A year of work on the first phase of a project to bring sports fields to Woodland concluded after approval by Cowlitz County officials helped bring the project to fruition more than a dozen years after it kicked off.
During its Dec. 27 meeting, the Cowlitz County Board of Commissioners approved an interlocal agreement with the Rotary Foundation of Woodland for $300,000 of rural county sales and use tax for the Scott Hill Park project. When complete, the project will feature several athletics fields for baseball, softball and soccer with parking and support facilities to host games.
Rotary Club of Woodland’s Scott Hill Park Project Chair Sandy Larson said the funding source came together in about a month. That timeframe was relatively fast compared to the years the project has been worked on.
The initial cost was projected to be $16 million for all phases to be built out, though Larson believes it will likely be higher. Now, all but one of the eight fields for various sports will have artificial turf. The only one featuring natural grass will be included in the current phase of the project.
Larson estimated about $3 million has been spent on the first phase of the project. There is about $2 million left to complete that phase, which includes the installation of more parking.
So far, the project has its multi-sport field installed and walking trail paved. The parking lot connecting to Scott Hill Road has been installed and work on a maintenance building with restrooms also marks the latest developments at the site.
Larson said the Rotary club hopes to have events there this summer to build excitement for the project. There’s a possibility practice games could be played at the current sports field.
“We don’t have a lot of practice fields in Woodland, so they have to go to Ridgefield all the time,” Larson said.
The potential to feature games is still not certain since more construction could begin if more funding comes in, which could impede the use of what has already been built out, she said.
Much of the project’s ability to move forward is reliant on the “rhythm” of grant cycles, Larson said.
“You don’t get a grant until spring, and then you have to go out for bid … and then you get set up to start construction,” Larson said.
Larson said January marks the 13th year since the Rotary club started the project. A fateful board meeting led to the project’s kickoff.
“Everybody thought it was a great idea. We had no money, but they wanted to pursue it,” Larson said.
Studies and tests for the project took years, Larson said, before any ground could be broken. She mentioned Ellis “Doc” Johnson conceived the first plan for a park complex, though at the time, the cost estimates for the field were significantly lower than what is currently expected.
She noted the park, perched on the titular Scott Hill, isn’t a visible development to many going about their business in the city below. Though it might keep the work hidden, she said that isolation is an asset for the facility once it is up and running.
“When you go there, you feel like you’re in a different world,” Larson said.
In 2017, the project had a formal groundbreaking ceremony at the site. Larson said she got emotional the first time she saw construction crews working at the park.
After so many years of planning and hoping, having structures up and trails paved makes the end goal of the park complex all the more real.
“It’s been like an uphill battle to get to where we’re at and so now we’re turning that corner that we’ve always been looking for,” Larson said.
