County Planners Reject Costco Project in Salmon Creek

VANCOUVER, WA-A Costco project in the works in the Salmon Creek area since the beginning of the year has been denied by Clark County planning staff because of the traffic congestion it would cause. The Redmond, WA-based public company may appeal the decision to county commissioners up until Sept. 24.

The property is located at the southeast corner of Northeast 20th Avenue and Northwest 139th Street. Costco’s plans for the 17.6-acre site have been to build a 142,000-sf building on the site along with a tire store and a gas station. The county’s computerized estimates reportedly show that Salmon Creek Avenue traffic to and from the warehouse store would slow to well below the acceptable limit of 22 mph. The road currently serves Washington State University-Vancouver, but a new hospital is also proposed along the route.

Costco previously volunteered to make more than $1 million in traffic improvements to nearby streets, such as widening a nearby busy Interstate 5 exit ramp as well as Northwest 139th Street. The city’s estimates, however, found that even with the traffic improvements Costco could not meet the mph standard.