La Center is advancing upgrades and expansion throughout its parks system, with upcoming projects designed to improve softball facilities and develop a new downtown park at Fifth Street and Birch Avenue.
The projects are included in the city’s updated parks plan, adopted in 2024 to guide the city’s improvement needs through 2030 as La Center grows. The city manages eight parks and seven trails, balancing new amenities with maintenance costs, according to Public Works and Community Development Director Tracy Coleman.
“There’s always a shortage of parks in communities, but there’s also a shortage of funds to maintain those parks,” Coleman said, noting that both future improvements and the establishment of new parks require careful planning. “You don’t want to build them if you can’t maintain them.”
Recent projects include four new pickleball courts at Heritage Park, expected to bring players away from the sports courts at Holley Park. Last year, the park’s tennis and basketball courts were freshly striped. The City Council also approved a downtown food cart ordinance and the relocation of the historic Make Mine Milk building to the future park at Fifth Street and Birch Avenue.
Holley Park, one of the city’s main sports hubs, continues to be a focus of improvement efforts. Recent improvements include new ballfield scoreboards, updated restrooms and resurfaced basketball and tennis courts.
Planned improvements, still in early stages, include better drainage for Little League fields, ADA access, new playground equipment, and safety upgrades near bleachers and dugouts.
City staff are examining where ADA access is lacking across city parks to guide future improvements. With city funds and a $1,500 donation from the La Center Lions Club, an ADA swing was installed last June at Holley Park. Coleman cited the project as an example of efforts to improve the park system’s accessibility for residents.
“ADA is the biggest thing that we want to do, making sure all our parks have ADA accessibility,” Coleman said.
City crews recently installed three water bottle filling stations, two at Holley Park and one at Heritage Park, for about $12,000. Another filling station and a dog watering station are planned near the Holley Park splash pad in the next month.
“We continue to strive and persevere on making our parks the top parks in Clark County,” Coleman said.
Youth sports demand drives expansion needs
The city is working with the La Center School District to meet growing demand for youth softball. An interlocal agreement will allow La Center Little League to use an additional softball field on elementary school property near Holley Park.
Holley Park currently has two baseball fields and a softball field.
“We have a huge recreational Little League facility (and) we have La Center Little League, and they have almost doubled in size in the last couple of years,” Coleman said. “Especially with the girls coming into the league, the softball (scene) has grown.”
The city also plans to add a second batting cage at Holley Park, with costs and funding still under review.
To reduce expenses, officials hope to use recycled fencing and salvaged materials from other projects. The new batting cage would be built next to the existing one.
Officials are searching for a site to add a new soccer practice field for the community as part of the parks plan.
“We have a need for soccer, baseball, football; we just don’t have enough (facilities),” Coleman said. “We don’t have enough of those between the schools and ourselves to meet all the needs.”
Future downtown park to incorporate historic landmark
Work continues on the future downtown park between Birch and Cedar avenues along Fifth Street. The project involves moving and downsizing the historic Make Mine Milk building, donated by the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, to create a covered community gathering space near a future food cart pod.
“Everybody knows La Center by that building when they come off that off-ramp,” Coleman said. “We want to make sure that we keep that Make Mine Milk portion of it because that’s historical to the community.”
The city has budgeted about $155,000 for the building relocation and $31,000 for ADA sidewalk and ramp improvements at the site. Playground equipment is expected to be considered in the next city budget cycle, with installation planned for 2027.
The city will hold a block party for the downtown park on July 24, ahead of this year’s La Center Our Days parade. The park is expected to open before the event.
The city will post updates on the block party on its website at ci.lacenter.wa.us.
