Community Development Building, Planning, Parks, Recreation

& Economic Development

Volume III, Issue 9 — December 7, 2012

Centralia — All Dressed up to Welcome One and All for the Holidays

Emil Pierson, Director Community Development Last month I shared one of my favorite quotes that if we are not going for-ward we are going back-ward. This month we are going to continue with the maintenance and project theme to give people an idea of what we are experiencing and looking at project wise for 2013.

On Monday I decided to drive around and check out the parks. I have been driving around the community most morn-ings for about six years. I usually visit different parks every day or check on a planning project or just drive an area of the City. This keeps the fa-cilities fresh in my mind on a daily basis and it also gives me an oppor-tunity to see a what is-sues we may be experi-encing and where we need to pay special at-tention.

For example, this 1st

image is the urban flooding that we experi-ence in front of Wheeler batting cage. We dug a dry well a couple of years ago thinking that

Washington Park — 2011 Christmas Tree Lighting

Mark your calendar!

Borst Home Site Open

Hours, Saturday, Dec.

8, 2012 from 1:30—3:30.

Last open house of

2012.

The next Parks Board

meeting is scheduled

for Monday, January

14, 2013

Historic Preservation

Commission meeting

Monday, January 14,

2013 at 5:30 p.m.

City Council meeting

Tuesdays, January 8

and 22 2013 at 7:00 p.m.

~ Council Chambers

Planning Commission

meeting Thursday, Jan-

uary 10, 2013 at 6:00

p.m.

this may take care of the issue but because of the high water table we are going to look at connect-ing it to the drainage ditch for the Sports Complex parking lot.

by Barry Hughes (Lead Park Technician) who informed me of the flag pole or antennae that fell off the top of the Train Depot onto the roof. After looking into the situation

we found out that the pipe broke off and broke around 40 tiles and 9 caps. Todd's comments to me was the pipe was-n't really even attached to anything and probably should have been re-moved as part of the re-model. This little rotten pipe as you can see did a lot of damage and cost the City approximately $1,200 and we are very grateful to BNSF for not charging the cost of a flagger for a day.

Another issue, we have been experiencing is at the library with a tree located on the south corner of the building. It has been breaking up the sidewalk, the garage into the library, and clogging the roof drains. After years of living with the problems we finally decided to just have it removed after the Christmas Lighting pro-gram. This cost the City a little over a $1,000 to have removed.

There are planned maintenance projects like the ones listed above or sometimes there are like the on we recently handled at the Train Depot. On Mon-day, right after I got into the office I was greeted

and determining this is much bigger than our parks crew can handle, I contacted Todd McCain of Property Plus (he still has an open contract with us from the roof cleaning project) to help us out. So after meeting with Todd we went to work. We had to arrange with BNSF for an official flagger and when they could have a person at the depot. We had to rent a lift and then see how what was the actual damage. On Thursday

Planning Division Report —Tammy Baraconi

Parks and Recreation ~ Julie Liseth

Boundary Line Adjust-

ments

1220 Mellen St.:

Voetberg-combining two

lots to accommodate com-

mercial development.

1813 Westside Ct.:

Bowen-combining two

residential lots into one

and giving 12 feet of prop-

erty to a neighboring rela-

tive.

Critical Areas Review

None at this time.

Planned Unit Develop-

ment

None at this time.

Short Plats

1307 Gold St.:

Cheney-two lot short plat

to accommodate commer-

cial development.

311 River Heights Road:

Dubois/Centralia Commu-

nity College-two lot short

plat.

Site Plan Review

None at this time.

Zoning Variance

401 E Main St.:

McKinley-applicant is

seeking a front and rear

yard setback to accommo-

date a residential structure

on a substandard lot.

Non-Permit Related Pro-

jects

Hazard Mitigation Grant

2008— $1.7 M grant to

elevate 28 homes ongo-

ing.

Hazard Mitigation Grant

2009— $500,000 for prop-

erty acquisition—ongoing.

Shoreline Master Plan

update. We are currently

at the beginning of a three

year process that will in-

clude the State and Lewis

County to update Centra-

lia’s outdated shoreline

master plan.

Projects in the pipeline

I-5 expansion-ongoing

permitting process.

The fundamentals clinic portions of the Boys and Girls Saturday Basketball programs were held on Saturdays throughout No-vember and into the first of December. The league seasons for both these programs will start Decem-ber 8 and run through the end of January.

The annual Turkey Trot fun run for kids was held at Borst Park on Saturday, November 17. A total of 77 youngsters ran for poul-

try prizes including turkeys for first place, chickens for second place and game hens for third place finish-ers in each age and gen-der category. Age catego-ries included “Under 2” through age 11.

The annual Tree Lighting Ceremony kicked off the holiday season in down-town Centralia on Friday, November 23. The crowd gathered at Washington Park was treated to musi-cal entertainment, cookies, hot cider, Santa Lucia cof-fee and hot roasted pea-nuts provided by Salew-sky’s Jewelry. The trees were lit, people joined in a Christmas medley sing-a-long, and Santa arrived by fire truck to greet the crowd. A special thank you to the Riverside Fire Authority for providing a ride for Santa! Those wanting to visit with Santa had an opportunity to do just that at the Fox Theatre following the ceremony.

Fourteen teams are partici-

pating in this years City League Basketball. This Sunday adult basketball program started its season on December 2 and will run through mid-March.

Centralia Parks & Recrea-tion and Centralia Arts-in-School have teamed up for the second year to offer free tickets to 350 Centra-lia School District students and family members for the dress rehearsal perfor-mance of the Nutcracker Ballet, performed by the Southwest Washington Dance Center. This event, funded by Centralia Arts-in-School and organized by Centralia Parks & Recrea-tion, has provided the op-portunity for hundreds of Centralia students to expe-rience a cultural event that they might not otherwise have the opportunity to do. Centralia Arts-in-School and Centralia Parks & Recreation also coopera-tively put on the annual Arts Jamboree for kids in February.

The 2nd annual Borst Park Drive-Thru Christmas Light Display is set to start on Friday, December 14. For a $2 fee per car, plus a can of food or a toy, park pa-trons can drive through Borst Park and view beau-tifully lighted displays and holiday greetings. The event will be held on seven different evenings, Decem-ber 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23 & 24 from 5:00 to 9:00 pm.

Registration is currently going on for some of our most popular programs to start in early January: Pee-Wee and Junior Basket-ball for K-3rd graders and Lyle Overbay Hitting Camps for ages 7 and up.

Summary of building permits issued

through November 30, 2012

2 for new single family residences

3 for multi-family projects 3 for a Manufactured

home in a park 50 for residential remod-

els 480for commercial re-

models 21 for new commercial

buildings 23 Code Enforcement

Actions 89 reroofing permits

42 plumbing permits 18 sign permits 14 for accessory struc-

tures 9 demolition permits 28 mechanical permits 1 WABO Adult Family

Home inspections Total value for the per-

mits that were issued through Nov. 30, 2012 is: $13,808,190

This Historic Preserva-

tion Commission rec-

ommended including

the FA Martin House

on the Centralia Reg-

ister of Historic Places

(Local Register). This

item was approved

through resolution by

City Council on No-

vember 13th.

We will meet on De-

cember 10th to discuss

among other things, a

work plan for the up-

coming year.

Don’t forget the Visit-

ing Nurse’s Tour of

Historic Homes on

Saturday, December

8, 2012!

The Borst Home site

will also be open for the

last Open House of

2012. If you haven’t

seen the Grand Old La-

dy in her Christmas fin-

ery—don’t miss it!

The Historic Fox Thea-

tre restoration team

have installed the repro-

duction, 1930’s blade

sign to the marquee.

They’ll be lighting it at

5:30 on Friday, Decem-

ber 7, 2012 followed by

a classic Christmas

Movie, “Holiday Inn”

with Frank Sinatra and

Fred Astaire. Make an

evening of it!

Building Department—LG Nelson

Contractor MDK setting the New 30’ high Poles for the

Safety Net on Field 5 (below)

Picture on the right is the Fish and Wildlife New Brooder

Barn for the Pheasant Farm on Mt. Vista road. Founda-

tions being placed now and the new slabs will be poured

soon, as long as the weather hold out.

Historic Preservation Commission

Tammy Baraconi Park Maintenance — Barry Hughes

Shortly after completing the lighting of Tower, Washington Park and raising the tree for the Centralia Downtown Associa-tion, a rain and wind storm damaged many of those projects.

Borst Park had to be closed temporarily because of falling branches. Lights had to be repaired, and the CDA tree, which was toppled in the high winds, had to be shortened and rese-cured before the lights could be added.

The picture below shows the CDA tree arriving at Washington Park by truck before the storm and subsequent reduction in height.

DON’T MISS THE FUN THINGS HAPPENING IN CENTRALIA!

Borst Park Christmas Lights

The City of Centralia will be offering its own hometown

Christmas light show in Borst Park on the evenings of

December 14, 15 & 16 and December 21, 22, 23 & 24

from 5:00 to 9:00 pm. For $2.00 per car plus a donation to

the food bank or gift of a toy to be used locally, the drive-

through display will be a fantasy of lights and seasons

greetings, provided by businesses, organizations and fami-

lies that want to wish park visitors the best this holiday

season.

In 2011, over 5,000 people visited the display. All pro-

ceeds were shared with the community and used towards

the many new additions to this years display. Many of

our local seasonal activities, including Breakfast with

Santa, the Tree Lighting ceremony, downtown decora-

tions and the Tractor Parade can expect increased attend-

ance with the addition of this 7-day attraction.