City Limits vs Address (Vancouver, Camas: houses, neighborhood, buying)

[PhoenixSomeday]

So we're looking at some houses here and there through the area, and we found this one place that had a Camas address. Then we looked at the city boundaries on Google maps and it showed it falling within Vancouver's limits. I also found a City of Vancouver website that shows if an address you enter is in the Vancouver city limits, and it showed that it is (so Google maps boundaries were correct).

As far as I know this is not a big deal, and for us this is neither here nor there. I understand that anywhere you go, sometimes a mailing address is not reflective of the actual city a place resides in, but I'm curious as to what sorts of implications this might have for different things.

[texasdiver]

This is because cities grow over time.

Mailing zip codes and school district boundaries are all-inclusive. There is nowhere you can live within Washington State that does not fall within a specific Post Office Zip Code and within a specific school district. So those boundaries, once fixed, tend not to change.

City limits change over time as cities grow and they incorporate new territory. So those lines are constantly changing.

The East Vancouver/Camas area you are looking at was once all rural unincorporated land. But people who lived there still had a Vancouver or Camas mailing address depending on which zip code and post office delivered their mail. And they were still within either the Camas or Evergreen school district according to district boundaries set long ago.

In recent years, the Vancouver city limits have grown eastward towards Camas and the Camas city limits have grown westward towards Vancouver until they have finally met and there isn't much if any unincorporated land between them anymore. But the boundaries they landed on don't necessarily match the much older school district boundaries or the zip code boundaries for mail delivery.

That is how you get things like people with Camas addresses attending Evergreen schools and people with Washougal addresses attending Camas schools and so forth. In fact, Union HS in Evergreen School District actually has a Camas address.

As for implications? The biggest two would be school district boundaries and taxes. School district boundaries are important to some people and can affect property values. Evergreen is a good district but Camas is probably more prestigious and sought after by families moving to the area so might add a small price premium. As for taxes, different jurisdictions have different tax rates. You'll have to research that if it is an important consideration. You will also have different fire and police protection and municipal governments to deal with for things like building permits and zoning codes.

[cdelena]

There are large areas of Clark county with Vancouver addresses but miles outside the city boundaries. I was told that these areas were designated to be annexed by the city but were not for various reasons.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by cdelena

There are large areas of Clark county with Vancouver addresses but miles outside the city boundaries. I was told that these areas were designated to be annexed by the city but were not for various reasons.

I don't think it has to do with annexation. It has to do with which post office serves that area and how the Post Office lists the address.

[trailtramp]

Is there a way to determine areas in Vancouver that have lower property taxes? Maybe district boundaries? I looked on Clark County site, couldnt find any detailed info. We have no kids so schools areas are not a factor for us, but I would like to figure out if areas that do not have or support schools have lower property taxes. Any insight thanks!

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by trailtramp

Is there a way to determine areas in Vancouver that have lower property taxes? Maybe district boundaries? I looked on Clark County site, couldnt find any detailed info. We have no kids so schools areas are not a factor for us, but I would like to figure out if areas that do not have or support schools have lower property taxes. Any insight thanks!

You can look up the actual taxes for any specific property on the county web site.

If you want the most minimal taxes your best bet is probably to avoid Camas and Vancouver proper and move to Battle Ground where they keep voting down school levies. The further out towns like Yacolt are still in Battle Ground school district so taxes are probably the same.

[Pomelo]

Not a guarantee, but easy way to guess if a piece of land is within Vancouver or Camas is to see if the street it is on starts with SE or NW. SE would be a Vancouver street, NW would be a Camas street.

[texasdiver]

Google will also tell you the city limits if you search on any city. For example, here is Camas. I think the city limits shown here are pretty accurate. But you'd want to verify by looking at the county web site for any specific address of a property you were considering buying

https://goo.gl/maps/ZBfV2oZRA2R3rR8h9

But the city limit boundary shown on this map is different from the school district boundary lines which mostly run along 192nd Ave. And they are different still from the zip code and post office boundary lines that determine whether you have a Vancouver or Camas mailing address

[texasdiver]

Here is an example of what I am talking about. 192nd Ave is generally thought of as the boundary between Vancouver and Camas. But that depends on what boundary you are talking about. This is the actual city limit boundary of Camas along 192nd. As you can see, it runs a bit east of 192nd and isn't a straight line at all



Here is the school district boundary between Camas and Evergreen schools which more or less runs along 192nd except when you get up close to 20th then it zig zags over to the east so that the Westridge neighborhood to the east of 192nd up near Wal-Mart is in the Evergreen school district. The colors correspond to the different Camas elementary schools but the beige area to the west is all Evergreen district and the colored blotches are all Camas.



Finally here is the zip code boundary map which determines if the US Post Office gives you a Vancouver or Camas address. You can see that it runs up 192nd also, but up further before it zig zags to the east. So that you can have things like people in Westridge who live outside the city of Camas, attend Evergreen schools, but have a Camas mailing address.