About 250 to 300 people attended the Centralia Lions Club annual kids fishing derby at Fort Borst Park in Centralia last May.
When Bill Scholl took a stroll around Fort Borst Park Pond last spring during the annual youth fishing derby, he saw a nearly idyllic setting.
To his eyes there was still one thing missing though — a ramp and a floating dock that would allow people in a wheelchair to navigate the steep slopes of the pond in order to try their luck.
Scholl recently moved to the area and became a new member of the Centralia Lions Club. After attending his first meeting last April, he decided to head down to the pond, where the Lions Club — sponsored youth fishing derby was happening, in order to see what all the fuss was about.
“Afterward my wife and I walked around Borst Lake and I got to looking and I thought, ‘Well, if you were in a wheelchair how would you get down to that lake to be a part of that fishing derby?’” recounted Scholl.
With that notion planted like so many rainbow trout inside the banks of his brain, Scholl has been working hard with the help of the Lions Club as well as the Centralia Parks and Recreation Department and Planning Division in order to make his dream become reality.
The way Scholl envisions things takings shape, a large floating dock with a gentle grade access ramp would be located at the south end of the pond. The dock would be designed to rise and sink with the variable water levels and would be a permanent fixture at the pond.
The genesis of the idea was to create more access for wheelchair bound youths, but Scholl said his research indicates that there may be more demand for the dock than he had first expected. According to Scholl, there are 94 wheelchair disabled children in Lewis County, and at least 204 wheelchair bound persons all together in the county.
“It would be available to everybody,” said Scholl, who noted that the Lions Club approved the project back in June. “It’s one of those projects that everyone thinks is a very good idea.”
With the brainstorming and first round of approval out of the way all that’s left to square away is $20,000 in funding and a myriad of government permits.
Scholl says that the actual dock will cost $17,000, with an additional $3,000 penciled in to cover installation and construction costs. According to Scholl the work would be undertaken by local contractors, Curfman Custom Fabrication and Repair out of Oakville.
“We’re trying to make it ADA accessible,” noted a reservedly hopeful Emil Pierson, Centralia community development director.
However, Pierson pointed out that the project is subject to a lengthy review and permitting process.
“It could have everyting from a shoreline permit to Fish and (Wildlife) because there are fish in there and it is a wetland, so it may even need a wetland permit,” explained Pierson. “We won’t know until we know exactly what they are building.”
To that end, Pierson says that he will not be able to tell what may happen until Scholl and the Lions Club submit a bonafide project plan for approval.
“If their funding goes well and they report back that it looks like they’re going to go through with it and then give me a set of plans, we’ll go from there,” said Pierson.
Scholl is hopeful that the funding and plans will be formulated no later than Jan. 15, 2017.
“My hope is that we’ll have it constructed by the next youth fishing derby,” said Scholl. “That’s why I say that the Jan. 15 deadline would give us enough time to get it in.”
The next Fort Borst Park Pond youth fishing derby, which has been sponsored by the Centralia Lions Club since 1968, will be held on April 22, 2017. Last year, nearly 300 young anglers tried their luck with the fresh stocked Fort Borst rainbows.
Scholl and his fellow Lions Club members are now casting their own line in hopes of hooking a mess of personal donations and business sponsorships that are needed to get the project off the ground and into Fort Borst Park Pond.
Scholl says that anyone interested in learning more about the project is encouraged to attend one of the Lions Club meetings, which are held on the first and third Monday of each month beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Denny’s restaurant in Centralia. Those who would like to donate to the cause can mail checks to the Lions Club at 516 W. Chestnut St., Centralia, 98531.
