Originally in the Reflector

Cade Barker / cade@thereflector.com

Ideas bounced between Yacolt Mayor Ian Shealy and 20th Legislative District state Rep. Peter Abbarno, R-Centralia, as the two traversed the town of Yacolt on a tour highlighting the small community’s needs on Tuesday, Aug. 12. 

The town of Yacolt sits in a position of needing legislative funding for a wide variety of needs and wants as the town lacks tax revenue and a deep operating budget. As Yacolt looks to fund a community center, grants and legislative funding can only be utilized for an existing building.

“Community members in rural communities like Yacolt are the backbone to Clark County and larger cities,” Abbarno said. “Natural resource-based communities and agriculture and timber deliver the food to our tables and the lumber to build our homes and schools and both Washington’s, both D.C. and Olympia, must pay more attention to how we lift these communities up and make them successful and sustainable, and that starts by recognizing their contributions to the rest of their state, their county and their communities.”

Shealy and Abbarno shared ideas and visions for a community center while touring the Yacolt Community Church facility, as the congregation is set to move into a larger, brand new building on Northeast Amboy Road soon. A deal to purchase the Yacolt Community Church has not been finalized, but it was looked at as the best option for the town to develop a community center in an existing building. 

Shealy was grateful for the time with Abbarno, as he was able to illustrate the needs and desires of Yacolt, including turfed Little League fields, a community center, space for public works and more. Next spring season, the North Clark Little League in Yacolt will debut lighting on two fields, but a vision for turf fields could be a possibility through state grants. The major prioritization for the town government comes by way of community, with the dream of a community center inching closer to being fulfilled. 

“It’s really cool to see him get excited about some of the needs that we have, and we really can’t do much without their help and support,” Shealy said. 

A community center in Yacolt could also include services for child care and early learning development as well as doubling as a senior center, as Shealy highlighted the senior citizen population of north Clark County and a lack of services without traversing dangerous roads and bridges throughout the year. 

“The biggest need the town has is a community center that can be a senior center,” Shealy said. “That way there’s an outreach for our aging population, that there’s an outreach for our kids during a time when there’s no school. If we can get a community center that also provides somewhere that we can do Meals on Wheels for elderly, we can do lunches for kids that might not have that much at home. We can provide areas that they can go take classes, do crafts and do sports.”

Shealy said a community center facility can also act as a warming shelter in the winter and a cooling center in the summer. 

“We need somewhere for people to go in case of an emergency, because the town hall is not big enough for everybody,” Shealy said. “But if we had a community center, it would be.”

Abbarno said he sees a variety of communities in a similar situation to Yacolt where a small tax base can hinder a town or city’s goals. 

“Communities with small tax bases like Yacolt have a difficult time competing with state and federal grants because they don’t have the financial match,” Abbarno said. “However, I was really impressed by the Yacolt community and how they came together on a number of different important projects like the youth baseball fields and the vision for the community center.”

Abbarno said there are a few other communities throughout his legislative district that are in a similar situation. 

“In our community, one prime example is looking at Packwood, Morton in East Lewis County that is in a lot of very similar situations as Yacolt where they have dire needs for an improved fire district, facilities, they have a small tax base,” he said, adding that those communities are also trying to put together plans for community centers. “They’re far away from services down the I-5 corridor and they’re also a very natural resource-based community. So I think places like Packwood, Morton and Glenoma and others are in very similar situations.”

Shealy said it wouldn’t take much to boost Yacolt’s tax base as an abundance of business owners and artists live in the community and could utilize a small multi-tenant building if a developer saw the town’s potential.

“Nobody wants to see this place blow up or turn into a Ridgefield or a Battle Ground, right? Because it is a small town feel,” Shealy said. “But there are people that generally want somewhere they can run their business out of so if somebody were to come up here and utilize that space, it’d probably be a really good business because more than likely they would fill every space. So there’s an opportunity.”