The Battle Ground City Council on Monday unanimously approved its top priorities for the city’s 2026 legislative agenda, highlighting major infrastructure and community investments it hopes to secure state and federal funding for when the legislative session begins Jan. 12.
Among the city’s top asks are funding to complete the Eaton Boulevard reconstruction, move forward on downtown revitalization, expand Remy Park with inclusive play equipment and continue improvements tied to the Westside Employment District’s sewer system.
The city is also backing two policy measures: additional funding for indigent defense and a statutory change to remove freight eligibility from the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad corridor.
Public Works Director Mark Herceg said improvements to Eaton Boulevard and two of its key intersections remain a key safety concern.
“It’s a high-accident corridor,” Herceg said. “There’s also concurrency issues ... Out on Eaton and 503, there’s a concurrency failure, and then additionally at Eaton and Southwest 20th Avenue.”
The latest WSDOT crash analysis, which took place from January 2015 through December 2019, documented 51 crashes at state Route 503 and Eaton and 14 crashes at Southwest 20th Avenue and Eaton.
The project would add a center turn lane, sidewalks, separated bike lanes, new traffic signals at SW 20th Avenue, and expanded turn lanes at state Route 503. Those improvements, Herceg said, would bring the intersections up to standard and make the stretch safer for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.
The project aims to alleviate congestion at state Route 503 by adding more turn lanes and installing a new traffic signal at 20th Avenue, which is currently a four-way stop. Additionally, sidewalks and bike lanes separated from the traveled way would be added to both sides of Eaton Boulevard between the two intersections.
“Nobody should walk that,” Herceg said.
“There are no shoulders, literally none. It goes straight down to a ditch,” City Manager Kris Swanson added.
The city has raised $4 million toward the $14 million total project cost, leaving an $11 million gap that it hopes to fill through the upcoming legislative session and federal “Streets for All” grant program. Herceg said the city could contribute about $500,000 in impact fees if needed.
“We would need additional funding in my mind to make the project work,” Herceg said. “The city generally doesn’t have $11 million lying around.”
If funding comes through, Herceg said, construction could start as soon as 2027.
“The plans are pretty close to being done. We’re at about a 90 percent level,” he said. “If everything worked perfectly, we could be ready to go by [then].”
The city will also seek $1 million in the capital budget to move its Downtown Revitalization project from design to construction. That phase will include undergrounding utilities and possibly acquiring property for future improvements, setting the stage for downtown’s long-term remodel.
Herceg added that the downtown work is as much about function as it is about beautification.
“A big part of the plan is aesthetics — how it looks and feels and how people want to be down there,” Herceg said. “Utilities and stuff just being in the way, it’s not good for that aesthetic.”
Undergrounding utilities, he said, also clears the path for future construction.
“When you can get that done up front, we don’t have to worry about that during construction,” Herceg said. “It speeds everything up.”
The council-approved master plan outlines several downtown improvements. These include infrastructure enhancements for additional public parking, better traffic flow, beautification efforts and upgrades to utilities and lighting. The timeline for the total downtown build-out, estimated at 10 to 20 years, will depend on the availability and timing of funding.
The third major item, Remy Park, sits on 80 acres near Walmart, though only a southeast portion will be developed. The park’s master plan, which includes playgrounds, a dog park, picnic shelters and fitness trails, is estimated at $9.4 million.
Battle Ground received $1.5 million from the Legislature earlier this year to begin basic infrastructure work for the restrooms and parking area. The city will now request another $1.5 million to add inclusive play equipment.
“There’s been a lot of interest from what we’ve heard in surveys … for an all-inclusive play area, so we think this would be a good spot for it,” Herceg said.
The city is also requesting $1 million in the capital budget to fund Phase II of the 92nd Avenue Sewer Pump Station and Force Main Project, a critical piece of infrastructure for Battle Ground’s expanding Westside Employment District.
The new sewer system is designed to open up roughly 595 acres of land for future development, including about 310 acres of employment land on the city’s western edge. The project supports the city’s goal of diversifying its economic base with light industrial, commercial, and office development.
Phase I, which included construction of the new 92nd Avenue pump station, was completed earlier this year with state funding that covered both design and construction. That work laid the foundation for the next stage, which will extend service toward the high-growth corridor along state Route 502.
Phase II includes construction of half a mile of force main from SW 20th Avenue to state Route 503 and three-quarters of a mile of gravity main along state Route 502. The new lines will link two existing pump stations, converting one to gravity flow and adding capacity to the other, which will relieve pressure on the city’s aging sewer infrastructure.
“That pump station will end up serving all of this area,” Herceg said. “As this develops into employment land, they’ll use that pump station in order to build their projects, and that will obviously provide jobs for the city.”
City officials say the improvements won’t just support industrial and commercial development within Battle Ground’s limits — they’ll also help set the stage for possible future annexation near Dollar (or Dollars) Corner, a key intersection just outside the city. That area is viewed as a prime opportunity for employment growth if sewer access can be extended.
“The more we can do to bring service out toward Dollars Corner, the better positioned we’ll be when that area looks to come into the city,” Swanson said. “That’s where we see a lot of future job potential.”
Two policy items round out the city’s agenda: one urging more state funding for indigent defense after new Supreme Court caseload standards, and another asking the Legislature to amend state law to remove freight rail eligibility from the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad corridor.
“We’ve already seen sharp increases in the amount that public defenders are agreeing to for contract purposes,” Swanson said. “The state doesn’t provide any of that funding, and so we’re bearing the brunt of that.”
On the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad, Swanson said the line has sat idle for years but remains a concern as Battle Ground grows.
“It runs right there on the west side of our little league field,” Swanson said. “If that becomes operable again, it’s going to have a huge impact on the city of Battle Ground, especially with the growth that we’ve had.”
City leaders hope that legislative action will one day allow the corridor to be converted into a trail system instead.
“There’s been a lot of discussion about the viability of converting that from rails to trails for recreational purposes,” Swanson said. “It would better connect our downtown with the village.”
