate cooperation.
Pollard likes to remind listeners of where Vancouver once stood.
"Do you know what's the 11th-largest city in Washington?" he asks.
In the mid-1990s, only a dedicated few may have known that the answer was Vancouver, a position now held by Bellingham. Pollard is convinced the added residents gave the city new respect in the state capital in Olympia as well as with Portland officials.
The city now has an estimated 154,800 residents; the county has 391,500. If those numbers don't represent clout enough in the Portland area, consider this: Oregon received nearly 55,000 income tax returns from Clark County in 2004, totaling about $121 million in income taxes. Only seven of Oregon's 36 counties paid more.
The mayor, who relishes his role as the city's cheerleader, believes everyone needs an occasional chest-bumping reminder that Vancouver is a player.
That attitude helps explain why the city recently attempted to annex another huge swath of land -- 26 square miles with more than 65,000 people. The instant addition from the northeast side of the city's urban growth area would have made Vancouver bigger than Tacoma and Spokane, second only to Seattle.
The issue showed that Vancouver's biggest rivalry may not be with Portland, but closer to home -- with Clark County.
City-county friction
Days after Vancouver's annexation plan was revealed in December, Clark County Commissioner Betty Sue Morris accused city officials of concocting the plan in secret and complained the public had no say in the plan.
Nevertheless, the city forged ahead with the steps necessary for the annexation. One of those steps was to present the proposal in late February to the Washington State Boundary Review Board for Clark County.
In late January, county commissioners dissolved the boundary review board.
The annexation has been on hold since, with alternating calls from city and county officials for greater cooperation, offset by closed-door sessions by the City Council to discuss suing the county.
This kind of conflict may not be the best way to conduct government, some observe. The region is best served when Vancouver and Clark County officials speak with one voice, these experts say.
Also, they must work cohesively with Portland metro officials, said Ethan Seltzer, director of Portland State University's School of Urban Studies and Planning.
But inescapable differences, such as the states' tax structures, have lured not only home buyers from Oregon to Clark County, but also several small and medium-sized businesses.
Any economic competition between the two states is scheduled for a rest today. One of the topic's in the PSU forum calls for "participants (to) identify key opportunities for advancing the region's economy by cooperating."

Allan Brettman: 360-896-5746 or 503-294-5900; allanbrettman@news.oregonian.com