Yacolt Mayor Katelyn Listek has seen many of her visions come to fruition for the town over the last year.
The town has created a new gathering place, has improved its local event offerings and has focused on public safety with the addition of speed bumps in town.
Even with all of the improvements, Listek said she would like to see other entities provide opportunities to invest and promote the town of Yacolt.
Park achievements
Listek said Yacolt has established a Central Park, or a town square, equipped with benches, an embankment slide and a stage, which can be used for the town’s major events.
In her “mayor’s message” to the town council and residents of Yacolt, Listek said the town square can be utilized daily by residents for year-round entertainment.
To complete the project, Yacolt’s public works employees and Larch Correctional Center crews transported over 120 loads of dirt from areas behind the little league fields and the cemetery to create the landscape necessary for the town square.
The park features an embankment slide, which can be used for summer entertainment or a safe option for winter sledding in the heart of town.
“I had gone on a trip to Europe and saw an embankment slide that was over 100 feet long, which was such a fun experience, and I thought, ‘Wow, that would be such a neat thing to bring to our community,’” Listek said.
Listek said the town also plans to add rubber surfacing at the town park, which could take place in the next several months. The town council approved the project during a meeting on Monday, April 10. The rubber surfacing will be installed around the play structures at the park in place of barkdust.
“This is an in-depth planning process. Once properly completed, (it) will improve upon the safety, maintenance, usability and beauty of the park,” Listek stated in the mayor’s message.
Listek said the rubber surfacing would be located next to the existing splash pad, which will see upgrades of its own.
“Having a splash pad next to bark dust, it wasn’t my favorite with children. My kids would want to take off their shoes and run around and, you know, get slivers,” Listek said, adding the town is trying to make it a more usable space for all ages with the new surfacing material.
Addressing public safety, schools and events
Listek said Yacolt experiences many of the same problems as other municipalities, which includes speeding.
To help combat that, Yacolt installed some new speed bumps.
“I make half the town upset with that, but I make the other half really happy,” Listek said.
Listek noted the town has experienced vandalism and people who drive non-street legal vehicles on its streets.
She was inspired to run for mayor in 2019 to tackle some of those issues and to improve on the town’s offerings.
“One of the main reasons I ran to be mayor is that I really wanted to help improve upon the community and bring people together,” Listek said. “We had events that were really great events, but they weren’t on the same days.”
Listek said she has focused on improving events like Rendezvous Days to bring people together with a schedule that keeps people engaged and supports a small-town community lifestyle.
She also noted the town has added a kickball tournament that has been a great success in the summertime.
Listek said the Clark County Sheriff’s Office provides around six hours of patrols in Yacolt on a weekly basis. While that has worked out well, the lack of a police department in the town is something she would like to address.
“We are a community that is very aware that we don’t have full-time security, so people take it upon themselves to make sure that their homes are secure,” Listek said. “We are very welcoming as a community but with everything that has gone on recently (on the national level) ... we would value having (full-time) police.”
Listek said she supports the idea of having officers at every school building in Washington. The lack of strong security is one of the reasons why her own children aren’t in public school.
Listek said she would also like to see Battle Ground Public Schools prioritize schools in North Clark County, like Amboy Middle School.
She said impact fees have increased for new buildings and homes, but noted “those fees are not coming to this zip code, they’re going south. (The district) said maybe we’ll get one portable,” Listek said.
The district’s 2020-24 maintenance plan states a secure card entry and security fencing have been completed at Amboy Middle School.
At Yacolt Primary School, security fencing is labeled as complete, but a revision of main entry security along with secure card entry have yet to be completed.
Promoting Yacolt
Listek noted Clark County has a lot of control over development in Yacolt, which has caused frustration.
“We’re just little, old Yacolt and because (the county) keeps our density requirements tight, they keep our town limits tight,” Listek said. “We can’t expand beyond these tiny limits.”
Clark County, along with tourism outlets, heavily promote Moulton Falls Regional Park and Chelatchie Prairie Railroad excursions, but don’t place an emphasis on visiting the town of Yacolt.
Since Yacolt is located on the Northern Clark County Scenic Route, Listek would like to see safety improvements on the route. She added that when community members leave town to go to Battle Ground or Vancouver, they’re faced with a dangerous situation because of the overuse of facilities at Moulton Falls Regional Park.
She emphasized people could be encouraged to park their vehicles closer to Yacolt where parking already exists, instead of creating a hazardous situation.
“Even down by the waterfalls, (the county) put up signs instead of creating a better location for parking,” Listek said. “They will promote people coming out here, because this is where people want to be on the weekends and wanting to do their adventures.”
What is currently missing to help make that a successful plan is a pathway that goes from the park to the Town of Yacolt.
Listek said the county held public hearings in what she believes was 2010 to implement a trail from Yacolt down to the waterfalls.
“Well, I’ve seen them work on this path, but yet none of it is out here (near Yacolt),” Listek said.
She also said the railroad parking lot would be a great location for a trailhead since the county owns the railroad property.
“All these things are so easily accessible, but yet for us, the people in the town are rarely ever able to go use Yacolt Creek Falls or Moulton Falls because it’s just packed with people,” Listek said.
