Camas greenlights Church of Latter-day Saints’ SEPA review

The city of Camas has determined that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ plan to build a three-story, 43,000-square-foot temple in Camas will not have any significant environmental impacts. The City issued its State Environmental Plan Act (SEPA) “determination of nonsignificance” on Thursday, Jan. 16, and will take public comment on the decision through Thursday, Jan. 30. The church announced in 2023 that it planned to build 20 new temples worldwide, including one near Vancouver. In early 2024, the church revealed that it planned to build the Vancouver-area temple on a 19-acre, undeveloped site near the intersection of Southeast Bybee Road and Southeast 20th Street in Camas. The church purchased the site, which is currently zoned for regional commercial use, for $8.25 million in May 2023, according to Clark County property documents. The site is located near Evergreen Tennis, Fisher Investments and the Kielo at Grass Valley and Grandview Place apartment complexes. The church’s plans have attracted some opposition from local residents worried the development is not in the best interests of the community. “I feel like, to tear down that corner for a temple, does not resonate with the needs of that community,” Enoch Tsai told Camas City Council members in March 2024. For 16 years, Tsai told the Camas officials, he and his family have “upheld a tradition every evening: walking down Bybee up 38th and among the trees on that site” and marveled at the abundance of migratory birds on the site. “I am filled with the realization that this tradition may soon come to an end,” Tsai said during the March 2024 Camas City Council meeting. “I’ve always viewed Camas as a city that coexists among nature.” City staff charged with ensuring planned developments meet the state’s environmental regulations have determined that the church’s plan will not negatively impact the environment or the wildlife — including deer, songbirds and waterfowl migrating along the Pacific Flyway — regularly observed on the site. According to the City’s SEPA determination, there are no known threatened or endangered species on or near the site, and plans call for landscaping upgrades to help “enhance wildlife habitats on site.” The report also noted that a critical-areas report conducted by Ecological Land Services in July 2024 identified no critical areas or buffers on the part of the property earmarked for the temple. The church’s plans call for a three-story building topped by a 66-foot spire. “Lighting will be provided with luminaires along various building edges to increase safety and security around the buildings throughout the proposed campus,” according to the SEPA report. “Lights will be installed and shielded to minimize dispersion and control any potential offsite impacts. Intensity of lighting will be kept at a level to assure safety on the site, but will meet all applicable city of Camas light shielding and glare reductions.” The development, which will necessitate a redesign and realignment of parts of Southeast Bybee Road, would add 173 vehicles during the morning peak hour and 184 vehicles during the evening peak hour, according to the SEPA report. Stormwater runoff from the roof areas of the temple and a planned 3,300-square-foot utility building as well as the adjacent parking lot and other paved areas will be “collected with catch basins and routed to … a wet pond,” according to the report. Comments regarding the City’s SEPA determination are due by 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30, and can be emailed to communityd evelopment@cityofcamas.us or to Camas Planning Manager Robert Maul, Community Development Department, 616 N.E. Fourth Ave., Camas, WA 98607.

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